(Photo: Blake Benard/WCSN)
The Arizona State men’s and women’s swimming and diving team came out victorious over UNLV Saturday afternoon. The women won nine of 13 events and ended with a final score of 181 to 117, while the men won 12 of 13 events and ended with a final score of 202 to 95.
ASU started off strong with a medley relay victory. Following the event, both men and women took first and second place in 1000-yard freestyle. Senior Juan Tolosa won the men’s heat with a time of 9:36.82, while junior Anna Olasz put together a winning time of 10:16.46 for the women.
“It was a great atmosphere today,” Olasz said. “We had high energy today, and I just love to swim outside, and I think it makes our team swim better.”
Olasz put together a dominating performance by winning both the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle. The distance swimmer from Hungary is just over 10 seconds for an NCAA championship B cut time for the 500-yard freestyle.
“I am very happy today, those were my first two wins of the year,” Olasz said. “It’s always good to win, it shows I am on the right track.”
The men also put together a strong performance in their home opener. Of the 12 event wins, the Sun Devil men had five events where they took first and second place.
“On Monday, (ASU head coach Bob) Bowman gave us a reality check on what it means to swim for ASU,” sophomore Patrick Park said. “We swam with a chip on our shoulders. Many people have told us we are in a rebuilding year, but we said why not today and why not this season?”
Park turned in of the best performances Saturday. In the 100-yard free, Park won by a second with a time of 44.96, and in the 200-yard butterfly, he won by four seconds with a time of 1:46.94. That 200-yard butterfly time counts as a B cut time for the NCAA championships.
“It was such a blessing today to swim well today,” Park said. “I was coming off a tough summer, so I have been trying to go after it every day, and I am excited for things to come.”
“Park has been training as well as anybody we’ve got,” said Bowman. “I think he can go a lot faster, but it was a good start for him.”
Throughout the meet, UNLV could not keep up with ASU. Although it is early in the season, Bowman said he was impressed with his team’s overall performance.
“I felt like we had good team energy,” Bowman said. “Across the board, they raced really well, so I am happy for them. It lets us know that the work we are putting in is paying off.”
ASU’s next meet will be at home November 6 against conference opponent USC.
