With both teams coming off strong dual meet wins the night before, the showdown between #1 USC and #2 Stanford was highly anticipated. With the home pool advantage, and swimmers fresh in their main events, Stanford had the edge over USC today winning 158-137, giving the Cardinal Seniors something to celebrate on their Senior Day.

Right off the blocks, Stanford edged USC in the 400 medley relay. With a strong breakstroke leg from Freshman Sarah Haase and a great closing 100 by Senior Andi Murez to finish 3:36.22 to USC’s 3:37.44.

Haley Anderson repeated her performances yesterday with the top time in the 1000 freestyle, 9:53.52, and 500 4:46.71. Andie Taylor fell a little short of Haley’s pace in the 1000 to finish second at 9:55.07, but led a Cardinal 2-4 finish in that event. Taylor would find herself as the top finish by almost two seconds later in the meet over USC’s Megan Hawthorne and Anderson in the 200 fly, finishing 1:58.53

In a three way race in the 200 freestyle, Murez used her pure speed to finish the last 50 and finish on top at 1:47.06 over Lynette Lim, 1:47.90 and Jasmine Tosky, 1:48.22. Riding off her success from the night before, Felicia Lee broke her own pool record again with a 52.90 100 backstroke, with her teammate Annemarie Thayer second at 54.02. Lee also won the 100 butterfly over Stewart and Tosky. That should be a good three way show-down come the PAC-12 Championships and NCAA Final (if Tosky swims that event), plus whichever Cal Bear (probably Rachel Bootsma) Teri McKeever decides to throw in there.

In a tight 100 breaststroke battle, Haase upset Carlson by .27 of a second 1:00.64 to 1:00.91. Stanford seemed to be on point with their sprinting lately, and Maddy Schaefer beat the entire field by over a second in the 50 free. She built on that 22.48 finish into her 100 freestyle, toping the field again at 49.00, but had a tighter battle with her own teammate Andi Murez finish a close second about .2 behind.

By this point Stanford was riding the momentum, and turned in a 1-2-3 sweep in the 200 backstroke. Maya DiRado took the event in 1:56.01, with Megan Fischer-Colbrie, 1:56.76 in second, and Thayer, 1:58.04 in third. USC’s best finisher was Kendyl Stewart in 4th. The Trojans were able to top the 200 breaststroke when Andrea Kropp edged up Katie Olsen.

By the final two events of the meet, Stanford had clinched the meet. Exhibitioning their swims at that point, DiRado finished in the fastest time of 4:11.12, but Stina Gardell finished first in 4:13.55. Same happened again in the 200 freestyle relay, with Cardinal A finishing with the top time, but USC A taking the top spot.

The Cardinal will take on fellow Bay Area rival Cal next, while USC will battle fellow SoCal foe UCLA before focusing on the PAC-12 & NCAA Championships.

Full meet results available here.