USC rebounds after slow start

With obstacles throughout season, swim team keeps on fighting, ends with successful year

By JENNIFER STORY
Staff Writer

As the school year comes to an end, so does the USC men's and women's swimming and diving seasons.

"Our team this season did very well," said senior Paige Francis. "We had a couple of losses at the beginning but we rebounded."

To cap off the season, the swimming and diving banquet was held on Saturday. Junior Corrie Murphy and freshman Erik Vendt were named Most Valuable Swimmers, and sophomore Kellie Brennan was named Most Valuable Diver.

Francis is done with collegiate swimming for USC but she has high hopes for the squad next year as she did with the team this year.

"We have two new recruits," she said. "The team should be very strong next year. This year, we came together and fought hard like a team is supposed to do. Even though the team is losing four seniors, they should still be strong and have a lot of depth.

"We never stopped fighting this season. That is the true essence to being a part of a Trojan team."

Murphy, junior Karen Jacobs, junior Nick Smith and junior Gabe Woodward were named captains for the next season.

At the beginning of this month, USC went to the U.S. Spring Nationals in Seattle. Although USC did not come out on top, there were some outstanding performances.

One was by the Trojans' "A" team that came in seventh in the 400-yard freestyle relay and fourth in the 800 freestyle relay. Both teams consisted of sophomore Mark Warkentin, transfer Tomas Kerekjarto, sophomore Joel Everman and junior Nick Smith.

USC kept fighting on at the NCAA Championships in late March.

The Women of Troy took seventh place with 185 points at the NCAAs. The Trojans finished in sixth place with a score of 249 points. That was the third time in the last four years that the Trojans placed sixth.

Six swimmers and one diver from the women's team and nine swimmers from the men's team competed in the NCAAs. All 16 USC competitors earned at least one All-American honor. Sophomore Kristin MacGregor earned three.

"You couldn't ask for more effort out of seven women," USC swimming Head Coach Mark Schubert said after the NCAAs. "They gave it their all. We didn't reach our goal of finishing in the top five, but they gave everything we have."

Freshman Asa Sandlund came in third place in the 1,500-meter freestyle and broke the Swedish national record for that race.

Vendt also broke the American and U.S. Open records for the 1,500 freestyle. He became the third fastest person in that event and also upset three-time defending champion Ryk Neethling of Arizona who has never lost at the NCAAs in that race.

"I was definitely very pleased," Vendt said about winning the race. "I didn't think I was going to swim that well, but I did. Next year should be great. I can't wait."

Before the NCAAs, USC competed in the Pacific 10 Championships.

Sophomore diver Kellie Brennan defended her title in the 1-meter springboard.

The Women of Troy fought on and took fifth place with 975.5 points, after finishing second last year. MacGregor had wins in the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes and the 200 individual medley, as was the case last season.

Murphy also put in work at the championships with a win in the 400 individual medley as she did the year before.

As for the Trojans, they took third with 699.5 points. Last season, they also took third with a score of 674.

The men's "A" team defended its title from last season in the 800 freestyle relay.

Warkentin captured three wins in the 500 and 1,650 freestyle and the 400 individual medley.

In its last dual meet of the season, USC faced cross-town rival UCLA. The Women of Troy, after their two previous losses against the bay area schools, defeated the then-No. 11 Bruins, which increased USC's overall record to 4-3 and their Pac-10 record to 2-3.

Before the UCLA meet, the Women of Troy competed against two other Pac-10 rivals, California and Stanford. The Women of Troy fell to the then-No. 5 Bears and the then-No. 3 Cardinal.

The Trojans defeated the then-No. 4 Bears but lost to the then-No. 5 Cardinal, forcing their record to be 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the Pac-10.

The Trojans started off the season at No. 6 (4-1), and the Women of Troy started at No. 4 (4-1) as both teams swam against Pacific and UC Irvine in January.

Both squads came out with landslide victories against both opponents, which included wins in all races except for one individual race.

Copyright 2000 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 139, No. 62 (Thursday, April 20, 2000), on page 19.