Men's Swimming & Diving | March 28, 2019

Senior Carsten Vissering posted a blistering 49.91 breaststroke leg to lead the USC men's swimming and diving team's sixth-place 400y medley relay and also anchored the Trojans' scoring 200y free relay on Thursday (March 28) at the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas.
 
The Trojans finished the first full day of swimming in 15^th with 32 points, powered by their two relay results today. California leads the team competition with 212 points with Texas second (188), Indiana third (155) and North Carolina State fourth (136).
 
Vissering, the second seed in Friday's 100y breast final, joined senior backstroke leadoff Patrick Mulcare (46.25), senior butterflyer Alex Valente (45.51) and sophomore sprinter Nikola Miljenic (42.58) to post a 3:04.25, just 0.09 off their season-best prelim swim that earned the fifth seed.
 
Vissering, USC's record holder in the 100y breast (50.78), joined Indiana's Ian Finnerty (49.60) and Minnesota's Max McHugh (49.97) as the only sub-50 breaststroke legs. Finnerty is the top seed in the 100y breast.
 
Valente earned his first career All-American honor as part of the medley relay, as did the Miljenic in his first year with the Trojans. Mulcare, a three-time 200y back All-American, earned his second career relay All-American notice, the first coming in USC's 2017 800y free relay.
 
The Trojans also scored in the 200y free relay as Miljenic (19.54), senior Kyle Grissom (19.23), freshman Alexei Sancov (19.44) and Vissering (19.36) finished sixth in the B final in 1:17.57, 0.04 off their prelim effort, also a season best.  The relay was ranked 22^nd coming into the day, but finished 14^th overall.
 
Grissom made his NCAA Championships individual debut today, finishing 26^th in the 50y free in 19.40, 0.05 off his lifetime best. Miljenic debuted individually as well, taking 29^th in 19.45, 0.10 off his best.
 
Trojan freshman Victor Johansson swam in the 500y free and finished 30^th in 4:17.01.
 
The championships continue Friday and Saturday with prelims at 8 a.m. PT and finals at 4 p.m. PT.