November 19, 1998
TEMPE, Ariz - The Arizona State University men's swimming and diving team, (1-1), heads to Lincoln, Neb., this weekend for a pair of meets - The Adidas Sprint Classic (Fri., Nov. 20) and The Huskers Shoot Out (Sat.-Sun., Nov. 21-22) - before returning home for a dual meet against the Auburn Tigers on Mon., Nov. 23 at 3 p.m. at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center on the campus of Arizona State University.
LAST WEEK: The Arizona State men's swimming and diving squad dropped a 134.5-87.5 decision to the Southern California Trojans. The men were led by senior all-America Francisco Sanchez who recorded first-place finishes in the 50 free (19.98) and the 100 free (43.71). Others who placed in the top three for the Devils included Matt Carter (second, 9:17.58, 1000 free and third, 4:30.98, 500 free), Robert Delgado and Pablo Abal (second, 20.23, and third, 20.84, respectively in the 50 free) and Christian Jacobson (second, 1:50.06, 200 back).
ABOUT THIS WEEK'S MEETS: The Adidas Sprint Classic features all regular strokes, but with distances non-traditional to the collegiate level. All races will be cut in half, except for the relay events (the meet will feature a 200-yard medley relay and 200-yard freestyle relay), and the diving competition, which will consist of four voluntary dives. Three different freestyle races will be contested, including the 25-, 50-, and 100-yard freestyle races. The Husker Shoot Out features a 21-event format that is designed to give each team an opportunity to score points. There will be two scoring heats for each event (one final, one consolation final). Each school automatically enters one swimmer in the final of the event, and another in the consolation final of the event. Scoring in the finals is 16-11-10-9-8, while the consolation finals are scored 6-4-3-2-1. A team's top-two swimmers in each event will get the opportunity to go head-to-head with the opposition's top two, which lends to the term "Shoot Out."
HEAD COACH MICHAEL CHASSON ON THIS WEEK'S MEETS: "I think the team competed real well against USC last week. We had a lot of great races, a lot of season bests. It was a good meet, but we just didn't have enough horses to keep it closer. I coached in the Pac-10 for three years with Stanford and so the level of (Pac-10) competition came as no big surprise to me."
"The (Adidas) Sprint Meet is fun for our sprinters to go and have a good time and swim fast. It is an enjoyable thing and they get rewarded for doing well. As for the Huskers Shoot Out, it is a chance to get a lot of races in. These are guys who maybe didn't get to swim at USC or that I think need more race experience and so I'm having them swim this extra meet. Hopefully it will make them better swimmers by the end of the year. I'm not looking at the team aspect in these particular meets. Instead I'm looking at individuals in terms of performance and getting race experience."
"Auburn is going to be a great meet. I'm hoping it will be as close as possible. They are strong in the sprints and we are strong in the sprints. I think we are better in distance. They might have some better stroke people than we do. It will be a good meet. It will be fun."