TEMPE, Ariz. -- Christian Lorenz's college swimming career is following a remarkably similar path to his prep swimming career.
In his freshman year at Avon (Indiana) High School, the team sent one swimmer to the state meet. By his senior season, Avon was the state runner-up.
In his freshman year with the Sun Devils men's team, ASU sent one swimmer to the NCAA meet. Last season, with Lorenz a junior, the Sun Devils finished 14th with 100 points. Lorenz hopes to help the Sun Devils improve on that showing in his final year on the team.
"It would be great for the future of the program, great for our senior class and great for the people below us," he said. "The big goal my freshman year was to beat Utah and I remember it being a big deal when it happened. Those were good times, but it's not the way any high performance program should be.
"Now we're ranked No. 10 in the nation. This is more like it."
Lorenz's own progression has mirrored that of his team. As a freshman, he placed eighth in the 100 breaststroke and 10th in 200 breaststroke at Pac-12 Championships. The following year, he took third in the 200 breast at the conference meet, and then took 22nd in the 200 breast and 35th in the 100 breast at the NCAA meet.
He took third again last season in the 200 breast at the Pac-12 meet, but last month, Lorenz was named Pac-12 Men's Swimmer of the Month after posting three first-place and three second-place finishes. At the midseason Texas Invitational, he set a new ASU record and posted the top time in the NCAA in the 200-yard breaststroke (1:53.54, which is now the fourth best). He was also part of an NCAA "A" cut 400 medley relay team, as well as "B" cuts with the 200 medley relay team and in two individual events (100, 200 breast) at the Texas Invitational.
He was one of two Sun Devil men to win multiple events against No. 10 USC on Nov. 3, winning the 100 breast (55.53) and 200 breast (2:00.34) and swimming a leg of the winning 400 medley relay (3:13:21).
"It's been a steady progression for the most part, but definitely a bigger jump so far this season," he said. "I was expecting to swim fast at Texas but not necessarily school-record fast."
Lorenz's path to ASU seemed like a foregone conclusion out of high school. He was born in Scottsdale, and although he moved to Indiana when he was 4, his dad, Vernon, and sister, Sarah, are both Sun Devil alumni.
With the program still recovering from budget cuts, however, Lorenz initially gave a verbal commitment to, gulp, Arizona in 2014. When Wildcat head coach Eric Hansen took a leave of absence, Lorenz altered course and came to ASU. One year later, Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson hired Bob Bowman as the Sun Devils' head coach.
"That was a wild turn of events," Lorenz said, laughing. "We found out over Twitter because, of course, the press got to it before anybody could talk to us. Someone posted it on our Facebook group and I commented on it. I said: 'There is no way. Someone made a fake article and they're just pulling our leg.'
"A week or two after that, you go from seeing Bob and Michael Phelps at swim meets and being scared to be around them because of what they have accomplished, to sitting down and Bob talking to you about the future of the program. It was a shock, but a cool shock and adjustment."
Bowman and Lorenz have worked on the details of his stroke and his overall approach to swimming, but over the past couple seasons, Lorenz has worked more closely with Sun Devils' assistant Derek Schmitt.
"He's a very good kicker, which in the breast stroke is hugely important -- probably more than other strokes -- and consistency is definitely one of his biggest strength. He gives his best effort at most meets," Schmitt said. "What we're working on now is his underwater pullout at the start of the race and off the wall -- making that faster and more efficient to get to the surface.
"The second thing we're doing is looking at videotape of every race and analyzing the splits to see if maybe we have to attack the first half more, or alter the second half to achieve his goals. That is what takes swimmers to the next level: understanding their racing tendencies. He does a really good job of giving me feedback on what he thinks and I'll process that and we work on it together."
Lorenz can't imagine a coach pushing him harder than Schmitt.
"Today was pretty gnarly," he said Thursday. "Derek hits all the things you need to hit to go into a meet with confidence. He's a technical genius. He can pick out the smallest details to help you.
"I did an open turn the other day and my head was above the water for like one second and he yelled something at me to correct while I was swimming. He's vigilant; giving us the best opportunity to go to our big meets and perform well."
The Sun Devils still have about 2½ months before the Pac-12 Championships in Federal Way, Washington, and three months before the NCAA meet in Minneapolis. They are in the midst of winter training without school, before taking a short holiday break.
Once the New Year dawns, the challenges come in staccato fashion with meets against No. 1 Cal (Jan. 19), No. 5 Stanford (Jan. 20), No. 2 Texas (Jan. 26), and No. 16 Arizona (Feb. 3), before the championship meets come into view.
"My last two years at NCAA's have not been very impressive," Lorenz said. "I'm hoping for some top-8 finishes in relays and individually.
"As a team, if we can get 10th or squeak into 9 or 8, that will be a great accomplishment."
Lorenz is due to earn a degree in kinesiology and graduate in May, with an eye toward working in the biotech field or coaching. He hadn't considered continuing his swimming career past ASU until recently.
"I have started to slowly be coaxed by a couple people on the team to maybe look towards summer season and how that could go, but I'm not sure if that will happen," he said. "I'm hoping this will end well at NCAA's and if that goes well, who knows, maybe I'll have motivation to make it through another summer and see what comes after that."
