UCLA and Air Force left Tempe with wins under their belt, but the ASU swim and dive program is making strides even in defeat.
"I think a couple weeks to get over this weekend would be good." said ASU head coach Bob Bowman. "That was a lot of hard racing in two days. At the Texas A&M Invitational we will get them in their tech suits then we will see where we are at."
On the women’s side, UCLA jumped out to an early lead after winning the first two events: the 200-yard medley relay and the 1000-yard freestyle. UCLA held a 24-11 lead.
However, ASU fought back and got their first event win when Katarina Simonovic won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:50.67. Simonovic edged out fellow Sun Devil Indira Ceranic, who hit the wall at 1:51.50.
Marina Spadoni finished in third for the Sun Devils during the 200-yard freestyle, earning the team three points. UCLA and ASU were tied 27-27.
That would be the final time the two teams would be tied.
The Bruins built up a lead once more, but it shrunk to just four when ASU’s Kaya Philapil won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:04.62.
"I was definitely happy with it." Philapil said. "Yesterday I was three seconds slower so I felt the need to pickup in today's race against UCLA."
UCLA then won the next two events, pushing the score to 77-53.
ASU’s Mara Aiacoboae won the 1-meter dive with a score of 284.55. Senior Morgan Jennifer also claimed a first place finish for the Sun Devils in the 200-yard backstroke.
However, UCLA would go on a run of five straight first place finishes to continue building its lead. After the 400-yard individual medley, UCLA led ASU 180-101.
UCLA would go on to defeat ASU in Tempe.
On the men’s side, ASU’s first event win came from Juan Tolosa, who finished at 15:45.45 in the 1650-yard freestyle.
"I had the mile yesterday too so I took it a little slower today." Tolosa said. "I saw that the guy was falling behind a little bit so I made my move and pulled ahead."
Air Force responded to ASU’s 1650-yard freestyle win with three straights event wins of their own, pushing its lead over the Sun Devils to 63-30.
ASU slowly began to battle back.
Sophomore Patrick Park won the 200-yard butterfly for the Sun Devils with a time of 1:47.68, but a Falcons second, third and fourth place finish saw the point differential shrink to only 32.
Park would take first again later on, this time in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 44.63.
In the 50-yard freestyle, Tadas Duskinas claimed the top spot for ASU with his time of 0.68 in the 50-yard freestyle.
Duskinas won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 47.46.
In the 3-meter diving event, ASU sophomore David Hoffer earned the top score with a final tally of 336.00.
Junior Barkley Perry and sophomore Christian Lorenz both won for ASU in the 200-yard backstroke and the 200-yard breaststroke, respectively.
The Falcon lead was trimmed to just seven at 107-100, but Air Force countered in the 500-yard freestyle event, placing in first and second to rebuild their edge to 18 points.
To close the meet, Air Force won the last three events to secure the win over ASU.
The men and women are both off until Nov. 19, when the swimming squads journey to College Station, Texas for the Art Adamson Invitational and the diving groups head to Austin for the Texas Invitational.
Reach the reporter at michael.baron@asu.edu or follow @Michael_Baron96 on Twitter.
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