University Southern California Trojans
Women's Swimming, Diving At UCLA Saturday
February 11, 2004 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Feb. 11, 2004
USC's No. 8 women's swimming and diving team (3-4, 1-3) concludes Pac-10 dual-meet action this week when it competes at No. 8 UCLA (7-2, 4-2) on Saturday (Feb. 14) at noon. USC holds a 15-11 series lead against UCLA and has won the past 10 dual meets between the schools.
UCLA
The Bruins feature a handful of automatic qualifiers in Kristen Lewis (200 Fly), Sara Platzer (50 Free), Kim Scarborough (400 IM), Malin Svahnstrom (200 IM/Free) and Kim Vandenberg (100/200 Fly).
BATTLE FOR THIRD-ANNUAL LEXUS GAUNTLET
The USC women's swimming and diving team has captured five points in each of the last two years in its intracity all-sport rivalry with UCLA and will look to do the same in the latest meeting as the teams battle for the 2003-04 Lexus Gauntlet. The Lexus Gauntlet is a season-long competition between USC and UCLA in all sports. Points are awarded to the winner of each Bruin-Trojan head-to-head contest throughout the year and the Lexus Gauntlet trophy is awarded to the school with the most points at year's end. USC captured the inaugural trophy in 2001-02, but the Bruins took the title last season. So far this year, USC leads 37.5-20.
FAST TIMES
Junior Kaitlin Sandeno opened the season blazing, posting four NCAA automatic times before the calendar hit November. She currently owns auto times in the 200m free (1:57.39, a USC record), 200m IM (2:12.80), 400m IM (4:39.15), 100m back (1:00.64, a USC record) and the 200m back (2:11.68). She also owns a consideration time in the 100m free (56.05, a USC record). Freshman Kalyn Keller owns an auto time in the 400m free (4:08.49, a USC record) and the 1500m free (16:14.97). Junior Jana Krohn has an auto time in the 200m fly (2:11.65) and consideration times in the 100m fly (1:00.63) and the 200m free (2:02.47).
FAST TIMES II
Kaitlin Sandeno's time in the 400m IM (converted from meters to yards) is first in the country (as of Feb. 5), her 200m free is second, her 500 is third, her 200m IM is fourth and her 100m back and 200m fly are fifth. Kalyn Keller is No. 2 in the 500 free (converted from 400 meters) and 1000 yards. Jana Krohn is ninth in the 100 fly and 10th in the 200m fly and Margie Pedder is top 20 in the 200m fly.
RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS
USC's women's squad returns five All-Americans off of its third-place NCAA team. Junior Kaitlin Sandeno's five All-American performances topped the team (500y free, 400y IM, 1650y free, 400y medley relay and 800y free relay) while senior Jana Krohn turned in four (100y and 200y fly, 400y medley relay and 800y free relay). Junior Margie Pedder earned All-American nods in the 1650y free and the 800y free relay while sophomore Kammy Miller earned hers on the 400y medley relay. Senior diver Nicci Fusaro finalled on the 3-meter springboard to join the group. On the men's team, three Trojans with All-American credits last year are back.
Mark Schubert
USC Coach Mark Schubert is in his 12th year at Troy. He will make his seventh consecutive Olympic coaching appearance in 2004 when he directs the U.S. women's team in Athens, Greece. Three years ago, he finished a stint as head coach of the U.S. men's swim team at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Since he has been at USC, the men's and women's swimming programs are a combined 133-43. In his 33 years of coaching, Schubert has placed 28 swimmers on U.S. Olympic teams; these athletes have won 18 gold and eight silver medals, plus five world championship titles.
Hongping Li
An NCAA champion and two-time Olympian, Hongping Li is in his fifth season coaching USC's men's and women's divers. Li, the winner of the 1998 and 1999 United States Olympic Committee's "Diving Developmental Coach of the Year," award, came to USC after serving as the head coach of the Mission Viejo (Calif.) Nadadores Diving Team since 1993. Li has had immediate and tremendous success in his first four years at USC. In 2003, he helped guide Blythe Hartley and Nicci Fusaro to All-American showings at the NCAA Championships. Hartley was a three-time All-American for the second year in a row while Fusaro earned All-American honors for the third year in a row. Hartley, the 2002 NCAA Women's Diver of the Year, repeated as Pac-10 Women's Diver of the Year and Li repeated as Pac-10 Women's Diving Coach of the Year. In 2002, Fusaro joined with Hartley to become USC's only two divers to earn All-American honors in all three diving specialties in one NCAA meet. In 2001, Li guided Kellie Brennan to a pair of All-American honors (and her third consecutive Pac-10 1-meter title) and Fusaro to her first All-American honor at the 2001 NCAAs. Both also reached the top three at the 2001 U.S. Indoor Championships.
