Going into this weekend, swim coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker said that the ASU swim and dive program doesn’t really know its potential until it faces the nation’s best.
The Sun Devils faced two of the best programs over the weekend and they came away empty handed.
The first of two meets took place in Spieker Aquatics Center at UCLA on Friday, where the No. 16 ASU women took on No. 15 UCLA and the men swam against Cal State Bakersfield.
The men, without junior Alex Coci, were outscored 155-139 and the women lost to the Bruins 190.5-108.5.
Although the weekend did not get off to a good start, there were some positives for ASU to take away from the meet on the women’s side.
Junior Tristin Baxter and senior Shannon Landgrebe both broke local records at Spieker Aquatics Center.
Baxter broke the record in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 9:53.40, just under 10 seconds slower than the school record she set last season with 9:43.49.
With a time of 1:48.03, Langrebe broke the facility record in the 200 freestyle at Spieker.
In their first competition of the year, the ASU divers performed soundly at UCLA, just like dive coach Mark Bradshaw thought they would.
“I thought we did pretty well considering the circumstances,” Bradshaw said. “Everybody competed really well this early on.”
Senior Harrison Jones, the only male diver for ASU, finished first in both the 1- and 3-meter dives, tallying 408.80 and 418.15, respectively.
“There was nobody in Harrison’s same level,” Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw also said freshman Morgan Weller competed well against a couple of very good women divers for the Bruins. Weller finished second in the 1-meter and fourth in the 3-meter.
Sun Devils fall to Trojans
The ASU women fought No. 1 USC all day long but came up short, 118-116.
USC dominated on the men’s side, beating the Sun Devils 144-82.
Landgrebe continued her dominance in the freestyle with wins in the 100- and 200-yard races.
Other standouts for the women were senior Taylor Wohrley, who placed first in the 200-yard backstroke, and Baxter finishing second in both the 500- and 1000-yard freestyle races.
The Sun Devil divers dominated their second meet of the season.
Going up against his former team, Jones shined and finished first in the 1- and 3-meter dives with scores of 374.93 and 392.55.
Weller put in another solid performance for the weekend with first places finishes in the 1- and 3-meter dives as well.
The ASU swimmers return to California next weekend to compete in the Arena Invitational in Long Beach and the divers travel to Tucson for the Wildcat Invitational.
Reach the reporter at ross.dunham@asu.edu
