Jan. 24, 2004
BERKELEY, Calif. - Arizona State's swimming and diving teams wrapped up their Northern California trip on Saturday with both suffering setbacks against the undefeated California squads. The No. 15 Sun Devil men's team dropped a 166-128 decision to the No. 4 Golden Bears while the No. 20 ASU women's squad was on the short side of a 185-110 scoreline against No. 8 Cal. Both meets were conducted in short course meters.
Sophomore All-American diver Joona Puhakka swept the diving events for the Arizona State men, winning the 1-meter with a score of 388.58 and the 3-meter with an effort of 369.68. Junior Gordon Blukis finished second on the 3-meter (291.38) and sophomore Brant Bingham was third on the 1-meter (318.30). Bingham's score is a new personal best by over 25 points.
In the swimming pool, senior All-American Nick Brunelli captured the 200 freestyle by over a second, touching the wall in 1:49.78, a season best and a NCAA consideration time. Brunelli also finished third in the 50 freestyle (22.72) and fourth in the 100 freestyle (50.70).
Second-place finishes for ASU were recorded by senior All-American Ahmed Hussein in both the 100 backstroke (55.92) and 200 backstroke (2:00.29), junior Emerson Ward in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.05), sophomore All-American David Kolozar in the 200 butterfly (1:58.35), sophomore Leonardo Martins in the 200 breaststroke (2:17.29), junior Jeff Barrett in the 400 freestyle (4:05.76), and junior Evan Rahaeuser in the 200 IM (2:05.54).
On the women's side, the Sun Devil divers dominated the field, finishing 1-2-3 on the 3-meter and 1-2 on the 1-meter. The 3-meter finished with sophomore All-American Trisha Tumlinson in first (294.90), senior Jessica Stenson in second (259.95) and freshman Cassidy Farwell in third (257.93). The 1-meter again went to Tumlinson (282.97) with Stenson behind her (237.23).
In the swimming pool for the women, freshman Christine Creek swept the breaststroke events for the Sun Devils, clocking a 1:12.59 in the 100 and 2:34.23 in the 200.
Junior All-American Florencia Szigeti won the 50 freestyle with a time of 26.32. She also earned second-place in the 100 freestyle (56.70) and third in the 200 freestyle (2:01.37).
Other top-three finishes for ASU included sophomore Erin Baldinger in the 100 backstroke (1:04.81), senior All-American Petra Banovic in the 200 butterfly (2:19.19) and the 400 freestyle (4:20.68), senior Brianna Patterson in the 200 breaststroke (2:35.40) and sophomore Sally Brown in the 200 IM (2:22.42).
ASU's swimming and diving teams will wrap up the regular season with a dual meet at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center on February 14, when the Sun Devils host rival Arizona at 1 p.m.