ASU swimmers practice on Nov. 4, 2014 at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Complex in Tempe. (Emily Johnson/The State Press)The ASU men's swimming team (3-9) will be competing in the second wave of the Pac-12 Championships in Federal Way, Washington, from March 4 to 7, hoping to build upon some of the performances of the women and the divers who competed in the first wave.
In the first wave, multiple women had record-book performances in the biggest meet of the year up to that point. Much like the women, the men are young, but have some talented swimmers with a chance to place well in their respective events.
Sophomore Tadas Duskinas from Kaunas, Lithuania, has a seed time of 47.07 seconds in the 100 butterfly, which ranks him seventh among the other competitors. Duskinas's personal season-best time of 47.07 is also the team's season-best time by more than one full second.
The second-best 100 butterfly time of the season is held by freshman Patrick Park, who is ranked No. 22 with a seed time of 48.59. Although Duskinas and Park are ASU's only swimmers ranked in the top-25 of the 100 butterfly, junior Sean Kao, senior Zac Dalby and sophomore Cole Miller are ranked No. 29, No. 32 and No. 36 in the event, respectively.
Dalby, a team captain who will be competing in his last Pac-12 Championship, is also ranked No. 16 out of 46 swimmers in the 200 individual medley with a personal season-best and team-best time of 1:49.34.
However, it does not stop there with the butterfly events.
Park and Dalby also hold seed times good enough for No. 11 and No. 15 in the 200 butterfly, respectively. ASU is well-represented in the butterfly events on the men's side.
The versatility of Park and Duskinas will be displayed as the two are set to compete in the 50 freestyle, where their seed times of 20.33 and 20.37 are good for No. 18 and No. 19 out of 60 swimmers.
The Sun Devils also have two swimmers ranked in the top-10 of the 100 breaststroke — junior Thibaut Capitaine at No. 5 and freshman Christian Lorenz at No. 10. The two breaststrokers have been competing against one another in practice all year, and their respective season-bests lead the team this season.
The 200 breaststroke is no different for the standout swimmers. Capitaine's seed time of 1.58.06 ranks seventh and Lorenz's time of 1.58.62 ranks ninth among all swimmers. If anything, the breaststroke events should be ASU's best chances for a top-3 finish in the final round of an event.
In addition, ASU has two swimmers whose season-best times in the backstroke events are ranked in the top-10 of all Pac-12 swimmers.
Sophomore Richard Bohus is No. 9 in the 100 backstroke with a time of 48.33 and fellow sophomore Barkley Perry's time of 1.44.02 in the 200 backstroke makes him No. 7 out of 24 swimmers.
Another talented sophomore who will be competing is sophomore Thomaz Martins, who is slated for the 200 freestyle. His season-best in the event is 1.37.54, which ranks 13th out of 55 swimmers who are set to compete in the 200 freestyle at the Pac-12 Championships.
Although inexperienced, the ASU men's swimming team sports many talented swimmers with a chance to earn a favorable result in their respective events at the second wave of the Pac-12 Championships.
Reach the reporter at Justin.Toscano@asu.edu or follow @justintoscano3 on Twitter.
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