Valley’s Wisconsin debut spoiled by USC women, Wisconsin men win by one point

Despite two wins from Danielle Valley in her Wisconsin debut, the Badger women could not topple the USC Trojan women. The Wisconsin men, however, won by just one point.

Final scores:

Women: USC 142 – 115 Wisconsin

Men: Wisconsin 131.5 – USC 130.5

Full results are available here

Women’s meet: 

USC opened the meet with a victory in the 200 medley relay. Hannah Weiss, Andrea Kropp, Kendyl Stewart, and Katarzyna Wilk struck first for the Trojans with a 1:41.84 for a first place finish. A strong backstroke leg from Weiss , 25.55, propelled the Trojans to the victory over the Wisconsin team of Annie Tamblyn, Maria Carlson, Ivy Martin, and Chase Kinney. That team touched in 1:42.32. Wisconsin’s B team finished third in 1:44.04.

Valley did not disappoint in her first swim for the Badgers. The former Florida Gator won handily the 1000 in 9:49.88, over four seconds ahead of her teammate Jenny Holtzen, who was 9:54.01. Margaret D’Innocenzo finished third in 10:18.45 for USC.

The new Badger made another immediate impact with a victory in the 500 freestyle. Valley again beat teammate Holtzen for the second one-two finish for the Badger duo.  Touching at 4:50.01 was Valley, while Holtzen finished in 4:52.95. Chelsea Chenault was third for USC in 4:55.90

Chenault and her USC teammates Jasmine Tosky and Joanna Stenkvist swept the 200 freestyle, with Stenkvist beating Caroline Palm, who finished fourth for the Badgers, by .99 seconds. Chenault won with a 1:48.89, Tosky finished next in 1:48.93, Stenkvist was third in 1:50.11, and Palm was fourth in 1:51.10. Valley finished fifth in 1:52.33.

USC’s Weiss handily won the 100 backstroke in 54.14. Tamblyn was second for the Badgers in 56.68, although she, nor anyone in the field, was a threat to Weiss.  Diana Chang finished third for USC in 56.72.

Later in the meet, Stewart, Weiss, and Stenkvist would sweep the 200 backstroke, as the only thee swimmers under two minutes. Stewart won with a 1:57.84, Weiss was next with a 1:58.80, and Stenkvist was third in 1:59.66.

Stewart would go on to beat Wisconsin’s Ivy Martin in the 100 butterfly. The 100 butterfly was a two horse race between those two, with Stewart taking the win 53.17. Martin was 53.53. Lucy Worrall was third for USC in 55.64.

Kropp would double up with victories in both the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.87, and 200 breaststroke in 2:13.24. She beat Wisconsin’s Anna Meinholz in both events. Meinholz was 1:03.17 in the 100 and 2:17.35. Jamie Christy was third for the Trojans in 1:04.17 in 100, while Brianna Weinstein was third in the 200 with a 2:17.38 for the Trojans.

After a second place finish in the 200 freestyle, Tosky returned to win the 200 butterfly in 1:58.60 for USC, the only swimmer under two minutes. Dana Grindall was second for Wisconsin in 2:01.30, D’Innocenzo was third in 2:03.71.

That finish order was repeated many times Friday, as the Badger women had speed at the top, but could not match the depth of the Trojans.

Wilk and Evan Swenson took first and third in the 50 freestyle for the Trojans in 23.04 and 23.45, respectively. Kinney took second for Wisconsin in 23.30.

That finish order was inverted in the 100, however, with Martin and Kinney taking first and third in the 49.45  and 50.98 respectively. Wilk was second for USC in 50.57.

Kropp and Weinstein finished one two in the 200 IM in 2:02.41 and 2:05.09, although Wisconsin scored the points as the Trojans were swimming exhibition. Meinholz officially finished first with a 2:05.66.

USC’s A 400 freestyle relay won with a 3:22.04. Wilk, Swenson, Chenault, and Tosky combined to touch the wall in 3:22.04. Wisconsin’s team of Grindall, Kinney, Martin, and Tamblyn finished second in 3:23.17, although they got the points as USC was swimming exhibition. USC’s B relay was third in 3:26.62.

