The Pac-10 is one of the most competitive swimming and diving conferences in the nation, but the ASU swimmers, divers and coaches are confident and optimistic about the upcoming season.
The swim team is young, but the diving team is full of experience as they return every member of last year’s team and add freshman Hailey Casper.
ASU diving coach Mark Bradshaw is excited about his roster and eager to get the season underway.
“I said a year ago that this was the best group I had ever had in my 13 years and in my 14th year we have everybody back plus Hailey,” Bradshaw said.
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Although Casper is only a freshman, the lone addition to the ASU dive team brings plenty of experience, having won a 1-meter gold medal at the 2009 Canadian games.
Bradshaw is excited about adding Casper to the team and said that, “she has impeccable form.”
Casper will be joining a diving team that had great success last season and features three Olympians: sophomore Riley McCormick, junior Constantin Blaha, and junior Elina Eggers.
McCormick, Blaha, and Eggers all participated in the NCAA Championships last season. Eggers was an All-American and McCormick was runner-up on the 10-meter platform, an event Bradshaw expects McCormick to win this season.
Because last season was so successful, an encore performance would satisfy the divers.
“I would like to see a repeat performance of what we’ve done, maybe even a little bit better,” Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw hopes to add junior Cameron Bradshaw, senior Brittany Jumer, and Casper to the list of Sun Devils at the NCAA Championships this season.
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Early in the season, the divers will travel to Hawaii to take on the Warriors in a meet that is circled on the Sun Devils’ calendar.
“They’ve got some very good divers there so that will be a particularly good challenge,” Bradshaw said.
Needless to say, expectations are high for the dive team, but each of its members is embracing the challenge.
Blaha said he is excited for the season to start because he still has, “unfinished business.”
Blaha did not make it to the finals at the Nation Championships last year and hopes to this season.
Cameron Bradshaw, meanwhile, said he is just, “trying to have fun.”
“We have a chance to really do something special this year,” Mark Bradshaw said.
The diving season does not begin until the Sun Devils travel to Hawaii on November 5, but the swim team begins their season Friday in a dual meet against UA.
Seventy-five percent of the men’s swim team is new, but ASU coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker does not expect them to struggle.
“I think this group is just going to continue to get better and better, not only this year but next year they are going to just explode,” Tierney-Walker said.
The swim team struggled last year as the men and women finished with a combined record of 8-13. The men finished fifth and the women sixth in the Pac-10 Conference.
Despite last year’s struggles, players and coaches alike expect the 2010-2011 season to be better.
“Our team this year is better than we’ve been the last couple years,” Tierney-Walker said. “They have truly embraced philosophically what we are trying to do here.”
Junior Rebecca Ejdervik was an All-American and Pac-10 champion a year ago. After placing fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke at the NCAA Championships, she is expecting a strong 2010-2011 season.
“I’m really confident for this year. I feel really comfortable with [the coaches]” Ejdervik said. “I have pretty high expectations.”
Tierney-Walker said she expects junior Jordyn Green and freshman Tristin Baxter to compete with Ejdervik at the NCAA Championships.
Beginning this season, Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara will be joining the Pac-10 as affiliate members in men’s swimming and diving.
While Tierney-Walker admitted she is not very familiar with the two programs, she said it is exciting and the additions will add energy to the meets.
Reach the reporter at william.boor@asu.edu
