Utah’s Men’s Swimmers and Divers Visit USC on Friday

Friday, February 10

Los Angeles, CA

2:00 PM

University of Utah

USC

Utah’s Men’s Swimmers and Divers Visit USC on Friday

2/8/2023 12:44 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving

Utes face Trojans in final meet before Pac-12 Championships

SALT LAKE CITY – It's nearly time to get the postseason started for the University of Utah swimming and diving team, but first Utah's men's swimmers and divers will compete in one final dual meet against the USC Trojans, who will host the Utes on Friday for a 2 p.m. meet at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center in Los Angeles.

"The guys are really excited about the meet," said head coach Jonas Persson. "We certainly have a chance to win the meet, but its going to be really tight and everyone will have to be on their "A" game. I think the guys know that and they're starting their rest for conference, so they'll be sharp. This will be their last meet before our conference championships, so they'll be fired up and ready to go."

The Trojans defeated the Utes in each of the last two seasons, but Utah will be looking for a result similar to their 164-91 win over USC in 2020. Two of the swimmers who led the Utes to victory on that day were Finn O'Haimhirgin, who took the top spot in the 200 freestyle, and Jaek Horner, thanks to a time of 2:02.73 that put him in first in the 200 breaststroke.

Last Time Out
Utah's divers are coming off a weekend at the Air Force Diving Invite where they put together some of their best performances of the season and Jenner Pennock, Luke McDivitt, Ben Smyth and Jake Suchowski all did quality work. McDivitt's diving was good enough for him to grab third in both the 3m and the platform, while Pennock's score of 350.00 in the latter event put him second and went down as a new personal-best. Jake Suchowski set a personal-best of his own in the 3m and Ben Smyth recorded 363.95 points in that competition to take home fifth.

For Utah's men's swimmers, this will be their first chance to get back in the pool since they scored a 163-137 win over BYU on Jan. 28. One of the stars on that day was Evan VanBrocklin, who swam into first place in the 200 butterfly, 500 freestyle and 200 individual medley and it was that last triumph that clinched a win for the Utes. Marko Kovacic, Andrei Ungur, O'Haimhirgin and Horner all scored individual wins of their own and Utah came out on top in both relays to turn away the Cougars.

"We're going to swim against a very well-coached USC team," said Persson. They have a lot of talent on their team, but so do we and its going to be fun to see how we step up. We're also going to swim in a very fast pool that is outside, so that's exciting and very challenging. We're excited and can't wait to go and this will say a lot about how conference is going to go as well."

Looking Ahead
The next stop for the Utes is Federal Way, Wash., the site of the 2023 Pac-12 Diving and Women's Swimming Championships, which will take place on Feb. 22-25.

Follow the Utes!
For fans of the Utah men's/women's swimming and diving programs, follow the Utes on Twitter (@UTAHswimdive), Instagram (@utahswimdive) and Facebook (@UtahUtesSwimDive).