Men’s meet: 

The men’s meet came down to the final relay, with Wisconsin taking the 1 point victory.

Just like the women did, the USC men bested Wisconsin on the relay. Luca Spinazzola, Morten Klarskov, Dylan Carter, and Santo Condorelli touched in 1:28.65. The Wisconsin team of Drew Teduits, Nick Schafer, Austin Byrd, and Damon Zito touched in 1:31.22. USC’s B relay was third in 1:31.45.

Wisconsin scored a victory from Matthew Hutchins in the 1000 with a dominant 9:06.33. Pawel Furtek of USC finished in 9:25.19 for second in a race for second that came down to a hundredth of the second. Josh Anderson charged hard over the last 100 but was unable to fully run down Furtek.

Later in the meet, Hutchins would dominate the 500 with a 4:25.60, over seven seconds ahead of Reed Malone and Ted Singley of USC, who would go 4:32.75 and 4:33.93, respectively.

Carter won the 200 for USC in a strong performance. He beat the field with a 1:36.87. Wisconsin scored second and third from Cannon Clifton and Brett Pinfold in 1:39.26 and 1:39.38, respectively.

Spinazzola won the 100 backstroke after a battle with Teduits. Spinazzola went out in 23.16 to Teduits’ 23.72, and had enough in the tank to hang on for the win. Spinazzola hit the wall in 48.52 to Teduits’ 48.54. Austin Byrd was third for Wisconsin in with a 50.16.

Teduits’ would go on to blow out the field in the 200 backstroke. his 1:46.58 was good for a huge win. He was also the only swimmer under the 1:50 mark. Cary Wright came in at 1:50.12 for a Trojan second place finish. Ryan O’Donnell was third for the Badgers with a 1:50.18.

Wisconsin’s Schafer won the 100 and 200 breaststrokes in 55.56 and 2:01.01, respectively. Klarskov and his USC teammate Steven Stumph took second and third in the 100 in 56.68 and 56.86, respectively.

USC’s Ridge Altman took second in the 200 with a 2:03.44. Stumph again took third with a 2:03.62.

Following the 100 breaststroke, Wright would turn USC’s streak around with a win in the 200 butterfly. Wright touched in 1:48.23. Nicholas Caldwell was second for Wisconsin in 1:48.49. Third went to the Trojans Dakota Hodgson in 1:49.36.

Condorelli and Pinfold would split the sprint freestyle events. Condorelli beat Pinfold 20.17 to 20.93 in the 50 freestyle, with Wisconsin’s Damon Zito taking third in 21.09.

In the 100, it was Pinfold who outdid Condorelli, 44.70 to 44.74. Pinfold split a much more even 22.20 and 22.50, compared to Condorelli’s 21.60 and 23.14.

Carter took the 100 fly for USC in 48.10, a second and a half ahead of Clifton, who was 49.64. Spinazzola and Wisconsin’s Harrison Tran tied for third in 50.

Teduits won the 200 IM in in 1:50.31. Wright and Stumph took second and third for the Trojans in 1:51.47 and 1:52.47, respectively.

Down 120.5 to 124.5 the Badgers needed to win the relay to win the meet, and they responded under the lights. Caldwell led off with a 44.52, good, but not good enough to out do Condorelli, who put the trojans in the lead with his 44.31. Clifton kept things close USC’s David Morgan. Clifton split a 44.90 to Morgan’s 44.86, and with 200 yards to go, the Trojans had a lead of a quarter second. With the sun setting on Southern California, it looked to be setting on the Badgers as well. Pinfold split a 44.56 to Carter’s 44.08.

Damon Zito stepped up for Wisconsin to anchor the relay, pinning the Badger hope on his shoulders, despite a fifth place finish in the open 100. Zito responded with a 43.88 split. far and away the fastest in the field, and more than enough to run down and beat USC’s Chad Bobrosky. Wisconsin touched in 2:57.86, USC finished in 3:05.34.