Photo Credit: Peter H. Bick
TEMPE – Thanks to a 1-2 finish in the final 400 free relay, the Arizona State men’s swimming and diving team pulled out a three-point victory over BYU on Saturday, 151-148. Meanwhile, the Sun Devil women won their fourth-straight dual meet, topping the Cougars by a 182-111 score.
Arizona State Press Release
The Arizona State swim and dive teams capped off an excellent weekend of home dual meets on Saturday from Mona Plummer Aquatic Center, as the women (4-5) increased their win streak to four and the men (3-6) came from behind to take the lead after the final race and escape with the victory.
The ASU women used another dominant performance as they routed BYU by a final score of 182-111. On the men’s side, however, the action was much closer and came down to the final race of the day, where the dedicated Christmas Break training came full circle and boosted the Sun Devils into the win column, 151-148.
Trailing by 10 points heading into the 400 freestyle relay, the ASU men needed to nab the top two spots in order to come away with the win. They did just that, as the “A” relay team of Patrick Park, Tadas Duskinas, Sean Kao and Joe Worrick touched the pad first in 3:04.28, while the “B” relay team of Thomaz Martins, Cole Miller, Juhan Hong and Barkley Perry notched the second-place finish after BYU was disqualified for leaving the block early.
The men’s victory would not have been possible without the help of the divers, as December’s Pac-12 Diver of the Month David Hoffer came out on top by recording a highly-impressive 339.60 score in the men’s 3-meter. Hunter Atha then finished third adding an additional three points, which proved to be the decisive points on the day.
The ASU women are currently in the midst of competing at their highest level of the year, evident by the fact that they won 15 of the 16 events against BYU. A total of ten different ASU women took home victories on the day, led by Lori Layne Kremer and Melanie Busch with two wins apiece.
Hailey Casper also scored her second victory in as many days, recording a 320.78 in the women’s 1-meter dive, above and beyond the Zone Qualifying score of 265.00. Mara Aiacoboae finished second in the same event, scoring a 261.75.
With wins under their belts after the weekend home stretch, the Arizona State men and women’s swim and dive teams look forward to Jan. 23-24 when Cal and Stanford travel to Tempe for Pac-12 competition.
BYU Press Release
The BYU men’s (151-148) and women’s (182-111) swim teams fell short against the Arizona State Sun Devils Saturday afternoon at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe, Arizona.
“It was a really tough meet for our men and women,” head coach John Brooks said. “Their women’s team is tough and our men should have won their meet, but we had a false start on the last relay and ended up losing the meet by three points. It was tough.”
The men’s 400-yard freestyle relay team of Jake Taylor, Mitchell Allphin, Evan Berger and McKay King had a chance to win the meet for the men’s squad in the last event of the day. The team needed just a second-place finish to secure enough points for the win, but a false start disqualified the team and left the Cougars just short of the Sun Devils.
The men’s 200-yard medley relay team made up of Taylor, Michael King, Rainer Ng and Rafael Alfaro picked up the first Cougar victory of the afternoon, touching the wall in 1:31.32. Ali Tippets finished first in the women’s 3-meter dive, scoring a 268.95. Her teammate, Megan Johnson Harris finished second with a score of 264.45.
Kevin Dreesen won the men’s 1-meter dive with a final score of 301.88, Matt Hopper finished a distant second with a 263.25.
Ng also recorded a first-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke, coming in with a final time of 49.20.
Berger picked up a win in the 50-yard freestyle finishing in 21.36.
Coming in with a time of 2:07.12, Lillian Moore was a second-place finisher in the women’s 200-yard butterfly.
Taylor finished first in the men’s 200-yard backstroke, touching the wall in 1:47.88. He also picked up a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:40.37.
Ciera Marsh Keller and Haley Bertoldo finished second and third in the women’s 100 back, finishing with times of 58.13 and 58.15, respectively.
Luis Ventura finished the men’s 500-yard freestyle in 4:35.64, fast enough for a first-place finish.
Alora Foliaki (52.82) and Brenna Dickson (54.62) finished second and third in the women’s 100-yard freestyle.
Senior captain Hayden Palmer won the men’s 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:01.63.
The Cougars will be back in action against Denver on Saturday Jan. 24 at the Richards Building Pool in Provo.
Results: BYU vs. Arizona State