March 1, 2005
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This Week
The Arizona State University men's swimming team travels to Long Beach, Calif. this week for the 2005 Pac-10 Men's Swimming Championships held March 2-6 at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. The Pac-10 Men's Diving Championship was held last week in Federal Way, Wash., and the scores from that meet will be figured into the scores this week in Long Beach.
Men Last Year at the Pac-10s
With a total of 407 points, the Sun Devil men placed fifth at the 2004 Pac-10 Men's Swimming Championship held in Long Beach, Calif. The men swam several of the 2004 season top times at the Pac-10 meet, which include times from returning Sun Devil swimmers. Senior Emerson Ward swam a personal-best in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 54.58 in the preliminaries of the Pac-10 Conference meet to put him into second on ASU's all-time top ten list and swam into an eighth-place finish overall. Russell MacDonald (10th), Joey Clements (12th), Leonardo Martins (15th) and Pat Fleming (18th) also saw action in the 100 breaststroke event. David Kolozar swam into a fourth-place finish in the 200 butterfly, while Steve McDonald (10th) and Brett Meconis (14th) had strong showings for ASU in that event. Martins set a career-best in the 200 breaststroke, to place 10th and record the third-fastest time in school history while Clements placed 13th after setting a lifetime-best in the morning prelims to place himself fourth on the all-time ASU list. Clements also swam a personal and season best in the 200 IM while McDonald swam a season-best in the 100 butterfly to place 15th. This year's meet begins Wednesday night at 6 p.m. PST. The rest of the days will feature preliminaries at 11 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m.
Re-Writing the Pac-10 Record Books
Junior All-American Joona Puhakka made Pac-10 history last week, claiming his third Pac-10 title on the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events. Puhakka became the third man to win three Pac-10 titles on the 1-meter event and the first since 1994. He continued to make conference history on Thursday evening, winning his second conference title in as many days, claiming the 3-meter springboard event. With that victory, Puhakka solidified himself into the Pac-10 record book as he became the third Pac-10 diver to ever win the 3-meter on three occasions and the first man to win three Pac-10 Championships in the 1-meter and the 3-meter events.
Andrew Has the Answer
Freshman Caitlin Andrew made her mark on the Arizona State University swimming and diving program over the weekend, as she became the first woman to claim a Pac-10 title in the butterfly event, winning the 100 butterfly on Friday evening. Her Pac-10 title swim of 52.64 qualified her for the NCAA meet and set a new ASU school-record. She hit the water again in the 100 backstroke, touching the wall in a school-record setting time of 54.10 to break her second school-record of the night.
Diving High
Junior All-American Joona Puhakka set two new school-records in as many days in meets against Stanford (Jan. 21) and California (Jan. 22). Puhakka returned to dual meet action against Stanford for the first time since November bettering his previous school-record in the 1-meter springboard event with a 403.58. The reigning NCAA champion broke his second-school record in as many days, destroying the school record in the 3-meter event that he set in a dual meet against USC earlier this season by more than 51 points, scoring a 449.48. Senior All-American Trisha Tumlinson set a new school-record on the platform event at the Texas Invitational with a score of 471.8
Divers Last Week at the Pac-10s
The men's and women's diving team saw continued success at the 2005 Pac-10 Diving Championships, as Joona Puhakka defended his Pac-10 titles in the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events, scoring 387.05 and 611.90 en route to victory. Trisha Tumlinson followed up with her second Pac-10 title on the platform event with a score of 443.50. Tumlinson finished her Pac-10 career a three-time champion, having won the 2004 3-meter title and was a back-to-back platform champion. Cassidy Farwell set a personal-best on the 3-meter springboard event with a score of 389.75.
Women's Swimmers Last Week at the Pac-10s
The Women's swimming team was in action last week at the 2005 Pac-10 Women's Swimming Championships held in Federal Way, Wash. where they were lead by swims from Agnes Kovacs and Caitlin Andrew. Andrew claimed the Pac-10 title in the 100 butterfly event with a school-record time of 52.64
and swam into a third-place finish in the 100 backstroke with a second school-record time of 54.10. Kovacs was in action in three individual events where she claimed second-place in the 100 (1:01.31) and 200 (2:11.91) breaststroke events and fifth overall in the 200 IM (2:00.01). Heidi Schmidt claimed third-place honors in the 100 breaststroke with a personal-best time of 1:02.10. Florencia Szigeti claimed fifth-place in the 100 freestyle (49.81), seventh in the 200 freestyle (1:47.60) and eighth-place in the 50 freestyle (23.15). Christine Creek swam into seventh-place in the 200 breaststroke (2:16.34) while Kathryn Hennessy took eighth-place in the 1650 freestyle (16:44.86).
Freshmen Connection
The Sun Devils have welcomed the addition of several freshman to this year's squad. Heading into the Conference and NCAA Championships, the freshman look to step up and make an impact for ASU. For the women, Caitlin Andrew and Sarah A Fischer have stepped into leading rolls for the ASU squad. Andrew heads into the NCAA Championships as the Pac-10 champion in the 100 butterfly and the ASU school-record holder in the 100 fly and 100 backstroke events. She also has an integral role in both the freestyle and medley relays. Fischer has lead the Sun Devils in the distance events this season with the season's top times in the 500 and 1650 freestyle events. Ellis Schieman has seen action in the freestyle events and the butterfly events for the ASU women, claiming the season topime in the 200 butterfly. For the men, CJ Nuess and Lucas Azevedo lead the way. Nuess has had an impact for the Sun Devils in the breaststroke, butterfly and IM events holding the season top-time in the 400 IM and has the second fastest time in the 200 butterfly event. Azevedo has dominated the distance events for ASU this season, swimming NCAA consideration times in the 500 and 1650 freestyle events and has the season's top-times in those events for the Sun Devils.
Pac-10 Swimmer and Diver of the Month
Arizona State University senior diver Trisha Tumlinson earned the Sun Devils first Pac-10 Diver of the Month honor for the month of December. Tumlinson attained a personal best score of 471.80 on the platform at the University of Texas Invitational on Dec. 2-4, good for second place in the event. She also took second in the one-meter springboard with a score of 303.10 and third in the three-meter springboard (490.30). Freshman Caitlin Andrew followed up as the Pac-10 Co-Swimmer of the Month for January. Andrew had individual wins against California and Stanford. She won the 100 butterfly against Cal in 54.0 seconds. Andrew took the 100 back in 54.9 seconds against Cal and in 55.8 versus Stanford. All three times qualified for NCAA consideration. Andrew was also a member of the Sun Devil 200 medley relay team that beat California, swimming the 50 fly split in 24.0 seconds.