USC Men's Swimming Headed To Houston For Pac-12 Championships

HOW TO WATCH | LIVE RESULTS | PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS CENTRAL

The USC men's swim team, led by repeat Pac-12 finalists Nikola Miljenic and Mario Koenigsperger, travel to Houston, Texas to compete at the 2021 Pac-12 Swimming Championships starting Feb. 28 and continuing through March 3. 
 
The four-day meet will be hosted at the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center on the University of Houston's campus. All finals sessions throughout the week will be streamed or televised (schedule below).
 
PAC-12 MEN'S DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS RECAP
At the 2021 Pac-12 Men's Diving Championships, hosted in Tucson, Ariz., Sophomore George Korovin reached the A-finals in all three events to lead the Trojans. The Russia native finished fourth on both 3-meter (373.45) and platform (357.55), and eighth on 1M (287.55). 
 
In his Pac-12 Diving Championship debut, freshman Tatsuya Machida was seventh on platform (258.55), 11th on the 3-meter (215.30) and 12th on 1-meter (221.75).
 
Both Korovin and Machida's points will be added to USC's overall team score, before the swimming championships kick off. 

 
2021 PAC-12 MEN'S SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS – SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Sunday, Feb. 28
4:00 p.m. (PT) – Timed Finals
(800y free relay, 400 medley relay) 
 
Monday, March 1
9 a.m. (PT) – Prelims
4 p.m. (PT) – Finals
(500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, 200 free relay)
 
Tuesday, March 2
9 a.m. (PT) – Prelims
4:30 p.m. (PT) – Finals
(400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 200 medley relay)
 
Wednesday, March 3
8 a.m. (PT) – Prelims
4:30 p.m. (PT) – Finals
(200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, 400 free relay) 
 
 
PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS NOTES
The Trojans, who in 2015 won their first Pac-12 title since 1979 with a program record 818.5 points, finished second in 2016 and third in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, USC finished fifth and won two events including the 100y breast and 500y free, and in 2020 the Trojans finished sixth with 318.5 points… At the 2020 Pac-12 Championships, USC's Henry Fusaro took home the Pac-12 Swim/Dive Scholar Athlete of the Year award and then junior Nikola Miljenic helped the Trojans secure points in multiple A finals … USC, which has 18 Pac-12 team titles overall, came from behind in 2015 on the final night to overtake Stanford (809.5) while defending champion California was third (673). The last time the meet had been decided by nine or less points was 1999, when Stanford edged Cal by eight points … Until 2020, USC had won at least one Pac-12 individual title for 23 consecutive seasons (1997-2019) … USC has 255 individual conference crowns overall ... USC had its conference-best streak of seven Pac-12 200y free titles in row snapped in 2017 but has still claimed it 12 times since 1997 … Before its win in the 400y free relay in 2018, USC last won relay titles in 2015 when it captured the 400y and 800y free relays and the 400y medley relay. Troy has never won a title in the 200y medley relay.
 
Junior Alexei Sancov looks to win his first Pac-12 Title, boasting the second fastest times in both the 200y IM (1:43.92) and 200y free (1:33.79), entering the meet.
 
Team captain Nikola Miljenic holds the third fastest time in the 100y free (43.05), fourth fastest time in the 50y free (19.94) and sixth fastest time in the 100y fly (46.66.) Sophomore Harry Homans sits right behind him, with the seventh fastest time in the 100y fly, a 46.82. Homans is also sixth in the 200y fly with an NCAA B cut time of 1:44.09. 
 

BROADCAST INFO – How to Watch
Fans will be able to watch all finals sessions of the Pac-12 Championships either through the Pac-12 Now App, Pac-12.com or over the linear Pac-12 Network. For the most up-to-date information for how to watch, visit Pac-12.com. Rich Burk and Amy Van Dyken will have the call all week from Houston.
 

So far this season: 
The men's team kicked off the season with an intra-squad meet that was full of competition. Newcomers Billy Cruz Zuniga (50y free – 20.67), Harry Homans (200y back – 1:46.72), and Justin Lum (200y breast – 2:03.41) all posted individual wins during their Trojan debuts. 
 
2020 CSCAA All-American Alexei Sancov dominated the 200y free, finishing in 1:37.54 while junior Jackson Odgers took the 400 IM in 4:06.87.

Against Cal (Jan. 29-30), Homans won the 400y IM in 3:51.12 for a PR. Other wins against Cal included Sancov's 200y free (1:33.79) and Miljenics 100y free (43.05.) 

The USC diving program opened their 2021 season against Cal Friday (Jan. 29), where sophomore George Korovin won both the men's platform (383.63) and 3-meter (382.50) competition.  Freshman Tatsuya Machida was second on platform with 255.60 and third on 3-meter with 247.50. 
 
Two weeks later, USC hosted Utah, where the Trojans posted seven event wins to defeat the Utes 160-94. The win marked the first dual-meet win for the Trojans since 2019. 
 
Homans posted a pair of individual wins, taking the 200y back (1:43.68) and 200y IM (1:49.08) against Utah. Sancov won the 100y fly in 46.43, Koenigsperger the 200y breast in 1:57.82 and Margarino in the 500y free in 4:26.90.   
 
STAY POSTED
For complete coverage of Trojan swimming and diving, follow @USCSwim on Twitter and Instagram. 
 
Live Results click here. For the Pac-12 Record Book click here.