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Swimming squads drop pair of meets over weekend

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Joona Puhakka

The Mona Plummer Aquatic Center was the site of a world-class showdown Friday and Saturday as California and Stanford battled the ASU men's and women's swimming and diving teams.

The weekend's events included competitors who hold world records, such as California's Natalie Coughlin, and competitors that continue to break their own records, such as ASU sophomore Trisha Tumlinson.

Both California and Stanford entered the meets with long winning streaks against both ASU men's and women's teams. The ASU men have not won against the Golden Bears since the 1990-91 season and are winless against Stanford since the same season. The ASU women haven't posted wins against California since the 1996-97 season and have lost to Stanford every season since 1990-91.

The visiting squads extended those streaks with wins on Friday and Saturday.

On Friday, the No. 3 California men's team topped the No. 12 ASU squad, 178.5-121.5, handing the Sun Devils their second Pac-10 loss. The ASU men (4-4, 0-4 Pac-10) are still searching for their first conference win.

Freshman diver Joona Puhakka tallied two first-place finishes for ASU and sophomore Thomas McCrummen wasn't far behind as he finished second to Puhakka in the 1-meter and 3-meter events.

The ASU women's team (4-5, 0-6 Pac-10), ranked No. 16 nationally, had bright spots against the No. 9 California women but eventually fell 166-131.

Tumlinson broke her own school record in the 1-meter event when she scored a 296.70 to top the 291.95 she tallied earlier this season at the Texas Invitational. ASU also had an impressive showing in the 1,000 freestyle when freshman Kathryn Hennessy and junior Petra Banovic finished first and second, respectively.

ASU sophomore Ågnes Kovåcs gave Coughlin, the current world-record holder in the 100-meter individual medley, a heated race in the 200-meter individual medley; but the world-record holder out distanced her.

The tough competition continued for ASU on Saturday when it faced the No. 4 Stanford women and No. 1 Stanford men.

The ASU women pushed Stanford to the limit as Kovåcs turned in strong outings against Stanford's Tara Kirk in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events. But Kirk bested Kovåcs in both races and ASU fell 159-141.

Tumlinson led the women's diving team again, winning the 1-meter event.

The ASU men had a much tougher time with the top-ranked Cardinal men as the Sun Devils were downed 156-119.

Puhakka took both the 1-meter and 3-meter events again but couldn't spark the Sun Devils to a win as Stanford took the top-three places in five different events.

Puhakka continued his dominance of the diving pool to remain undefeated in dual meet play as a Sun Devil.

ASU will return to action next weekend against the Universities of Arizona and Texas in Austin, Texas.

Reach the reporter at cameron.eickmeyer@asu.edu.


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