This Saturday, No. 19 men’s swimming (3-0, 2-0 Pac-12) will take on USC (0-3, 0-2 Pac-12) in Los Angeles on the Trojans’ senior day. This will mark the second-to-last meet of the regular season.

Two weeks ago, Stanford went head-to-head with No. 11 Arizona and No. 13 Arizona State. Despite their lower ranking, the Cardinal came up big and defeated both. 

Carrying momentum from last weekend’s wins, the Cardinal are in good shape to come out on top this weekend. Stanford has not lost to USC since 2016, and the Trojans have lost to both Arizona schools earlier this season.

Look to seniors Will MacMillan, Hank Poppe and Grant Shoults to have big impacts this weekend. Against the Arizona schools, MacMillan recorded three individual event victories in freestyle and butterfly events.

Poppe has yet to lose a 100 breaststroke race this season, and has contributed in both butterfly and freestyle events. Shoults has also had a strong season. Against the Arizona schools, he won the 200, 500 and 1,000 freestyle, and he has scored in the 200 butterfly as well.

The Trojans are led by sophomore freestyler and butterflier Alexei Sancov, who swam for Moldova in the 2016 Olympics. Victor Johansson will also likely put up strong performances in distance freestyle for USC.

After this weekend, the Cardinal will go up against No. 2 Cal on Feb. 22 as the last dual meet of the season, followed by Pac-12 Championships the next weekend.

Saturday’s meet kicks off at noon in Los Angeles.

Contact Natalie Hilderbrand at nhild ‘at’ stanford.edu