Freshman Jorie Caneta (left) keeps pace with Cal sophomore Celina Li in the 200-meter breaststroke, Saturday, Jan. 23, 2015, at Mona Plummer Aquatic Complex in Tempe. ASU senior Tory Houston (not pictured) won with a time of 2:16:81; Caneta finished second with a time of 2:17:52. (Krista Tillman/The State Press)In its final dual meet of the season, ASU swim and dive is looking to end the long drought against rival Arizona with a win in Tucson on Saturday.
The women (4-6) have dropped two straight meets after winning four in a row. However, breaststrokers Jorie Caneta and Tory Houston have excelled against some of the country's top talent, including Pac-12 opponents Cal and Stanford.
Caneta, a freshman, won the 100 breaststroke against Cal and the 200 breaststroke against Stanford. Houston won the 200 breaststroke against Cal, with Caneta touching the pad right after her.
Sophomore Kat Simonovic, who holds team season-best times in the 200 and 500 free, said ASU will need to be at its best to beat nationally-ranked Arizona on Saturday. The Wildcat women are ranked No. 11 and the men are No. 14 according to the most recent CSCAA Coaches Poll on Jan. 22.
"They're a strong and high-caliber team and if we all perform well, we'll give ourselves a good chance to beat them," Simonovic said. "This meet is good to gauge where we're at heading into the Pac-12 and NCAA Championships."
Simonovic said the women's team's performance against powerhouses Cal and Stanford was something to be proud of, regardless of the final result.
"Last year, we were smoked by those teams, and they might have doubled or even tripled our score," she said. "We performed much better this year, considering we were able to finish first in some events against top talent from those schools."
With a young team, this year could be the start of a rise in success for the ASU women.
"We need to keep our chemistry strong and keep fighting," Simonovic said. "People say swimming is an individual sport, and while that's true, we're also swimming for our school, our teammates and our families — that's what drives us."
Although young as well, the men (3-8) are hitting their stride, improving times and coming together as a unit. Regardless of its record, the team has performed well by its standards against talented Pac-12 men's programs.
ASU's divers have also had major success this year--freshman David Hoffer and senior Hailey Casper have performed well and secured many first place finishes in their respective events.
Hoffer, was named Pac-12 Diver of the Month for the second time in January, placed second in the championship round of the men's 3-meter dive with a cumulative score of 353.75 at last weekend's USAFA Diving Invitational.
Another young contributor, freshman Patrick Park, holds the team's top time in the 50 free, as well as the third-best times in the 100 and 200 free.
"I feel like we're a young team and have been plagued by injuries this year," Park said. "We're going to have a great opportunity to be good for years to come."
Park said the team is extra focused for Saturday's meet, noting that the rivalry makes it much more special.
"We've heard about their streak against us and we have a chip on our shoulder coming in," he said. "We're trying to prepare our minds, because it's going to be a mentally draining meet that comes down to the wire."
Reach the reporter at Justin.Toscano@asu.edu or on Twitter @justintoscano3.
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Editor's note: Kat Simonovic is a State Press staff photographer. She was not involved with the reporting or editing of this story.
