TEMPE, Ariz. -- After a highlight victory over the University of Arizona in early February, the Arizona State men's swim team will roll their intensity into Federal Way, Wash. for the Pac-12 Championships starting Wednesday, March 2.
The Sun Devils moved into the College Swimming Coaches of America (CSCAA) rankings at No. 20 last week, and this time will have an opportunity to upset the No. 17 Wildcats for an always crucial Territorial Cup point.
"The men have performed on a much higher level in training since the Arizona dual meet," said head coach Bob Bowman. "I'm really looking forward to the meet this week and expect to see improvements on our times.
"We will focus on our swims and doing the best job we can each race and let the scores and placings take care of themselves."
The field will also include some of the top schools in the country, including No. 2 California, No. 9 USC, No. 11 Stanford and unranked Utah.
Junior Olympic hopeful Richard Bohus has been a lightning rod for the Sun Devil men, providing extra depth in the sprints along with redshirt sophomore Patrick Park and fellow junior Barkley Perry.
Against Arizona, Bohus broke the ASU record in the 100-yard backstroke that he set himself just last year with a time of 46.74.
In six of his nine events since returning from injury, the Hungary-native has touched the wall first while coming in second in the other three.
His 50- and 100-yard freestyle partner, Park, has been on a roll since the season began. In his six 100-yard freestyle races leading up to Wyoming, which is when Bohus returned, Park had won all six. The pair went 1-2 against both Wyoming and Stanford.
In one of his other primary swims -- the 200-yard butterfly -- Park has been outstanding, tallying seven victories in nine events this season. He currently holds the 21st-fastest time in the country in the event with a 1:43.32 set against Arizona.
As mentioned, Perry has also been a force to be reckoned with for the Devis. In his main event, the men's 200-yard backstroke, Perry has been nearly perfect with first-place times in seven of nine events as well. He even tied the ASU school record -- which he set at the 2015 Pac-12 Championships -- in the event against the Wildcats earlier this month with a time of 1:42.50, which sits at 36th on the best marks of the season.
Sophomore Christian Lorenz will also be looking to make a splash at the conference meet after doing big things down the stretch of the regular season, especially against U of A. Of the five records set in early February by the men, Lorenz was responsible for two of them.
Lorenz broke the men's 100 and 200 breaststroke records set by teammate Thibaut Capitaine. His time of 53.18 in the men's 100 was .03 seconds faster, while his 1:54.10 in the 200 was nearly an entire second better.
Fellow teammates like Tadas Duskinas, Thomaz Martins, Reid Elliott, Danny Comforti and Juan Garcia Mesa will also need to be contributors in the sprints for the Sun Devils to compete well by week's end.
Kyle Sockwell, Juan Tolosa and Tim Schade will hold down the mid- to long-distance events for the men as well.
Coverage will be tape delayed on Pac-12 Networks beginning on March 4-6 at 10 a.m. PT/11 a.m. MT.