Women's Swimming, Diving Hosts WSU Thursday In Season Opener
October 08, 2014 | Women's Swimming & Diving
The USC women's swimming and diving team, which finished fifth at last year's NCAA Championships and are one of only 3 teams to finish in the top 7 five straight years, kicks off the 2014-15 season by hosting Washington State on Thursday (Oct. 9) at 7 p.m. at Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
The Trojans, 3-0 all-time against Washington State, return seven All-Americans, led by senior diver and two-time NCAA platform champion Haley Ishimatsu as well as juniors Kendyl Stewart, Jasmine Tosky, Kasia Wilk and Joanna Stenkvist and sophomores Chelsea Chenault and Evan Swenson.
Other top returning contributors include senior breaststroke specialist Andrea Kropp, a 2013 All-American, sophomore freestyler Lexie Malazdrewicz, who competed as a freshman at last year's NCAAs, junior diver Sam Adams, a three-time 2014 Pac-12 Championships finalist, and improving sophomore IM'er Maggie D'Innocenzo. USC also has a host of young breaststrokers including sophomore Riley Hayward and Kelsey Kafka looking to break through.
Stewart and senior sprint freestyler Rebecca Heyliger are the captains for the 2014-15 squad.
USC, under ninth-year head coach Dave Salo, will have to replace a trio of 2014 senior standouts in Kasey Carlson, Stina Gardell and Meghan Hawthorne. Carlson was a six-time All-American and three-time individual finalist whose 50y and 100y free and 100y breast will be hard to replace while Gardell and Hawthorne were both stalwarts in the 200y and 400y IM and the 200 breaststroke.
Among the top newcomers to the squad are freshmen Hannah Weiss, Kindle Van Linge and Alexa Cacao. Weiss is a 2013-14 Junior National team member strong in the fly and back. Van Linge is strong in the 100y fly and back while Cacao is an up-and-coming diver who won the 2014 U.S. springboard title in the 16-18 age group. Also now available is 2014 transfer Lucy Worrall, a butterfly specialist who was an NCAA point scorer for Miami in 2013 in the 100y fly.
Players Mentioned
