With their season about to get underway, the ASU men's and women's swimming and diving programs both have high expectations for how they can improve this year.
The women's squad, which finished 12th in the NCAA Championships last year, is hoping to better that standing this season.
"Top 10 in the NCAA's this year would be amazing," sophomore Caitlin Andrew said. "I think we can do it if everyone pulls out their best at the right time."
If the women are to reach the top 10 in the nation this season, Andrew will play a big role. She was the only swimmer from either team last year to win a Pac-10 title when she captured the 100-meter butterfly. She backed that up with a fourth-place finish in the same event at the NCAA Championships, and coach Michael Chasson said he thinks she has continued to improve.
"Caitlin had a great spring and summer," Chasson said. "She swam her best times this summer. I think she is in great shape coming in, and she gained a lot of confidence this past year, so I think she's off to a great start."
Andrew was also a part of the 400-meter freestyle relay team that finished 12th in the country last year and recorded ASU's third-best time in history in that event, finishing in 3:21.04. Three of the four swimmers from that relay team return this season, including seniors Erin Baldinger and Heidi Schmidt.
Chasson understands the importance of relays for both teams.
"If you don't have good relays, you are not going to place very high at the NCAA's," Chasson said. "It's very hard unless you have the best swimmers in the entire world to go out and do without relays."
In all, the women return six former All-Americans, seniors Kathryn Hennessy and Sandra Steffensen and junior Amanda Gillespie, along with Andrew, Baldinger, and Schmidt.
Besides all the returning experience, the women are excited about the many newcomers to the team. The leading freshmen swimmers should be Jen Beckberger and Amy Konowalik, and their teammates are excited to see them perform.
"We have a great freshmen class coming in," Andrew said. "I'm really looking forward to our first meet to see them. We know their times on paper, but to see them perform is going to be really exciting."
The women's diving team lost Trisha Tumlinson, a three-time Pac-10 champion, but it still has talent in junior Cassidy Farwell, who qualified for the U.S. Diving National Championships this past summer, and highly regarded freshman Erin Hobbs.
The men's team had the programs' only national champion last season, senior diver Joona Puhakka, who captured both the 1-meter and 3-meter championships last year to give him four national titles in his illustrious Sun Devil career. He will be a leader on this team as it looks to improve from last year.
"We were 20th last year, which is not acceptable," Chasson said. "It was not good for us. We have a great diver, and we need to surround him with better swimming."
The other previous All-American for the men is senior David Kolozar, who finished 22nd in the NCAA in the 200-meter butterfly last season. Junior Leonardo Martins is the only other returning swimmer who competed in the NCAA Championships last year. He finished 22nd in the 200-meter breaststroke, and he hopes to reach greater heights this season.
"I want to be top 16 in the nation and break the school record in the 200 breaststroke," Martins said.
Chasson is also very excited about the newcomers on the men's squad. Junior college transfer Cheyne O'Gorman and freshmen Sean Boyle and Marcus Titus lead a class that he hopes will give this team a boost this season.
"We are looking for them to help us right away," Chasson said. "The men's relays can be a lot better with the people returning from last year and with the newcomers, so I look for us to be somewhere in the top 15 and get as close to 10th as possible."
The Alumni Meet on Saturday will kick off the season. It will begin at 9 a.m. at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center, and the swimming teams will compete in nine events alongside many former Sun Devils, including Olympians Melissa Belote-Ripley (1972, 1976), Simon Percy (1992), Florencia Szigeti (2004) and Gavin Meadows (2004), in what should be a fun opening to the season before their first dual meet Oct. 21 at Hawaii.
Reach the reporter at matthew.storey@asu.edu.
