Oct. 16, 2003
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This Week
The Arizona State swimming and diving program opens their regular season this Friday, October 17, as they make the flight to Honolulu to take on the University of Hawaii. Swimming competition begins at 6 p.m. local time at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatics Complex. The 3-meter diving portion of the competition will take place at 4 p.m. before the meet with the 1-meter diving taking place during the meet.
The Polls
Rankings have not yet been released by the CSCAA for the 2003-04 season.
Schedule Features Tough Competition
As can be expected, the Sun Devils have a strong schedule ahead for the 2003-04 season. The six dates of the home dual meet lineup feature some of the top teams in the nation. The women have meets in Tempe against five top-15 teams from last year including USC (No. 3), Florida (No. 5), Arizona (No. 9), UCLA (No. 11) and Virginia (No. 13). Of the four men's home meets, two are against top-10 teams from last year: USC (No. 5) and Arizona (No. 8). The away schedule includes the always tough trip to the Bay Area to face perennial powers California and Stanford and also features the Texas Invitational and the US Open.
ASU vs. Hawaii
The Sun Devils last saw Hawaii in dual meet action during the 1991-92 season. Hawaii made an early November visit to Tempe during that campaign with ASU coming up with victories on both the men's (138-66) and women's (130-64) sides. That meet was the regular season opener for the women that year.
ASU, This Season In The Pool
So far this season, the Sun Devils have participated in three intrasquad swimming meets which have included the Maroon & Gold meet on Oct. 3, the Quadrathlon on Oct. 10, and the Alumni Meet on Oct. 11.
David Kolozar and Petra Banovic got the new campaign underway at the Maroon and Gold Intrasquad with two wins apiece. Kolozar touched the wall first in both the 1000 freestyle (9:43.56) and the 200 butterfly (1:50.57), while Banovic got wins in the 200 freestyle (1:52.82)--an event in which she holds the school record--and the 200 fly (2:06.42).
At the quadrathlon, ?gnes Kov?cs and Nick Brunelli led in their respective divisions. The meet called for each swimmer to compete in the 50 fly, 50 back, 50 breast and 50 free. Cumulative times were totaled and then the athletes were ranked within their gender. For the women, Kov?cs clocked a grand total of 1:49.05 to come out on top by over four seconds. On the men's side, Brunelli led the pack by almost three seconds with a 1:36.51.
The alumni meet featured over 20 alumni taking part in races with the present varsity squad. One of the highlights of the day was Brunelli clocking a 20.58 in the 50 freestyle, one of the top times in the nation for the young season. Past ASU stars competing included Attila Czene (world record holder, 200m IM; 1996 Olympic gold medalist 200m IM), Francisco Sanchez (1996 NCAA Champion, 50 free, '96/'00 Olympian), Pablo Abal ('00 Olympian), Robert Delgado ('96/'00 Olympian), Felipe Delgado ('96/'00 Olympian), Ron Johnson (legendary ASU coach; multiple masters world record holder), Carolyn Adel ('96/'00 Olympian; 2000 NCAA Woman of the Year for Arizona) and Camilla Johansson ('00 Olympian).
Up Next For The Sun Devils
The weekend of October 31-November 1, both squads will be on the road. The women will be in Flagstaff on Friday taking on NAU at 3 p.m. and then both squads will head up to Las Vegas, Nev., to take on UNLV on Saturday at 12 p.m. Pacific Time.
Results From Hawaii
Due to the late start time, results from the meet at Hawaii will not be available on www.TheSunDevils.com until Saturday morning. Same day results can be found on Hawaii's Official Athletic Website.