Women's Swimming & Diving | March 18, 2019

The No. 15 USC women's swimming and diving team, led by three-time 2019 Pac-12 champion Louise Hansson, is set for the 2019 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, Wednesday through Saturday (March 20-23), in Austin, Texas.
 
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS INFORMATION
* The schedule kicks off Wednesday with the timed final of the 800y free relay at 3 p.m. PT. Prelims for Thursday through Saturday will start at 7 a.m. PT with finals at 3 p.m.
* Click HERE for the Texas host site.
* Click HERE for live swim results. Click HERE for live dive results.
* Click HERE for the psych sheet.
 
LIVE STREAMING
Wednesday Finals (ESPN3)/ Thursday Finals (ESPN3) / Friday Finals (ESPNU) / Saturday Finals (ESPNU) / All Swimming and Diving Prelims (TexasSports.com)
 
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Events begin on Wednesday (March 20) with the timed final of the 800y free relay. Thursday's schedule features 200y free relay, 500y free, 200y IM, 50y free, 1-meter diving and 400y medley relay. Friday features the 400y IM, 100y fly, 200y free, 100y breast, 100y back, 3-meter diving and 200y medley relay. Saturday's finale includes a timed final of the 1650y free, 200y back, 100y free, 200y breast, 200y fly, platform diving and the 400y free relay.
 
USC'S NCAA SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES
No. 15 USC, under 13th-year head coach Dave Salo, is one of only eight schools to have won an NCAA swimming and diving team title (1997). The Trojans have finished in the top 9 in eight nine of the past years. USC has finished third three times at the NCAAs, fourth four times and fifth three times among 29 top 10 finishes in 37 appearances since the first NCAA Championships in 1982 (including top 10s in 22 of the past 25 years). Troy owns 57 combined individual AIAW and NCAA titles (including two relays). Among those, 43 are NCAA titles, seventh most in the country. USC has 318 All-American honors in program history and at least one All-American each season since 1975 (when USC's women's records begin).
 
LOUISE HANSSON
USC junior Louise Hansson, a Swedish Olympian and national teamer and the defending NCAA champion in the 100y fly, is in the midst of one of the best seasons in school history … She is the top seed in the 100y fly thanks to her NCAA record 49.34 set en route to the 2019 Pac-12 title. She is also the top seed in the 200y fly with her 1:50.68, another Pac-12 winning time that broke Trojan great Katinka Hosszu's school record. Hansson is the fifth seed in the 200y IM with a 1:52.50, which accounted for Hansson's third Pac-12 crown this year … Hansson, in fact, became the first Trojan since Hosszu to win three Pac-12 titles in one season when she swept the aforementioned races. Her 49.34 to win the 100y fly broke the NCAA record held by Kelsi Worrell (49.43). In addition to the fly events, she holds USC records in the 100y (47.03) and 200y free (1:41.81) and the 100y back (50.74), the last of which she set leading off USC's 2019 Pac-12 400y medley relay. Hansson is also part of USC's school standards in the 400y free relay and the 200y and 400y medley relays … Hansson is just the seventh Trojan to win three conference titles in one year in the Pac-10/Pac-12 era, dating back to 1986. The other six were also Olympians (Hosszu in 2011 and 2012), diver Blythe Hartley and Kaitlin Sandeno (2003), Lindsay Benko (1999) and Kristine Quance (1997) … Hansson's 2018 NCAA title in the 100y fly was USC's first. If she were to win the 200y fly, it would be USC third in the race. Hosszu owns USC's first two (2011 and 2012). Hosszu won USC's last NCAA title in the 200y IM in 2011.
 
TROJANS AT THE NCAAs
USC Senior Riley Scott is seeking her first career NCAA A final. A two-time Pac-12 champion (once each in the 100y and 200y breast), she won the B final in the 100y breast last year. She is the 14^th seed in the 100y breast (59.37) and the 12^th seed in the 200y breast (2:07.78) … Maddie Wright, the only other USC senior swimmer headed to the NCAAs, is going for her third All-American honor in the 200y fly after a sixth in 2018 and a fifth in 2017 … Redshirt junior Kirsten Vose, injured last year, looks to score individually at the NCAAs for the third time and add to her five career All-American honors. She is the 17^th seed in the 100y breast (59.43) and is 30^th in the 200y breast (2:09.17) … Junior Tatum Wade is trying to score for the first time at NCAAs. She enters as the 19^th seed in the 200y IM (1:55.63), 20^th in the 200y free (1:44.20) and will also swim the 100y free … Freshman Maggie Aroesty won the 200y breast B final as a freshman and is looking to repeat as an individual scorer … Sophomore Marta Ciesla earned relay All-American honors last year and will be a key relay component this year as well. She just missed a scoring swim in the 50y free last year, finishing 18^th in prelims. She enters this year as the 13^th seed (21.85) and is 17^th in the 100y free (47.89) … Junior Catherine Sanchez returns to the NCAAs for the third year in a row, still searching for her first individual scoring swim. She is seeded highest in the 200y fly (28^th, 1:55.57). She also helped USC to consolation relay points as a sophomore … Sophomore Caitlin Tycz is back for her second NCAAs and is seeded 15^th in the 200y fly (1:54.89) and 30^th in the 100y fly (52.19) … Redshirt junior Hanni Leach, like Vose injured last year, will race on relays this year … Two freshman swimmers will make their debuts, New Zealand native Laticia Transom and Australian Jemma Schlicht. Both enrolled in the 2019 spring semester and had big meets at the Pac-12s. Schlicht is seeded 28^th in the 100y fly (52.13) and will also swim the 50y and 100y free … Transom is tied with Wade, seeded 19^th in the 200y free (1:44.20). She is also 21^st in the 100y free (48.14) and 32^nd in the 50y free (22.20) … USC will send three divers, led by junior Naomi Gowlett, who qualified on all three boards as she makes her NCAA debut. Senior Madi Witt and junior Carly Souza will also compete on platform, Witt in her fourth NCAA appearance, Souza in her second … USC's top-seeded relay is its fourth-seeded 800y free relay. Troy is seeded seventh in the 400y free relay and eighth in both the 200y and 400y medley relay.
 
 
SEASON NOTES

SMU CLASSIC TEXAS INVITATIONAL  
NEW ADDITIONS
Three women's swimmers will further bolster USC's spring efforts, led by junior transfer Courtney Caldwell (although she's battling injuries right now), who was an All-American sprinter at North Carolina state before joining the Trojans. Also competing this semester is Australian sophomore freestyler and butterflyer Jemma Schlicht as well as New Zealand freshman sprinter Laticia Transom, who has been competing in Australia.