Nervousness and anxiety are common emotions for teams prior to championship events. However, the ASU men’s swim team is excited as it heads into the Pac-10 Championships in Long Beach, Calif., starting Wednesday.
“I’m very excited to see what our guys can do,” ASU coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker said. “They haven’t set a limit for themselves. The sky is the limit.”
The Sun Devils may be excited about the meet, but they will be facing the best the country has to offer as four top-10 teams are in the Pac-10 conference.
No. 1 Cal, No. 2 Stanford, No. 6 UA and No. 7 USC will all be competing, as well as Santa Barbara and Cal Poly, who joined the Pac-10 in swimming this year.
The top ranked Golden Bears are attempting to do what no other team has been able to do in the past 29 seasons: defeat the Cardinal in the Pac-10 Championships.
While the competition may seem daunting and intimidating, the ASU swimmers are embracing the challenge.
“This is really it,” Ruane said. “We’re pretty excited to go swim with some fast teams.”
Junior Jesper Akesson, who transferred from Wayne State in the offseason, looks to lead the Sun Devils in a meet full of All-Americans and even Olympians.
ASU does not expect to challenge for a title because of the team’s youth and the surrounding talent, but the Sun Devils are hoping to finish ahead of a couple teams.
“We have four of the top six teams in the country in our conference,” Tierney-Walker said. “We’re not quite there yet so this is a great opportunity for us to get motivated to beat a couple teams and I’m excited to see what we can do with that [motivation].”
Championship style meets are different than the traditional dual meets, which ASU has been competing in all season.
The meet will be spread out through several days, which is something that can alter an athlete’s focus, preparation and fatigue.
“It’s about staying focused for the entire weekend,” Ruane said when asked about the keys to performing in an elongated championship meet. “Just sitting there at the pool for hours on end, that makes you more tired than the races themselves.”
While a conference championship will be hard to come by for the ASU men, Tierney-Walker will still expect her team to perform well and compete to the best of its ability.
“I approach every championship meet the same,” Tierney-Walker said. “If everybody can perform their lifetime best then it will be a successful meet.”
Reach the reporter at william.boor@asu.edu
