Sophomore distance swimmer Anna Olasz competes in the 1000-yard freestyle against Stanford sophomore Tara Halsted (not pictured), Saturday, Jan. 2015 at the Mona Plummer Aquatics Complex in Tempe. Olasz came from behind in the one-on-one race and edged out Halsted by almost seven seconds. (Ben Moffat/The State Press)It was the same old story for ASU swim and dive as the team’s performance in the second half of the meet could not save its struggles in the first.
On senior day, it was ASU’s young talent who performed the best and captured the most favorable results.
The ASU men (3-8) and women (4-6) fell to the Cardinal by scores of 134-96 and 131-100, respectively. According to the CSCAA Coaches Poll, the Stanford women are ranked No. 3 and the men are ranked No. 10 in the nation.
Sophomore Anna Olasz won the women’s 1,000 freestyle with a time of 10.00.68, which was one of the lone bright spots in a tough first few events for the Sun Devils.
Stanford led the ASU women 34-15 and the men 41-13 through the first six events.
Although the meet only contained 26 events, as opposed to the regular 32, ASU’s opponent’s success was no different. This time, Stanford took 16 out of the first 18 events.
At the first break, Stanford led the ASU men 84-26 and the women 72-34.
ASU head coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker noted her team’s slow start, but said she had not looked too much into it.
“Just be instinct and quick analysis, I thought we were a bit slow in the first relay events,” she said. “We also had a couple close races that could have gone our way, but instead turned into second-place finishes for us.”
Freshman diver David Hoffer, who placed first in the men’s 1-meter dive against Cal, placed third. However, freshman Mara Aiacoboae finished first in the women’s 1-meter dive with a score of 320.5.
Later in the meet, Hoffer won the men’s 3-meter dive with a score of 353.18, while teammate Hailey Casper netted a score of 302.33 to win the women’s 1-meter dive.
The second half of the meet mirrored that against Cal. The Sun Devils performed much better and shrunk the Stanford lead.
Jan Kutnik won the men’s 500 freestyle, clocking in at 4.33.50 and narrowly defeated Stanford’s Drew Cosgarea, who finished at 4.33.56. His performance started a streak of seven straight first-place finishes to end the meet for ASU.
Though the majority of ASU’s consistent performers were not able to capture first-place finishes, the breaststrokers were an exception.
ASU controlled the 200 breaststroke, finishing with two of the top three spots in each race.
For the women, freshman Jorie Caneta finished first with a time of 2.16.27, barely edging out Stanford freshman Heidi Poppe’s time of 2.16.29.
The men finished first and second as junior Thibaut Capitaine and freshman Christian Lorenz captured times of 2.01.74 and 2.01.90, respectively.
Tierney-Walker said the competition between Capitaine and Lorenz is bringing out the best in the two swimmers.
“Those guys contribute a lot to the overall effort,” she said. “They are used to going at it all the time in practice and it’s really showing—they’re improving a ton.”
Sophomore Richard Bohus celebrates with a teammate after winning the men's 200-yard freestyle relay against Stanford, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015 at the Mona Plummer Aquatics
Complex in Tempe. The men's team fell to Stanford 134-96. (Ben Moffat/The State Press)
ASU also benefitted from the return of Olympian Richard Bohus, a talented sophomore who anchored the final relay, where the Sun Devils touched first. Bohus saw his first action of the season (shoulder injury).
“Having him back was huge,” Tierney-Walker said. “He really helped us in the final relay events and we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do in the future.
This loss caps off a two-meet weekend at home, where ASU was swept by its Pac-12 opponents.
ASU swim and dive’s next dual meet will be Feb. 7 against rival Arizona.
“We learned a lot about ourselves against Cal and Stanford,” Tierney-Walker said. “Now it’s time to see how we can improve more.”
Reach the reporter at Justin.Toscano@asu.edu or on Twitter @justintoscano3
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