USC
2011 NCAA Championships
USC Rises To 7th After NCAAs Day 2
March 25, 2011 | Men's Swimming & Diving
March 25, 2011
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Senior Clement Lefert (third) and freshman Dimitri Colupaev (sixth) became USC's first All-Americans in the 200y free since 2003 and also led a third-place 800y free relay while junior Harrison Jones earned his first career All-American honor on 3-meter to lead Troy on the second night of finals at the 2011 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Minneapolis, Minn., on Friday (March 25).
USC, 11th last year at the NCAAs, is in seventh with 146 points, trying to improve its team finish for the fourth year in a row under fifth-year head coach Dave Salo.
Cal, which won the NCAA women's title last week, is in first with 352 points and is followed by Texas (288.5), Stanford (278.5), Arizona (214), Florida (213), Auburn (178.5), USC, Virginia (145), Michigan (131) and Ohio State (97) among 32 teams that have scored.
Lefert, who swam to first in the 200y free `B' final in 2010, finished third in the `A' final tonight in 1:33.17, breaking (albeit temporarily) his three-week old school record of 1:33.37. He qualified for the final with a 1:33.38 in prelims and made up for missing a second swim in the 500y free on Thursday.
Joining the French Lefert in the final was his fellow European, the German Colupaev, who was sixth in 1:33.47. That mark lowered his prelim 1:33.56. Lefert and Colupaev, the 2011 Pac-10 champion in the race who was the only freshman in the 200 final, are the two fastest Trojans ever in the event.
The last time USC had two finalists in the 200y free was 2002, which was also the last year the Trojans won the 800y free relay.
USC didn't win the race this year, but its season-best time of 6:17.58 was 0.23 off the school record, set during Troy's title swim in 2002. Lefert led off the 800y free relay timed final with a 1:33.12 to break his school mark for the second time of the night.
Freshman Jack Wagner swam next and registered a relay split of 1:35.87 before fellow frosh Colupaev took over at the halfway mark. Colupaev's split of 1:33.16 was the fastest of the night and put the Trojans in second heading into the final leg. Junior Patrick White finished the race in 1:35.43. Florida won the race in 6:14.88 and Virginia (6:16.59) edged ahead of USC for third. But White was able to hold off a charging Stanford to keep third.
"It was a strong night for the Trojans," Salo said. "It was great to have Clement step up after his disappointment in the 500 free. Dimitri is coming into his own in the 200 free and will probably be an NCAA champion in the near future. The 800 free relay has become the cornerstone of building a strong NCAA team and our men swam a great race.
"Wagner and Pat did their job to complement the speed of Lefert and Colupaev. Harrison helped us seal our goal of scoring over 80 points tonight with his sixth-place finish and the Trojans are holding onto seventh. We have to have a great final day to remain in the top 10 - and I think the men are up for the challenge."
Jones, an All-American on 1-meter and platform as a freshman who didn't even compete at the NCAAs on 3-meter as a sophomore, earned an `A' final spot after scoring 411.00 in prelims, good for third overall. In the final, Jones finished sixth with 397.45 points. Senior Steven Starks was 21st (343.00).
In the 200y medley relay, USC earned a second swim by finishing 13th in prelims (1:26.10). The same prelim unit of sophomore Nick Karpov, senior Emmett Walling, freshman Chase Bloch and freshman Vladimir Morozov moved up to 12th overall with a fourth in the `B' final, though with a slightly slower time (1:26.61).
Other finishers in the 200y free for USC included Wagner (28th, 1:36.29, PR) and senior Richard Charlesworth (45th, 1:39.35). In the 100y fly, White was 26th (46.96) and Bloch was 35th (47.50). Senior Dillon Connolly, in the 100y breast, finished 24th in prelims (53.96) while Walling was 33rd (54..90). In the 100y back, Morozov led USC finishers in 22nd (47.25), 0.24 off a top 16 finish to earn a second swim. Karpov was 23rd (47.38) while sophomore James Lendrum was 26th (47.59, PR).
The meet concludes Saturday with prelims at noon and finals at 7 p.m. (CDT).
Players Mentioned
