March 23, 2006
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.thesundevils.com) -- After the first day of the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Atlanta, Ga., the Sun Devils are in 15th place. Arizona State University had three swimmers and two divers compete on the day including 2005 national champion Joona Puhakka (Helsinki, Finland).
ASU senior diver Puhakka finished second on the one-meter springboard during the first day of competition. During the preliminaries, Puhakka scored the highest among all divers competing tallying 389.30 points. Puhakka scored a 398.20 in the finals finish just behind Georgia diver Chris Colwill. Puhakka's effort notched the Sun Devils 17 team points. Friday, Puhakka will try to defend his title on the three-meter springboard. Senior Brant Bingham (Mesa, Ariz.) recorded a 272.90 to finish 24th in the one-meter dive.
In swimming, ASU had three swimmers compete on the day. Sophomore Lucas Azevedo (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) swam the 500-yard freestyle and finished 21st by touching the wall in 4:22.16 during the preliminaries. In the 200-yard IM, freshman Gal Nevo (Kibbutz Hamadia, Israel) finished 35th with a time of 1:48.52 and sophomore CJ Nuess (Medical Lake, Wash.) finished 45th recording a time of 1:50.89. For complete results go to www.ramblinwreck.com.
The Sun Devils will continue action Friday at the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships. Puhakka and Bingham will compete in the three-meter diving event and Nevo and Nuess will swim in the 400-yard IM.
-- Sun Devil Swimming and Diving --