Women's Swimming & Diving | March 23, 2019

Junior Louise Hansson won her second NCAA title in as many days, capturing the 200-yard butterfly to become the third-fastest woman ever in the race while senior Maddie Wright posted her third career top 6 finish in the event for USC's final-day fireworks at the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday (March 23) in Austin, Texas.
 
The Trojans finished 10^th overall with 159 points, USC's 30^th NCAA top 10 finish and 10^th in the last 11 years. Stanford won the team title (456.5) with California second (419) and followed by Michigan (314), Louisville (235), Texas (190.5), Virginia (188), North Carolina State (187.5), Tennessee (185), Indiana (179) and USC.
 
Hansson upset Stanford's two-time defending champion Ella Eastin and lowered her school record by 0.40 to do it, hitting the wall in 1:50.28, 0.18 ahead of the Cardinal senior. The title is USC's first in the race since Trojan great Katinka Hosszu won it in back-to-back years (2011-12).
 
Her pair of wins this week give the USC program 45 NCAA titles and 59 national titles overall.
 
Hansson, coming off her NCAA record 100y fly on Friday, sprinted to the halfway lead in 51.81 with Cal's Katie McLaughlin second (52.42) and Eastin third (52.93). Hansson turned at the 150 wall at 1:20.33 with McLaughlin still second (1:20.79) and Eastin at 1:21.20.
 
The Swedish national teamer Hansson turned home at the 175 mark with Eastin now second, but had enough of a cushion to hold off the charging Cardinal swimmer.
 
"After looking at the splits, I for sure went out a little too fast and I definitely felt it the last 50, but I'm just embracing my natural speed," said Hansson, who was third as a sophomore. "My body is like, 'It's a 100 fly, even though it's not'. I was happy that I was able to hold it together the whole race.
 
"I knew Ella was going to come. She's a great back half swimmer and it wasn't a surprise when I started to see her, so I was happy to hold her off. I knew I could go that time, but I was happy that I could perform at this meet. It's not always that you get the time you want."
 
Wright finished sixth with a personal best 1:52.26, lowering her best time for the second time this season after a 1:52.48 at the Texas Invitational. Wright, also sixth as a junior and fifth as a sophomore, is USC's first swimmer to earn three consecutive All-American honors in the race since Hosszu did it four years in a row (2009-12).
 
USC closed the meet with its third B final relay win of the meet as Hansson, junior Tatum Wade and freshmen Jemma Schlicht and Laticia Transom won in 3:11.62, coming from behind over the final 50 yards for the win in USC's sixth-fastest time ever.
 
The quartet just missed earning a swim in the A final, it's prelim 3:12.59 a mere 0.01 back of Virginia's eighth-place time. USC also won the 200y free and 400y medley relays earlier in the meet and appeared to tie for first in the 200y medley relay Friday night but was disqualified for an early jump.
 
Redshirt junior Kirsten Vose posted her second career scoring swim in the 200y breast, finishing fifth in the B final in 2:08.87 after a season-best 2:08.51 in prelims.
 
Junior Carly Souza made her NCAA scoring debut Saturday thanks to a ninth-place five-round prelim performance of 265.90 points, just 8.20 out of eighth. She climbed from 22^nd to ninth on her final dive that tallied 67.20 points. She ultimately finished eighth in the consolation final with 215.90 points, 16^th overall. Her one point enabled USC to reach the top 10.
 
Junior Catherine Sanchez came close to securing her first career NCAA scoring swim in the morning, her 18^th-place finish in 1:55.87 still a career-best NCAA result.
 
Senior Riley Scott was another close call for the Trojans, finishing 20^th in the 200y breast in 2:09.09, four spots out of a B final appearance. Sophomore Maggie Aroesty was 59^th in the race (2:15.01). Sophomore Caitlin Tycz finished 33^rd in the 200y fly (1:56.75). Transom (48.55) and Schlicht (48.64) finished 24^th and 27^th, respectively, in the 100y free while sophomore Marta Ciesla was 41^st (49.54).