The ASU men's and women's diving teams plunge into the NCAA Zone Diving Championships today in Oklahoma City.
Divers from schools in the southwest qualify at the competition for spots at the NCAA Championships held later this month.
Junior Joona Puhakka and senior Trisha Tumlinson led the way for the Sun Devils at the competition last season, each winning two of the three events in which they competed. Both are expected to have success again this week.
While Tumlinson was sidelined due to illness in late January, she was named Pac-10 Diver of the Month for December after posting a career-best performance at the Texas Invitational in Austin.
Coach Mike Chasson said Tumlinson should be even more motivated to compete in the post season this year.
"I think she'd like to dive as well as possible to end her collegiate career," Chasson said. "She knows this is it, and I think that's been her big motivator all year."
The two-time All-American was the runner-up in the platform event at the NCAA Championships last season.
While Tumlinson has set several ASU records during her career in Tempe, Puhakka has rewritten the Pac-10 record books.
This year, Puhakka became the first diver ever to win three consecutive conference titles in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events.
"Since I have been here, he is by far the best I've seen," said Chasson, who is wrapping up his seventh season at ASU. "He might go down, depending on what he does this year, as one of the best divers in collegiate history."
Puhakka also became the first two-time national champion in ASU history after winning the 3-meter event in 2004 and the 1-meter event in 2003.
Coaches allowed Puhakka time off after he competed in the 2004 Olympics for Finland and expected he might show signs of fatigue.
"He didn't train that much in the early part of the season because Mark [Bradshaw] gave him a break," Chasson said of his diving coach. "It will be interesting to see if that helps him or hurts him at the NCAAs, but so far so good. He's been diving great."
Reach the reporter at mark.saxon@asu.edu.
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