Although collegiate sports are usually described as extremely stressful and demanding, this weekend will be a break in the intense preseason preparation for the ASU swim and dive teams.
The swimming teams will welcome back some of the program’s former swimmers to compete in the ASU Alumni Meet at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center on Saturday.
The alumni meet will not be counted for record purposes, but it will help the current athletes begin to prepare themselves both mentally and physically for their season.
“The meet is a fun thing for everybody,” diving coach Mark Bradshaw said. “It gives the team its first taste of competition for the year.”
The meet will be scored the same according to normal rules, but it will feature different events than a regular NCAA meet.
Different events include the 50-yard backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly as well as the 100-yard individual medley.
The alumni meet will have no bearing on the diving teams.
“It’s more for the swimmers,” Bradshaw said. “We have such a limited number of ASU divers alumni that we don’t have them participate in the meet.”
The women’s dive team will see its first action of 2008 next Friday when it hosts the University of Kansas.
Reach the reporter at ryan.g.campbell@asu.edu.
