The first two meets for the ASU swim and dive team gave the Sun Devils quality nonconference competition to open the season.
Now, after competing against several All-Americans from UNLV and Wisconsin, ASU (No. 23 in the women’s poll) will begin Pac-12 play against USC and UCLA on Veteran’s Day weekend, two meets that the team is “really excited about,” swim coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker said.
UCLA, a program with a women’s team only, comes into the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center on Friday after placing 20th overall in the NCAA Championships last season. The No. 25 Bruins retain three of their seven swimmers that competed in Nationals, and only one of three All-Americans (senior Yasi Jahanshahi).
Jahanshahi has a history of placing first against ASU, winning all but one butterfly event in the past three years. Matching up against her on Friday will be ASU junior Shannon Landgrebe, who won both the 100- and 200- Butterfly events last week against Wisconsin.
Roughly 23 hours after the meet against the Bruins concludes, the Sun Devils will get back into the pool to race against USC.
Boasting the No. 8 men’s and the No. 5 women’s teams, the Trojans saw success in the NCAAs last March.
On the men’s side, four All-Americans return for the Trojans, including sophomore and 2011 Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year Vladimir Morozov, who broke USC’s 50- and 100-yard freestyle records as a freshman. Morozov, though, has also expanded his specialties this season, and placed first in his first collegiate 100-yard Breaststroke with a time of 55.06 against CSU Bakersfield on Oct. 22, good enough to beat the NCAA “B” cut.
Among those racing against Morozov in the 100 Free will likely be ASU sophomore Herbie Behm, who won that race last week against Wisconsin.
Also anchoring the Trojans will be freestyle sophomore Dmitri Colupaev. Colupaev also made a “B” cut time in the 200 Free with a time of 1:37.27.
As for the women’s races, senior and 2011 Women’s Swimmer of the Year Katinka Hosszu will lead the Trojans in the IM races. Hosszu, a World Championship gold medalist and eight-time All-American, will take on ASU senior Penelope Yamauchi in the 200-Yard IM, and junior Cassie Morrice in the 100-Free.
The ASU dive team will see both the Bruins and Trojans over the weekend, while also welcoming Miami on both days.
Although the Sun Devils have seen a lack of competition on the boards, the female divers will see on Friday will see UCLA freshman Emma Ivory-Ganja, a 2012 Olympic Trials qualifier, and compete against three-time All-American USC senior Victoria Ishimatsu. All-American senior diver Carrie Dragland will compete against the Sun Devils all weekend.
“That’s a big meet for us,” dive coach Mark Bradshaw said. “It’s a conference meet, and they traditionally have pretty good divers, so that will be a first test — a measurement — where we are against our Pac-12 competition.”
Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu
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