Feb. 23, 2006
FEDERAL WAY, Wash -- (www.thesundevils.com) -- Arizona State University women's swimming continued it's competition in the Pac-10 championships in Long Beach, Calif. while the men and women's diving teams got underway in Federal Way, Wash. Thursday. After the second day of competition, women's swimming is in sixth place at the Pac-10s.
Senior diver Joona Puhakka (Helsinki, Finland) won the three-meter Pac-10 diving championship for the fourth year in a row and his seventh Pac-10 title overall. Puhakka, last year's Diver of the Year, recorded a score of 429.80 in the finals to secure the title. His score is a school record for the three-meter event with six dives in a championship. In the preliminaries, Puhakka led all divers tallying a score of 393.75. All three of ASU's male divers competed in the finals including Puhakka, senior Brant Bingham (Mesa, Ariz.) and freshman Billy Sweeney (Tempe, Ariz) with Bingham and Sweeney placing fifth and eighth respectively in the finals.
On the women's side, freshman diver Erin Hobbs (Calgary, Alberta) made it to the finals for the Sun Devils finishing eighth with a score of 232.70.
In swimming, ASU finished fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay and recorded the team's fastest time of the season in the event. The relay team made up of sophomore Caitlin Andrew (San Antonio, Texas), freshman Jen Beckberger (Ajax, Ontario), senior Laura Ullrich (Centreville, Va.) and senior Heidi Schmidt (Visalia, Calif.) touched the wall in 1:32.00. In the 50-yard freestyle, Schmidt recorded her fastest time of the season in the event with a 23.49 in the preliminaries. Sophomores Sarah Fischer (Boulder, Colo.) and Ellis Schieman (Shaker Heights, Ohio) recorded NCAA consideration times of 4:50.73 and 4:53.84 respectively in the 500-yard freestyle.
Competition continues for women's swimming at the Pac-10s in Long Beach, Calif. and men and women's diving in Federal Way, Wash. tomorrow through Saturday.
-- Sun Devil Swimming and Diving --