LOS ANGELES, Calif. – No. 8 Stanford lost its first dual meet of the season to No. 12 USC on Saturday at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
The Cardinal (5-1), coming off three consecutive dual meet wins to start 2016, was unable to erase an early deficit to the Trojans (7-1). USC won by a score of 167-133.
"We are really happy with a lot of swims from today," said Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming Ted Knapp. "Not a lot of wins, but our depth continues to get better; the final relay was a prime example of that."
The Trojans seized the l ead early, winning the 200-yard medley relay with Ryan Dudzinski, Christian Brown, Andrew Liang and Sam Perry (1:27.76) placing second.
Liam Egan (9:12.34) finished third in the 1000-yard freestyle, followed by second and third-place finishes in the 200-yard freestyle by Cole Cogswell (1:37.60) and Sean Duggan (1:38.09).
Dudzinski (48.47) was narrowly out-touched in the 100-yard backstroke by .25 seconds, finishing second.
Matt Anderson (54.66) and Daniel Le (54.66) took second and third place, respectively, in the 100-yard breaststroke.
The Cardinal put a dent in the Trojans’ lead with a sweep of the podium in the 200-yard butterfly by Gray Umbach (1:44.90), Liang (1:46.21) and Abrahm DeVine (1:47.48).
Sam Perry (20.21) narrowly lost the 50-yard freestyle by .05 seconds, taking third place. At the first break. Stanford trailed USC, 76-55.
After the break, Perry (43.79) bounced back with a win in the 100-yard freestyle, with Spencer DeShon (44.69) and Jeff Garnier (44.85) picking up points in third and fourth place, respectively.
Anderson (1:58.85) followed it up with a third-place finish in the 200-yard breastroke. Egan (4:26.12) claimed third place in the 500-yard freestyle, with Curtis Ogren (4:29.66) in fourth.
Liang (47.10) and Umbach (47.40) finished one-two in the 100-yard butterfly with Connor Black (48.08) in fourth place. At the second break, Stanford trailed, 138-107.
Williamson (1:46.85) finished second in the 200-yard individual medley with Ogren (1:49.74) finishing in third place.
Stanford finished the meet strongly with a one-two finish in the 400-yard free relay. Perry, DeShon, Garnier and Cogswell (2:57.06) took the top spot while Black, Liang, Umbach and Duggan (2:57.17) finished second by .11 seconds.
On the diving side of the competition, Connor Kuremsky (324.75) and Bradley Christiansen (313.20) took third and fifth place, respectively, in the 1-meter.
“Coming to USC was a great experience for Connor and Brad today,” said diving coach Patrick Jeffrey. “We learned some valuable lessons today to take forward into the postseason.”
Christiansen (367.95) placed fourth in the 3-meter with Kuremsky (351.30) in fifth.
The Cardinal returns to action Feb. 20, hosting Cal at Avery Aquatics Center. Admission is free and live results are available at GoStanford.com.
