Unhealthy air quality conditions caused the ASU swim and dive team to cut the meet short, but despite the conditions ASU finished second at the UNLV invitational. (Photo by Arianna Grainey)The swim invitational in which ASU competed this weekend was played under a literal cloud.
Meet organizers at UNLV failed to notify aquatics directors and appropriate personnel that they were hosting an invitational, causing air quality problems and sending athletes from several teams to the hospital.
Teams were forced to leave early on the last day due to the air quality which “is like a football team leaving at the start of the fourth quarter,” said swim coach Dan Kessler.
No Sun Devils were hospitalized but Kessler said some were affected by the issue, causing the coaching staff to only allow swimmers to race once on the last day.
The conditions didn't hurt everyone, as senior Alex Coci swam a 1:46.36 in the 200 fly for an NCAA B-Cut time, and powerful performances by the men in the 200 backstroke with Barkley Perry, David Adalsteinsson, Kyle Sockwell and Ryan Glander bringing in a total 34 points.
Women finished second behind top-ranked Cal and men finished fourth. Freshmen distance swimmer Anna Olasz took third for the women in the 1650- yard freestyle with a time of 16:20.29, Tristin Baxter, normally a distance swimmer, stepped up and took third in the 200 fly with a time of 1:59.79. Freshman swimmer Barkley Perry took home a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke.
The UNLV invitational was the last regular meet of the semester and a large turning point in the season as the team shifts to more important meets and tougher competition in the second semester.
“There were a lot of lifetime best times,” Kesler said. “I was shocked at how well they did.”
Meanwhile the divers competed in Houston, and junior Sydney Czaus, the Sun Devils' platform diving specialist, got her first chance to compete in a meet on the 10-meter platform, scoring 243.70 points and taking sixth.
The U.S. Nationals come up for some of the team, but Kesler said that doesn't mean the season is over.
“We’re going to be picking up training big time around Christmas,” Kesler said. “This is when we transition from training to train, to training to race.”
Reach the reporter at nolan.kwit@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @NolanKwit
