Several weeks after their last competition, the ASU swim and dive teams won’t get an easy start against two of the best programs in the country as they host Cal and Stanford this weekend, the last home meets of the season.
The ASU men have not competed since Nov. 20, the women last competed on Jan. 8, and neither team will have a chance to ease back into the flow of competition.
On Friday, ASU hosts Stanford, whose men’s swim team ranks third in the country, while the women’s team ranks first. The competition doesn’t get much easier on Saturday as both the Cal men and women are ranked.
Although these meets will be tough, the Sun Devils are not backing away from the challenge.
“We’re excited to host both Cal and Stanford,” ASU swim coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker said. “We are coming off a productive three weeks of Christmas training and I’m excited to see where we’re at.”
It has been a while since the Sun Devils raced and Tierney-Walker said she would not be surprised if her team shows a few signs of rust.
“Some people will probably demonstrate a little bit of that,” Tierney-Walker said.
In an attempt to avoid a slow start, the teammates have been racing each other and trying to stay in a competitive mindset.
While Tierney-Walker may expect the team to be a little sluggish, senior Nolan Ruane thinks the team is ready to go.
“I don’t expect any rust,” Ruane said. “We got in Saturday morning and did some time trials and scored pretty well. We’re all pretty excited to finally race.”
Stanford senior Austin Staab is among the tough competitors the Sun Devils will face. Staab, an NCAA 100 butterfly champion, was recently named collegeswimming.com’s national swimmer of the week.
While the opposing swim teams are going to be a challenge, Cal and Stanford’s diving teams are just as talented.
California senior Thomas Henninger took first place earlier this month in the one-meter board at the UCLA Invitational.
The ASU divers have not competed since the Wildcat Invite, where sophomore All-Americans Riley McCormick and Constantin Blaha finished first and second, respectively, and the Sun Devils are hoping they pick up right where they left off before the holiday break.
These will be the last home meets of the season and the last chance the ASU seniors have to compete in their home pool. While the final home meet may be emotional or special to some, Ruane did not appear to be treating the competition any differently than the others.
“We just want to swim fast,” Ruane said.
Both swim and dive meets will take place at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center.
Reach the reporter at william.boor@asu.edu
