USC Women's Swimming Duels With Stanford For Pac-12 Title

After three days of competition, it's down to #1 USC and #2 Stanford for the Pac-12 women's swimming title. Stanford holds a narrow eight-point lead over USC going into the final day of competition, with Cal in third place 62 points back.

So far, three USC swimmers have won individual conference titles at the meet. First was USC's top swimmer, Haley Anderson, who won the 500yd freestyle on Thursday in a time of 4:38.79. Anderson is the reigning NCAA champion in this event, and this is her sixth conference title. On Friday, freshman Kendyl Stewart and junior Kasey Carlson won their first Pac-12 titles, with Stewart taking the 100yd butterfly in 51.32 and Carlson the 100yd breaststroke in 59.22.

USC started the third day of competition trailing by about forty points, but was able to bridge the gap by qualifying four swimmers in the "A" Final of the 400 yd IM, who finished third through sixth. That huge chunk of points put USC in the lead for much of the day, but Stanford responded with a strong showing in the 100yd backstroke, which gave them the narrow lead at the end of the day's competition.

USC's only defeat this season came at the hands of Stanford on February 2, when they lost 158-137. Stanford was set to take the #1 national ranking from SC, but the Women of Troy held onto it when Stanford fell to #4 Cal the following week.

Here are the events on tap for the final day of the conference meet, and who won the event in the Stanford-USC dual meet:

1650yd Freestyle -- This event was held at the dual meet, but Haley Anderson won the 1000yd event by 1.5 seconds.

200yd Backstroke -- Stanford did a 1-2-3 sweep in this event, led by junior Maya Dirado

100yd Freestyle -- Stanford did a 1-2 finish, with sophomore Maddy Schaefer finishing in 49 seconds flat.

200yd Breaststroke -- USC freshman Andrea Kropp beat out Stanford by 0.8 seconds

200yd Butterfly -- Stanford junior Andie Taylor beat out three USC swimmers by 1.5 seconds.

Platform diving and 400yd freestyle relay will also be held. Neither event was held at the dual meet.

Stanford has the edge going into the final day, so it will be up to USC to perform up to their billing to win the program's first conference title since 1985. Don't be surprised if it comes down to these two schools again at the NCAA championships in a few weeks.

Good luck, Women of Troy!

FIGHT ON!