In his freshman year at Avon (Indiana) High School, the team sent one swimmer to the state meet. By his senior season, Avon was the state runner-up.
In his freshman year with the Sun Devils men's team, ASU sent one swimmer to the NCAA meet. Last season, with Lorenz a junior, the Sun Devils finished 14th with 100 points. Lorenz hopes to help the Sun Devils improve on that showing in his final year on the team.
"It would be great for the future of the program, great for our senior class and great for the people below us," he said. "The big goal my freshman year was to beat Utah and I remember it being a big deal when it happened. Those were good times, but it's not the way any high performance program should be.
"Now we're ranked No. 10 in the nation. This is more like it."
Lorenz's own progression has mirrored that of his team. As a freshman, he placed eighth in the 100 breaststroke and 10th in 200 breaststroke at Pac-12 Championships. The following year, he took third in the 200 breast at the conference meet, and then took 22nd in the 200 breast and 35th in the 100 breast at the NCAA meet.
He took third again last season in the 200 breast at the Pac-12 meet, but last month, Lorenz was named Pac-12 Men's Swimmer of the Month after posting three first-place and three second-place finishes. At the midseason Texas Invitational, he set a new ASU record and posted the top time in the NCAA in the 200-yard breaststroke (1:53.54, which is now the fourth best). He was also part of an NCAA "A" cut 400 medley relay team, as well as "B" cuts with the 200 medley relay team and in two individual events (100, 200 breast) at the Texas Invitational.
He was one of two Sun Devil men to win multiple events against No. 10 USC on Nov. 3, winning the 100 breast (55.53) and 200 breast (2:00.34) and swimming a leg of the winning 400 medley relay (3:13:21).
"It's been a steady progression for the most part, but definitely a bigger jump so far this season," he said. "I was expecting to swim fast at Texas but not necessarily school-record fast."
Lorenz's path to ASU seemed like a foregone conclusion out of high school. He was born in Scottsdale, and although he moved to Indiana when he was 4, his dad, Vernon, and sister, Sarah, are both Sun Devil alumni.
With the program still recovering from budget cuts, however, Lorenz initially gave a verbal commitment to, gulp, Arizona in 2014. When Wildcat head coach Eric Hansen took a leave of absence, Lorenz altered course and came to ASU. One year later, Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson hired Bob Bowman as the Sun Devils' head coach.
"That was a wild turn of events," Lorenz said, laughing. "We found out over Twitter because, of course, the press got to it before anybody could talk to us. Someone posted it on our Facebook group and I commented on it. I said: 'There is no way. Someone made a fake article and they're just pulling our leg.'
"A week or two after that, you go from seeing Bob and Michael Phelps at swim meets and being scared to be around them because of what they have accomplished, to sitting down and Bob talking to you about the future of the program. It was a shock, but a cool shock and adjustment."
Bowman and Lorenz have worked on the details of his stroke and his overall approach to swimming, but over the past couple seasons, Lorenz has worked more closely with Sun Devils' assistant Derek Schmitt.
"He's a very good kicker, which in the breast stroke is hugely important -- probably more than other strokes -- and consistency is definitely one of his biggest strength. He gives his best effort at most meets," Schmitt said. "What we're working on now is his underwater pullout at the start of the race and off the wall -- making that faster and more efficient to get to the surface.
"The second thing we're doing is looking at videotape of every race and analyzing the splits to see if maybe we have to attack the first half more, or alter the second half to achieve his goals. That is what takes swimmers to the next level: understanding their racing tendencies. He does a really good job of giving me feedback on what he thinks and I'll process that and we work on it together."
Lorenz can't imagine a coach pushing him harder than Schmitt.
"Today was pretty gnarly," he said Thursday. "Derek hits all the things you need to hit to go into a meet with confidence. He's a technical genius. He can pick out the smallest details to help you.
"I did an open turn the other day and my head was above the water for like one second and he yelled something at me to correct while I was swimming. He's vigilant; giving us the best opportunity to go to our big meets and perform well."
The Sun Devils still have about 2½ months before the Pac-12 Championships in Federal Way, Washington, and three months before the NCAA meet in Minneapolis. They are in the midst of winter training without school, before taking a short holiday break.
Once the New Year dawns, the challenges come in staccato fashion with meets against No. 1 Cal (Jan. 19), No. 5 Stanford (Jan. 20), No. 2 Texas (Jan. 26), and No. 16 Arizona (Feb. 3), before the championship meets come into view.
"My last two years at NCAA's have not been very impressive," Lorenz said. "I'm hoping for some top-8 finishes in relays and individually.
"As a team, if we can get 10th or squeak into 9 or 8, that will be a great accomplishment."
Lorenz is due to earn a degree in kinesiology and graduate in May, with an eye toward working in the biotech field or coaching. He hadn't considered continuing his swimming career past ASU until recently.
"I have started to slowly be coaxed by a couple people on the team to maybe look towards summer season and how that could go, but I'm not sure if that will happen," he said. "I'm hoping this will end well at NCAA's and if that goes well, who knows, maybe I'll have motivation to make it through another summer and see what comes after that."