Feb. 19, 2007
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's Men's Swimming team will travel to to begin the 2007 Pacific-10 Conference Championships on Wednesday, Feb. 21.
The event will last through Saturday, Feb. 24, with preliminary rounds beginning at 11 a.m. each day and finals rounds will start at 6 p.m. each evening.
The Sun Devil swimmers will look to follow the momentum started by diver Micky Benedetti, who claimed the 2007 Pac-10 Championship in both 3-meter and platform diving events, becoming the first men's diver in ASU history to earn a Pac-10 platform championship. Benedetti was also named the Pac-10 Conference Diver of the Meet for his championship effort.
Last season, at the 2006 Pac-10 Men's Swimming Championships, the Sun Devils showcased 23 total NCAA qualifying times while notching a pair of school records and ultimately placed fifth overall, scoring 352 points.
Highlighting the event was the performance of freshman Gal Nevo, who quickly placed his name into the ASU record books, breaking the school 400 IM mark, finishing in 3:46.07. Along with the Sun Devil record, Nevo also received an automatic NCAA Championship appearance and a third-place overall standing in the event.
Nevo also recorded NCAA `B' times in the 200 IM and 1650 free, placing third overall in the latter event.
Lucas Azevedo also enjoyed an excellent Pac-10 Championships, placing fourth overall in the 1650 free, while advancing to the finals round in the 500 free, placing sixth overall and achieving an NCAA `B' times in both events.
The Sun Devils also received a significant boost from C.J. Nuess, who placed fifth in the 400 IM, recording an NCAA `B' qualifying time in that event, as well as in the 1650 freestyle.
The overall team score was greatly aided by the performance of diver Joona Puhakka, who claimed Pac-10 Championships in both 1-meter and 3-meter events, marking the fourth straight year in which he swept the Conference springboard championships.
Daily preliminary and finals round coverage will be available online at www.thesundevils.com, and additional coverage can be found at the Pac-10 Conference's official website, www.pac-10.org.