Feb. 11, 2003
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This Week
The Arizona State Swimming and Diving team (No. 13 men, No. 14 women) heads south to Tucson this weekend for the annual dual meet battle with Arizona (No. 15 men, No. 6 Women). Saturday's competition at the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center begins at 1 p.m. and marks the final tuneup for the squad before the Pac-10 Championships.
The Polls
The CSCAA released its sixth poll of the season on January 30. The ASU men remained at 13th while the women moved up for the third straight poll to 14th. For the complete poll, visit www.cscaa.org, or see the full version of this release.
ASU vs. Arizona
The Sun Devil men hold a 4-1 advantage over the Wildcats in their last five meetings, including a win last year, while the ASU women are winless against Arizona in that same period. Two Wildcat swimmers are No. 1 nationally in their respective events with Beth Botsford leading the women in the 200 back (1:54.67) and Juan Veloz leading the men in the 200 fly (1:42.72).
Sun Devils Continue Tough Schedule
ASU enters their final dual meet of the season having already competed against some of the nation's best teams. The past three dual-meet competitions for the men have matched them up with three of the top five teams in the country (No. 1 Stanford, No. 3 California, No. 5 Texas), and the upcoming meet with Arizona (No. 15) marks the sixth top-15 team that the men will face this year in dual competition. Arizona will be their seventh opponent in the top-25. The ASU women's schedule has been just as rigorous, as all four of their most recent opponents were in the national top-10 (No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 SMU, No. 8 Texas, No. 9 California), and this weekend's matchup with Arizona (No. 6) makes it five straight top-10 opponents. The meet with the Wildcats marks the ninth top-25 team that the women will face this year.
ASU, Last Time In The Pool
The Sun Devils had a weekend off since their last double-dual event versus Texas (No. 5 men, No. 8 women) and Southern Methodist (No. 5 women) January 31 - February 1, at the Jamail Texas Swim Center in Austin. The men scored a victory over SMU 195-155 and lost to Texas 192-152, while the women lost to SMU 232-120 and Texas 236-113. Christian Harcsas led the men's squad with victories in the 100 back (49.82) and the 200 back (1:47.10), beating his nearest competitor in the 200 by over two seconds. Joona Puhakka grabbed a first-place finish on the 1-meter springboard (363.55) and David Kolozar won the 200 fly (1:49.36). Second-place finishes for the weekend were Nick Brunelli in the 200 free (1:37.97) and the 50 free (20.33), Derek Miller in the 1650 free (15:49.73), Ahmed Hussein in the 100 back (49.99) and Puhakka in the 3-meter springboard (372.85). For the Sun Devil women, diver Trisha Tumlinson again broke her own school record in the 1-meter springboard, registering a 300.25 for first-place. In the swimming pool, ?gnes Kov?cs won the 100 breast (1:02.64) and the 200 breast (2:12.60), and finished third in the 200 IM (2:03.44). Petra Banovic finished second in the 200 fly (2:04.14) and her 4:21.97 effort in the 400 IM gave her an NCAA consideration time and placed her third. It was the first time she swam that event as a Sun Devil.
Sun Devils Nationally
Several swimmers have recorded times that are among the nation's best. For the men, Nick Brunelli is eighth nationally in the 50 free (20.11), fifth in the 100 free (43.87), and third in the 200 free (1:36.55). His 200 free time is only three-hundredths of a second off of the national best. Bobby Zaabadich is fifth in the 50 free (20.01), while Christian Harcsas is tenth in the 100 back (48.42) and fourth in the 200 back (1:43.82). The 200 free relay (1:20.03) is third nationally, along with the 400 free relay (2:58.27) in sixth and the 200 medley relay (1:29.52) in tenth. For the women, ?gnes Kov?cs leads the way as she is second nationally in the 100 breast (59.92), second in the 200 breast (2:09.90), and third in the 200 IM (1:58.13). Her 100 time is under two-tenths of a second off of the national best and her 200 time is just over two-tenths of a second off of the national best. The 400 free relay (3:20.14) is fourth-fastest in the nation, along with the 800 free relay (7:23.50) in ninth, the 200 medley relay (1:42.38) in tenth and the 400 medley relay (3:42.47) in ninth.
ASU School Record Watch
So far through the 2002-03 season, six school records have been set; one by the men and five by the women. On the men's side, freshman diver Joona Puhakka set a new school mark in the 3-meter, 6-dive event with a 387.90 against UNLV in his first meet as a Sun Devil. For the women, two diving records, two individual swimming records and one relay record have been rewritten thus far this year. In the diving pool, sophomore Trisha Tumlinson has set ASU all-time bests in the 1-meter, 6-dive optionals (300.25) and on the platform (453.15). She is the first Sun Devil woman to exceed 300 points and 450 points, respectively, in those events. Two swimmers have set new Sun Devil benchmarks, Claire Hedenskog in the 50 free (23.10) and ?gnes Kov?cs in the 200 IM (1:58.13). Kov?cs smashed the previous school record as she became the first woman in ASU history to swim that event in under 2 minutes. The women's 400 freestyle relay record (3:20.14) was set at the Texas Invitational by Petra Banovic, Hedenskog, Florencia Szigeti, and Florence Mauro.
Up Next For The Sun Devils
The women's swimmers compete next at the Pac-10 Women's Swimming Championships the weekend of February 27 - March 1, at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington. Both the men's and women's diving squads are up next at the Pac-10 Diving Championships, which is also contested Feb. 27 - Mar. 1 in Federal Way, Washington, at the same venue. The men's swimmers next competition is March 6-8, at the Pac-10 Men's Swimming Championships at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach, California.