On Wednesday, No. 9 USC placed a close second in both of the opening night's events. First, the quartet of Ralf Tribuntsov, Carsten Vissering, Alex Valente and Kyle Grissom finished just .76 behind Arizona in the 200y medley relay. Shortly after that, Patrick Mulcare, Michael Domogala, Morten Klarskov and Malone touched the wall just .14 behind Cal in the 800y free relay. The narrow finishes gave the Trojans 68 points after day one.
Six Trojans finished in the top eight in the A finals of their events on Thursday, helping USC pull closer to Stanford, which finished in the top three of all four events on day two. Malone's first-place finish in the 500y free was a long time in the making considering the junior placed second at the meet behind former teammate Christian Quintero the last two years. Check out his interview with the Pac-12 Networks after the race.
"We had some strong swims tonight and I'm especially excited for the win by Reed Malone in the 500. He swam a strong, tactical race to take the win and we are very proud of that being the fourth win in a row," said head coach Dave Salo. "We're hanging in there, but there is much work to do in the next two days."
The Trojans are back in the pool on Friday for the third day of competition which includes the 400y IM, 200y free and 400y medley relay. The meet finishes on Saturday night with the finals in six events including the 200y back, 100y free and 400y free relay. Be sure to follow @USCSwim as the Trojans chase their second straight Pac-12 championship.
