(Photo: Ross Leviton/WCSN)
One win to launch the swim season may be good, but two wins are better.
The Arizona State men’s and women’s swim beat both the Utah Utes and the Brigham Young Cougars this weekend on a two-day road trip. The men and women beat Utah on Friday with scores of 168-132 and 159.5-138.5. The next meet on Saturday was only an improvement as ASU beat BYU with final scores of 189-107 (women) and 189-109 (men).
This was the ideal way for the team to begin its second season under head coach Bob Bowman, who showed a conservative level of optimism after the first win of the weekend sweep.
“I thought that both teams competed well today after a tough week of training,” Bowman said. “We still have a long way to go to be the team we want to be, but overall this is a great start to our season.”
The first meet against Utah was an important one, because it signaled the start of Pac-12 conference play. ASU took advantage of the pressured matchup and performed well in their first meet.
The medley relay enabled the men’s team to start off strong as the “A squad” comprising of Richard Bohus, Thibault Capitaine, Tadas Duskinas and Cameron Craig took the first seed, and the “B squad” with Reid Elliot, Christian Lorenz, Andrew Porter and Patrick Park the second. This seemed to provide a lot of momentum as it was only one of many wins for the members of each of these respected relays.
Bohus managed the top slot in the 100-yard freestyle with a 45.38, and Barkley Perry dominated eight lengths of the pool in the 200-yard backstroke by breaking the 1:50 mark with a 1:49.97.
Not only did the performances of these two swimmers provide necessary points for the Sun Devils, but also more proof that they are at the very core of this team.
“On the men’s side, Barkley Perry and Richard Bohus were the standouts,” Bowman said. “We were very strong in both relays and had a number of successes in terms of racing in the individual events.”
Despite the strong performance by the men’s team, the women’s team also had a weekend of top races. The team consisting of freshmen Claire Fisch and Katherine Wagner, in addition to senior team captains Kat Simonovic and Alysha Bush, simultaneously stole first in almost all of their events and pushed the point total in ASU’s favor.
“Our senior captains Kat Simonovic and Alysha Bush led the way for the women,” Bowman said. “Our 4×100 relay was the highlight event and actually won the meet for the women.”
Nonetheless, the close scoreline does not reflect the impressive swims done beforehand by a women’s team still trying to obtain formidable depth. Bush got first in both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle sprints with times of 23.48 and 51.20, and Fisch took second in each of these events as well. Additionally, Simonovic won the 200-yard free with a 1:50.91 and the next seed in that race was filled by her teammate Indira Ceranic.
As for Saturday, both teams used their momentum from the previous to swim fast against BYU- especially in the 200-yard medley relay.
The same men’s “A team” took the top spot once again, and the women’s teams with Injibjorg Jensdottir, Marlies Ross, Chloe Isleta and Bush as the “A team”, and Wagner, Kaya Philapil, Simonovic and Fisch as the “B team” grabbed both the first and second place finishes.
The meet was dominated by a level of consistency by ASU, and it was aided by several other single swims including those of Christian Lorenz, who won the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke races, and newcomers Isleta and Cameron Craig tallied wins in the 200- yard Individual medley
This was a very important weekend for ASU’s swim team as it was an opportunity to jumpstart their season. With two wins on their record, the Sun Devils will head back to practice to prepare for their first home meet next weekend against Denver.
If there are any questions for Paige Burnell, you can e-mail her at pburnell277@gmail.com or follow her on twitter @paige_burnell
