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Cal and Stanford prove too much for swim and dive

Overwhelmed: ASU and Stanford swimmers launch off the block during a 120-174 victory for the Cardinal on Saturday in Tempe. Despite strong finishes in several events, the men’s and women’s swim and dive teams fell to national powerhouses Stanford and Cal over the weekend. (Photo by Sierra Smith)
Overwhelmed: ASU and Stanford swimmers launch off the block during a 120-174 victory for the Cardinal on Saturday in Tempe. Despite strong finishes in several events, the men’s and women’s swim and dive teams fell to national powerhouses Stanford and Cal over the weekend. (Photo by Sierra Smith)

The ASU swim and dive teams lost to both California on Friday and Stanford on Saturday in the last home meet for six Sun Devil seniors.

The ASU men lost 152-135 to No. 4 Cal and 168-122 to No. 3 Stanford while the women lost 182-117 to No. 4 Cal and 174-120 to No. 1 Stanford.

Seniors Katie Haron, Shannon Garrett, Samantha Caldwell, Brittany Jumer, Nolan Ruane and Chris Pasanella were all recognized for their achievements as members of the ASU swim and dive teams.

There was some concern as to whether the seniors would be able to focus on the meets with all of their families in attendance as well as other distractions caused by the final meets, but ASU swim coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker said it wasn’t a problem.

“They [were] excited, but most of them [kept] their emotions in check,” Tierney-Walker said.

Although this weekend was about the seniors, it was ASU freshman Tristin Baxter who stole the show by coming away with victories in the 500 free and the 1000 free against Cal. Baxter also took second in the 1000 free against Stanford.

“I was really happy,” Baxter said. “I didn’t know how well I was going to do, but I was really glad.”

Despite the team loss, she was optimistic about her team’s performance this weekend.

“I thought we did really well,” Baxter said. “I was really proud of us. I don’t think we let the fact that we were swimming against [Cal and Stanford] affect us at all.”

Tierney-Walker was also pleased with the women’s results, but slightly disappointed in the men.

“The women raced very tough,” Tierney-Walker said. “The women stepped up and raced a fantastic team. I think the men got caught up in swimming a very good team — it took them a while to get going.”

Tierney-Walker added that the teams did appear a bit rusty on their racing strategy because of the long winter layoff.

Across the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center, ASU junior Constantin Blaha took first in the 3-meter and the 1-meter dives against Cal. Then against Stanford, Blaha came in second in the 1-meter behind sophomore teammate Riley McCormick, the defending Pac-10 Champion.

After sitting out against Cal, it was unclear whether McCormick would even dive against Stanford as he has been struggling with a thumb injury. In addition to McCormick, there are several other Sun Devil divers struggling with health issues.

“We have a lot of owies going on,” ASU dive coach Mark Bradshaw said. “We didn’t dive everybody. Some people are sick, others are nursing some injuries.”

While Bradshaw was generally impressed with his team, he said he was surprised and disappointed that junior Elina Eggers did not do very well on the 3-meter dive.

The swim teams will compete again on Feb. 13 in Tucson against UA, where the men are ranked No. 2 and the women No. 7, while the dive team will travel to the Winter National Championships in London, Ontario from Feb. 1 through Feb 6.

Reach the reporter at william.boor@asu.edu


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