Fifth place was becoming an all-too-familiar position for the ASU men's swimming team and it broke the trend Saturday at the Pac-10 championships with a fourth-place finish, the best for an ASU squad since 1998.
The Sun Devils had finished fifth in four-consecutive seasons, but sophomore Derek Miller and juniors Nick Brunelli and Ahmed Hussein turned in top-six finishes in their respective races on the final day to carry ASU.
Miller posted a career-best time of 15:23.38 in the 1,650-meter freestyle. The mark was good enough for a sixth-place finish in the race that featured USC's Erik Vendt, now a three-time Pac-10 champion in the event.
Miller's time wasn't good enough for an NCAA 'A' qualifying time, which would have given him an automatic bid to the NCAA championships, and ASU had only one swimmer, Brunelli, tally a qualifying time at the meet.
He had already qualified for the NCAA championships earlier in the Pac-10 meet in the 200 freestyle, a race in which his time placed him sixth in ASU's record book for the event.
Brunelli also narrowly missed the qualifying mark in the 100 freestyle. He touched the wall at 43.71, just under a second shy of the qualifying time.
"I was pretty happy with that," Brunelli said. "If I finish in the top-four at the Pac-10's it's a pretty good indication that I'll do well at the NCAA's."
The Pac-10 men's swimming crown went to Stanford - again. The Cardinal have now dominated the Pac-10 men's championships every year since 1982, for 22 seasons.
Stanford swimmers swept the top-three places in the 200 backstroke Saturday to pad their lead and clinch the title.
Brunelli thought the Sun Devils' performance was a capstone to a successful season that saw a young team achieve several of the goals that coach Michael Chasson laid out at the beginning of the season.
"The season's been great. Overall we've got a lot of people swimming fast," he said of both the men's and women's teams. "Next year's gonna be better and the year after that, even better. I'm excited and the season's gone well."
Two weeks ago, the women's team turned in a sixth-place finish at their Pac-10 championships, and Brunelli said the women's performance gave the men motivation to perform well.
"We swim together as a team - the guys and girls together," Brunelli said. "Either [the women's team has to] swim well or we have to, and they did so it's always a boost."
When the season began, Chasson identified the NCAA championships as a major goal for both the men's and women's teams. The swimmers have responded with successful Pac-10 meets and Brunelli identified several things the teams must do to win at the NCAA meet.
"We really just have to stay calm," he said. "This year has been the best year, training wise, and we just need to rely on that training. You go in with an open mind and try to do the best you can and things just fall into place."
With ASU having such a young team this season, the chance to compete and finish well at the conference meet should bode well for next season.
"My freshman year was a big experience for me and I'm glad they get to do that," Brunelli said of the underclassmen's experience.
Reach the reporter at cameron.eickmeyer@asu.edu.