March 19, 2005
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Senior All-Americans Ágnes Kovács and Trisha Tumlinson finish out their careers in strong fashion, claiming All-America honors as the Arizona State University women's swimming and diving completes competition at the 2005 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships held at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center on the campus of Purdue University. The Sun Devils finish in 12th place with a total of 90 points after three days of competition
Tumlinson, competing in her final event for the Sun Devils, was in action on the platform event Saturday evening, finishing fourth overall with a score of 455.10. She entered the finals after finishing preliminary action in eighth-place with a total score of 440.30. Tumlinson finished second at the 2004 NCAA Championships, to claim her highest collegiate finish. She is the 2005 Pac-10 Champion on the platform, won the platform event at the Zone E Regional and took the platform and three-meter titles at the 2004 Pac-10 Championships. She set the school-record in the platform at the 2003 NCAA Championships, where she finished third. Tumlinson was named Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year for diving in 2003 and Pac-10 Diver of the year in 2003.
Kovács, competing in her final event for ASU, finished eighth in the preliminary swim of the 200 breaststroke Saturday morning with a time of 2:12.86 to qualify her for the finals. She swam over a second faster in the finals of the 200 breaststroke to finish in sixth overall, with a time of 2:11.49. Kovács also earned All-America honors in the 100 breaststroke where she finished seventh overall during Friday's competition. She finished in the top six in the 200 breaststroke in each of her four years as a Sun Devil, with her top finish coming at the 2002 NCAA Championship where she swam into second-place with a school-record setting time of 2:07.64. Kovács claimed the 2002 Pac-10 title in the 200 breaststroke. Kovács is the school-record holder in the 200 breaststroke, 200 IM and 400 IM and is second all-time in the 100 breaststroke.
The 400 freestyle relay team of Caitlin Andrew, Erin Baldinger, Florencia Szigeti and Heidi Schmidt hit the water in the consolation final to round out competition for the Sun Devils at the 2005 NCAA Championships. The quartet swam a season-best of 3:21.04, more than two seconds faster than the preliminary swim, to take 12th-place overall. Their time puts them third on ASU's all-time list. The Sun Devil relay team qualified for the finals with a 15th-place preliminary swim of 3:23.34. Andrew, who took fourth-place Friday in the 100 butterfly, swam a season-best 100 freestyle time of 50.26 as the opening leg of the relay.
Junior Kathryn Hennessy and freshman Sarah A Fischer were also in action for the ASU women, swimming in the 1650 freestyle event. Hennessy had the top finish for the women, swimming into 34th with a time of 16:45.76 while Fischer swam a 16:49.88 to take 37th.
The Sun Devil men hit the water next as they travel to the 2005 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships held March 24-26, in Minneapolis, Minn. Joona Puhakka, David Kolozar, Leonardo Martins and Emerson Ward will represent ASU at the NCAAs.