USC
2011 Pac-10 Championships
No. 7 USC Takes Third At Pac-10s
March 05, 2011 | Men's Swimming & Diving
March 5, 2011
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Freshman Vladimir Morozov (50y free) and senior Richard Charlesworth (1650y free) each finished second and senior Clement Lefert (200y fly) notched a third as No. 7 USC claimed third-place on the final night of the 2011 Pac-10 Swimming Championships, Saturday (March 5), at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, Calif.
No. 2 Stanford (911) held off No. 1 Cal (864) for first while Troy (534) edged No. 6 Arizona (483) for third, its best finish since also taking third in 2005. ASU was fifth (273) with UCSB sixth (184) and Cal Poly seventh (158).
Like he did on Thursday in the 50y free, Morozov finished second behind senior Cal Olympic gold medalist Nathan Adrian, this time in the 100y free, an event Adrian has now won three straight years.
Morozov broke his school record in prelims by qualifying first in 41.92. In the final, he and Adrian turned in 0.01 of each other after 50 yards, the only two under 20 seconds. But Adrian edged Morozov at the wall, winning 41.75 to 41.93.
Lefert, who won the 500y free and was third in the 200y free earlier in the meet, completed a superb Pac-10s by taking third in the 200y fly in 1:44.91. Cal's Tom Shields won the race (1:40.31). Trojan sophomore Justin DiFederico completed a strong weekend as well with his second final appearance, claiming seventh in 1:47.60. He went 1:45.57 in prelims for a PR.
In the 1650y free, Charlesworth finished second in 14:58.33 after taking third last year. Like Morozov, he trailed only an NCAA champion as Stanford's Chad La Tourette won in 14:38.13. The next highest Trojan in the timed final was freshman Nick Johnson, who was ninth (15:26.28, PR)
Sophomores Alex Lendrum (1:43.33) and Nick Karpov (1:44.44) both reached the final of the 200y back, taking sixth and eighth, respectively. Lendrum was eighth in the event last year.
Freshman Chase Bloch won the consolation final of the 200y fly in 1:46.64. Other Trojans in consolation finals included freshman Dimitri Colupaev (43.72, 11th) in the 100y free, senior Dillon Connolly (1:59.15, 11th) and junior Matt Talmadge (2:01.06, 14th) in the 200y breast and Spencer Di Dio in the 200y fly (15th, 1:51.35).
In the 400y free relay to close out the meet, USC's Morozov, Colupaev, Lefert and junior Jeff Daniels took third in 2:52.23, less than a second off the school record set earlier this season.
"The team stepped up and held off a tough team in Arizona," USC head coach Dave Salo said. "Each session the guys were dialed in to what they needed to do to keep the Wildcats at bay. It was great to see them all around the team finish. It is a great lesson that will carry us farther up the NCAA ranks.
"Vlad was again great against some tough sprint men. Sprinters get better with rest and working on the details - so we're expecting great things from him and his relay teammates.
"Lefert has really stepped up to be a great performance leader this year and the team has responded. He had a tough double with the 200 fly and then came back to have a strong relay leg.
"Our distance guys were important in outscoring Arizona - 32 to zero and helped set the tone for the night. Charlesworth had a very strong swim and freshman Nick Johnson learned a lot in his first Pac 10 appearance.
"We had every event covered tonight and now we are looking forward to regrouping and preparing for NCAAs."
Players Mentioned
