The Arizona State swimming teams put up some impressive times in their first racing opportunity in the Bob Bowman coaching era as the Maroon teams won the intrasquad meet.
The Maroon women had a fairly easy win over Gold, 90-78, but it was a different story for the men. The Maroon team took the title by just three points, 99-96.
The meet started off with some superb splits in the 200 medley relays. In the women’s race, Maroon won with a 1:44.29 to Gold’s 1:44.79. Katarina Simonovic was the standout in the race, splitting 22.90 on the freestyle leg.
The butterflyers dropped a few jaws in the men’s medley relay. Andrew Porter, who transferred from the University of Arizona, and Tadas Duskinas dove into the water together for a 50-yard butterfly duel. Duskinas outsplit Porter with an impressive 20.90 to Porter’s 21.47. Dusinkas’ split helped the Gold team win, 1:29.61 to 1:30.02. The Gold team put in a second relay that was third in 1:36.96 for two important points.
The 1000 freestyle was swum as a mixed gender race, and five people participated. Juan Tolosa buried the field, posting the sole swim under 10 minutes with a 9:35.61 for the Gold team. Mitchell Bruckman was second with a 10:05.99, while Anna Olasz was the only women’s swimmer in the race, taking third overall with a 10:20.38.
A 28.74 from Heather McCorkel helped her win the 200 freestyle with a 1:52.10 over the 1:53.22 by Simonovic. In the men’s 200 free, Barkley Perry held on to win with a 1:40.26, out-touching Thomaz Martins’ 1:40.71.
The Maroon team scored big points in the women’s 50 free, with Alysha Bush and Ingibj Jonsdottir going 1-2 with times of 23.46 and 24.08. On the men’s side, Keiser Witte led five swimmers under 22 seconds with a 21.29 for the win.
Cheyenne Degraff won the women’s 200 IM by three seconds with a 2:06.28 over the 2:09.43 by Kallyn Barkey. Kyle Sockwell and Juanjo Garcia put on a great battle in the men’s 200 IM, turning together on the breaststroke leg and swimming stroke for stroke on freestyle. Sockwell managed to get the win with a 1:54.83 to Garcia’s 1:54.89. Thibaut Capitaine led the field through breaststroke, but faded to third with a 1:55.03.
The Gold team outscored Maroon 12-4 in the women’s 100 fly, with Marina Spadoni and Olasz going 1-3 in times of 56.13 and 1:05.11. Jamie Friderichs got between them with a 1:00.15 for second place.
Patrick Park was aggressive in the opening 50 yards of the men’s 100 fly, gaining a five tenths lead over Porter. But Porter rallied in the final 50 to make it a close finish, where Park got the victory with a 48.37 to Porter’s 48.92.
Bush picked up her second win of the meet, doing so in dominating fashion. She won the 100 free with a 50.76 as Raquel Grays took second with a 52.75. Richard Bohus also had no problem winning the men’s 100 free, posting a 44.94 to Duskinas’ 45.82.
In her third race of the meet, Olasz picked up the win in the women’s 500 free with a 5:04.07. Tolosa won the men’s 500 free with a 4:39.76, with Martins second with a 4:45.13.
Just one swimmer from each team took part in the women’s 100 breast, and it was Kaya Philapil from the Gold team battling with Ivana Ninkovic from the Maroon team. Ninkovic took the race out in 30.95 to lead the way, but Philapil made a move in the second half to take a narrow victory, 1:05.56 to 1:05.79.
Capitaine saved up for an aggressive second 50 yards of the men’s 100 breast, splitting 28.93 to help him beat Christian Lorenz with a 55.23 to Lorenz’s 56.20.
The Maroon women’s team had the meet locked up by the final event, the 400 free relay, but the Gold team was going down swinging. The lead changed hands often, and it was the Gold team who barely took the win with a 3:29.99 to Maroon’s 3:30.16.
In the men’s 400 free relay, the Gold team needed to win the relay to win the meet. It was another close race, with both teams swimming even after 200 yards. Maroon’s 3:02.19 took the win over Gold’s 3:02.41, giving Maroon the meet title. By putting a second team in the race, Maroon was able to score two more points with a third-place time of 3:18.93 to earn the three-point victory.
Sun Devil Coaches Bob Bowman and the Olympian butterflyer Misty Hymen from Shadow Mountain High in Phoenix, Arizona.
Tadas
Fabio Gimondi