USC Women End Stanford Reign in NCAA Swimming

Lindsay Benko and Kristine Quance led USC to its first women’s NCAA swimming and diving championship on Saturday, 11 points ahead of five-time defending champion Stanford.

“Stanford is a dynasty,” USC Coach Mark Schubert said. “Any time you can get close to them, you’ve done a good job. We had the right meet at the right time.”

Nobody had a better meet for the Trojans than Quance and Benko.

Quance won the 200 breaststroke for her eighth individual title in four years, and Benko came from behind to win the 200 backstroke for her fourth NCAA win in two years. Both won twice during the three-day meet at the Indiana University Natatorium.

USC finished with 406 points, including 57 apiece from Benko and Quance. Stanford was second with 395, followed by Southern Methodist (353.5), Arizona (351.5) and Georgia (312).

Benko’s victory in the 200 backstroke came over an old rival from northern Indiana. The Elkhart, Ind., native beat SMU sophomore Lia Oberstar of Fort Wayne by .10 seconds with a time of 1 minute 54.42 seconds.

Quance also came from behind to win the 200 breaststroke in a pool-record 2:09.62.

“I was just so pleased we were able to do this before our two seniors graduated, Kristine Quance and Hope Gittings,” said Schubert, who was named coach of the year. “I’m so happy we could do this for them tonight.”

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Kenyon College won its 18th consecutive title in NCAA Division III men’s swimming and diving at Oxford, Ohio. UC San Diego was second.