Dec. 29, 2001
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TEMPE, Ariz. - Matching their best start since the 1991-92 season, Arizona State's No. 8 women's swimming and diving team moved to 5-0 by defeating Washington 177-119 at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center Saturday, dropping the Huskies to 5-2.
Leading the way for the Sun Devils was a trio of two-event winners in freshman ?gnes Kov?cs and seniors Sarah Baham and Amanda Stanford. In the first individual event of the afternoon, Stanford led the way for a one-two-three ASU finish in the 1000-yard freestyle, touching the wall first in 10:14.64. Junior Katie Titcomb and freshman Amy Pokora came in behind Stanford at 10:30.55 and 10:41.31 to get the Sun Devils off to a strong start.
Later, in the 500y free, it was again Stanford and Titcomb grabbing the top two spots with respective times of 5:03.02 and 5:08.17, while sophomore Melissa Bartlett placed third for ASU in 5:09.89.
Baham, the ASU record holder in the 100y and 200y butterfly, did her damage Saturday in the 200 fly with a first-place effort of 2:03.23 and in the 400y individual medley with a victorious time of 4:29.90. In both cases Washington sophomore Anissa Hilyard was forced to settle for second place in 2:03.88 and 4:35.54, respectively.
Kov?cs, who has NCAA automatic qualifying times in three events this year, cruised to victories in the breaststroke events with times that still dipped below the NCAA 'B' consideration standard. In the 100y breast, Kov?cs came in at 1:02.58, well ahead of Washington's Brittany Reichardt who edged the Sun Devils' Riley Mants 1:05.46 to 1:05.68. Mants had her revenge in the 200y breast however, placing second behind Kov?cs' 2:15.16 in 2:20.82, while Reichardt settled for third in 2:23.24.
In the losing effort, Washington produced the only three-event winner of the day in junior Kim Harada, who capitalized on the absence of ASU sprinters Claire Hedenskog and Florencia Szigeti to win the 50y free (24.15), 100y free (52.62) and 200y free (1:51.54).
Over in the diving pool ASU athletes competed virtually uncontested by Washington, which does not field a regular diving team. The competition was no less intense however as sophomore Jessica Stenson swept the springboard events with NCAA Zone qualifying marks of 287.10 for the 1-meter (6-dive optionals) and 281.55 for the 3-meter (6-dive).
Welcoming in the new year, the Sun Devils will be back in action at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center next weekend. Friday, January 4, ASU's men's and women's teams will meet the University of British Columbia in dual competition at noon. Saturday, January 5, the Sun Devil women will get things started when they compete against a handful of teams wintering in the desert at the Sun Devil Invitational at 9:00 a.m. The men will follow with a dual meet against No. 12 Michigan at noon.