An exciting 100 free matchup between USC’s Cristian Quintero and Utah’s Nick Soedel highlighted the final dual meet of the Pac-12 season, a 158-139 USC victory in Utah.
The two-day meet featured an interesting first-day lineup. Friday night saw the teams race in unscored 400 medley and 200 free relays, plus unscored 50s of each non-free stroke. The only scored event was the 1650, which went to Utah’s Bence Kiraly in 15:18.16.
Kiraly came back the next day to win the 500 free in 4:28.17, part of a big Utah run through the middle of the lineup.
That run kicked off with Nick Soedel‘s big 100 free win over USC’s returning multi-event NCAA champ Cristian Quintero. Soedel nearly hit a season-best in the event, going 43.28 to Quintero’s 44.17. The two came home with exactly the same final 50 split (22.74), but Soedel had the early speed to take the win.
That set off a string of five consecutive touchouts for Utah, who looked like they just might steal a win from their favored Pac-12 rivals.
Kristian Kron won the 200 backstroke over USC senior Cary Wright 1:48.77 to 1:47.89. Then Utah freshman Jack Burton topped USC’s Jonah Hu 2:01.36 to 2:01.79 in the 200 breast. Next came Kiraly’s 500 free win by .01 over Southern California freshman Pawel Furtek (4:28.18).
The 100 fly then came down to half a second, with Utah senior Alex Fernandes going 48.47 to Ralf Tribuntsov‘s 48.92.
But that Ute run turned out to be all for naught, as USC swept the relays and used depth to still pick up the team win. Wright was a big part of the effort, combining his second-place 200 back swim with wins in the 100 back (48.22) and 200 IM (1:50.77).
Quintero won the 50 free with a 20.54, and got some redemption from the 100 by leading off the 400 free relay in 43.34. That beat out Soedel, who was 43.52, and USC went on to win the race with a 2:55.97.
Junior Collin Pollard swept 1-meter and 3-meter diving for the Trojans, and Chad Bobrosky also contributed a 200 free win (1:39.25).
Utah rookie Burton had a great meet, pairing his 200 breast win with a 56.13 win in the 100 breast, and his teammate David Fraser also got a win, going 1:50.01 in the 200 fly.
Nice work on the boards, Collin! After the SEC meet this weekend, I’m excited for Pac-12’s in a couple weeks!
^ I’m sure you must think all the officials ON DECK are either clueless or totally distracted? Since you have such a hawk eye, why don’t you become an official! That way you could DQ all the people you see fit. Nice job SC for taking down Utah, looking good for pac12s and NCAAs!
Where is Santo? Why have we only seen him at a few meets this year for the Trojans
USC brought the B team!
Oh yeah? Quintero, Pawel, Ralf and Cary on the B team? Okay yeah probably.
Quintero part of the B Team? I’d like to see their A then.
While Quintero did pick up the 50 win with 20.54, Soedel did have the fastest 50 during the meet, as he led off the 200 freestyle relay in a quick 19.59.
I’m also rather upset at USC’s breaststrokers in particular, as there was a SIGNIFICANT amount of flagrant cheating and double-kicking going on during their breaststroke pullouts with no DQs. 2?? 3?? underwater dolphin kicks? Is it suddenly okay to break the rules and cheat during breaststroke?! I can’t imagine Salo is completely unaware of the cheating going on under the water… Come on Trojans, race with some integrity…
Relax man, its a dual meet. If it was really that bad they would have D.Q.’ed them. Also, isn’t is a requirement for breaststrokers to try and sneak in a few extra kicks? haha. Didn’t the 2012 Olympic champion in the 100 breast admit to doing the same thing? – SMA
LOL and I never use that. The home team is responsible for providing meet officials. Enough said.