Competing against the top-ranked team in the nation is one thing. Gearing up to face your archrival is another.
This is the scenario the ASU men’s swim and dive program faces on Saturday when the Sun Devils host No. 1 UA to close their dual-meet season.
UA features elite talent and depth in virtually all events scheduled for Saturday, particularly on the men’s side. Currently, a Wildcat swimmer owns the top time for seven events in the Pac-12 and four in the entire nation.
The divers have also been preparing for UA All-American redshirt senior Ben Grado and sophomore Samantha Pickens, whom ASU dive coach Mark Bradshaw feels his divers will see a lot of in the upcoming Zone E and NCAA Championships.
ASU swim coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker acknowledges UA’s prestige, but feels her team has been through this situation several times throughout the season against other conference foes.
“The approach (coming into the meet) is similar to Cal and Stanford,” Tierney-Walker said. “We’re facing one of the best teams in the country. We happen to be in a conference where it’s probably the best conference in the country — both men and women. We look forward to it. We want to bring our ‘A’ games against the best teams in the country, and especially with UA.”
Although Tierney-Walker admits swim and dive is “a little different” in terms of how the seasons are organized, she said the in-state rivalry is definitely a factor in this matchup, like in any other sport.
“We have several kids from the state of Arizona, a few from Tucson,” Tierney-Walker said. “There’s a little bit of an edge from our team while preparing for this meet. Any time you get to compete against that team from the other side of the state, we want to bring our ‘A’ game.”
Bradshaw usually prefers to concentrate on his divers’ improvements on his side of the pool, but this time, he would be more than glad to contribute points to the Sun Devils’ cause.
“We’re an entity as scoring goes, but hey, this is our rival,” Bradshaw said. “In terms of our overall competitiveness, we want to beat our rival. We want to beat U of A. In diving, in my opinion, we should out-point them.”
As part of Senior Day, nine athletes will compete at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Complex for the last time of their careers.
“Any senior meet is a little bittersweet,” Tierney-Walker said. “You look forward to that next stage in life, but hopefully it’s been a great experience for them and it’s something they learned a lot personally (for) years to come. I think they’re excited about it. I think there is some sentimentality that goes along with it. We want it to be a great experience for them and also a last fine-tune meet for the Pac-12 championships.”
Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu
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