The No. 18 ASU women's swim team has had a promising start by breaking multiple records just four meets into the new season.
The Sun Devils believe chemistry and talent have helped them reach their goals, and success stories are piling up. Before the season, the program underwent massive changes including the promotion of new head coach Herbie Behm and the addition of transfers and incoming freshmen.
Under his new leadership, Behm has enjoyed coaching what he believes is a very close and progressive women's team.
"The thing I like the most is the culture and the way they interact with everyone," Behm said. "It's been really special this year how supportive everyone's been top to bottom. ... Everybody knows their role and not necessarily the hierarchy of like this person is the best, this person isn't."
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Iowa State transfer sophomore swimmer Miriam Sheehan credited Behm's motivation and encouragement as major reasons for the team's success.
"He talks with everyone on the team (and) he checks in with everyone on his team," Sheehan said. "His leadership has made a huge difference in how the women perceive themselves as well just (feeling) worthy of taking that next step."
The team holds a 1-1 record with impressive performances against UNLV and the other three Arizona programs. The four broken records consist of a 1:36.17 time in the 200 medley relay, a 21.88 time in the 50 freestyle, a 1:53.11 finish in the 200 backstroke and a 48.30 time in the 100 freestyle. Three of those solo records were broken by Virginia Tech transfer graduate swimmer Caroline Bentz.
New additions helped the team grow by contributing to these record-setting times. Newcomer Sheehan believes new talent has led a huge team overhaul.
"There's just a lot of experience that has contributed to building on what's already here with a lot of the people that were already here and had goals, like having those different points of view and experience coming in from different places has been great," Sheehan said.
Relationships outside the water explain success in the pool. Teammates cheer each other on and push each swimmer to be their best, boosting their confidence in meets.
Senior swimmer Charli Brown considers her fellow female athletes her best friends. Her teammate Sheehan believes the team has a special attitude toward each other that's rare to see.
"Something about this team that I really have not seen anywhere else, like even last year being in a top-10 program, is just the amount of care and respect for each member of the team that every single one of these women have for each other," Sheehan said. "There's just a genuine desire for us to support each other to achieve our goals."
READ MORE: ASU Swim dominates UNLV in season opener
A shared team is to follow the legacy of past ASU female swimmers and exceed expectations for themselves and the program. Brown has confidence in her team to reach those goals by having each teammate support one another.
"Not even just in the pool but in our schoolwork and stuff we push each other to go after things that we want," Brown said. "When I was a freshman, the girls who were seniors and fifth-years at the time, they really inspired a lot of my freshman class to literally just go after it. The way that they worked together kind of inspired us to help each other achieve some big goals as well."
While the Sun Devils try not to focus too much on their ranking, Behm and Brown view this added pressure as a gift toward their talents and as motivation to win as a group.
"I think it is the realization (that) all pressure and expectation is internal and we create that," Behm said. "But it is also something that we've earned and I think it's a really good thing to have that expectation. I think that's what makes the time in between the meets much more motivational because knowing we're all kind of expected to be better than we've ever been, we have to train like that every single day."
The Sun Devils will head to Greensboro, North Carolina to face No. 12 NC State for the second time this year in the NC State Invitational on Nov. 21-23.
Edited by Jack Barron, Abigail Beck and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at linunez@asu.edu and follow @laurentahuka on X.
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