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Jan. 6, 2007
TEMPE, Ariz. -
Despite impressive efforts redshirt freshman diver Micky Benedetti and juniors Steve Neuwert and CJ Nuess amid a challenging field of nationally-ranked competition, 's men's swimming and diving team fell to No. 4 California (185-115) and No. 12 Michigan (160-140) Saturday in triple-dual action in which ASU was scored against Michigan and California, and both visiting teams were also scored against one another. Head-to-head, California defeated Michigan 181-119.
Junior CJ Nuess provided a substantial impact in ASU's efforts against both the Golden Bears and Wolverines, earning a first-place finish in the 400 IM (3:52.82), while adding high-scoring finishes in the other two individual events in which he competed on the day.
As he has all season, Steve Neuwert provided a spark for the Sun Devils' sprint freestyle, claiming a top finish in the 50 free, touching in a season's best time of 20.27. He also registered a second-place finish in the 100 free, merely .04 seconds behind 's William Copeland's finish of 45.01. Neuwert's finish of 45.05 is his season-best in the 100 free.
Redshirt freshman diver Micky Benedetti continued to shine against top competition, recording a score of 362.10 in the 1-meter and 362.03 in the 3-meter, both standing as the best scores of the meet.
The Sun Devils began the day scoring in the 200 medley relay with a team consisting of freshman Ante Cvitkovic, freshman Will Weeks, sophomore Sean Boyle and junior Steve Neuwert.
In the 1000 free, junior CJ Nuess finished in 9:10.73, slightly trailing first-place finisher Matt Patton of . Sophomore Gal Nevo also scored for ASU, finishing the event in a season-best time of 9:27.58.
Boyle quickly contributed once again for the Sun Devils, finishing second to 's Dominik Meichtry in the 200 free, as Boyle touched in 1:39.61. Junior Lucas Azevedo also chipped in a scoring effort in the 200 and 500 freestyle events, while Boyle later added points to the Sun Devils' total in the 100 and 200 butterfly events.
Cvitkovic boosted the Sun Devils' total with his finish in the 100 back, completing the event in 49.41, just .03 seconds behind first-place finisher David Russell of California. Cvitkovic also finished the 200 back in 1:48.50, which earned him a second-place standing in ASU's match-ups versus and .
Just as he did in an earlier portion of the meet, Nuess claimed a high-scoring finish in the 200 breast, touching in 2:02.69, behind only Scott Spann of .
The Sun Devils continued to battle until the meet's end, as the 200 freestyle relay consisting of Neuwert, freshman Magnus Kjellberg, sophomore Mohammed Madwa and Cvitkovic touched in 1:22.69, trailing only California's top relay squad, earning ASU top marks in that event in its competition with Michigan.
Sophomore diver Billy Sweeney earned his highest 3-meter score of the season, recording an NCAA qualifying mark of 350.18, and trailed only Benedetti and Sam Helvie of California in the event's overall standings.
As the Pac-10 conference is perhaps the toughest in collegiate swimming, ASU will continue to face challenging competition in its next meet, as the Sun Devils will face No. 2 Stanford Saturday, January 13 at 12 p.m. at ASU's Mona Plummer Aquatic Complex in the Sun Devils' final home meet of the 2006-07 season.