On Oct. 2, ASU swim and dive made its long-awaited return to the waters of the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center. In the wake of an outstanding 2025-26 season — capping off with a Big 12 Championship win and five NCAA titles — expectations mounted for an explosive dive into a new year of competition.
The Sun Devils met this challenge head-on, facing UNLV for the third season opener in a row and besting the Rebels again with a score of 245-55 for the No. 6-ranked men and 231-68 for the No. 18 women's squad.
The Mona Plummer Aquatic Center might have lacked some of the fanfare from its previous dual meet against UNLV, when teaching professor Matthew McCarthy helped bring a crowd of nearly 3,000 Sun Devils to the pool.
However, the ASU swimmers did not lack in enthusiasm nor competition for the entirety of the meet.
"The energy on the pool deck, the energy in the stands, the energy in the water — it was all there," Nick Simons, a fifth-year backstroke and freestyler, said. "That's a great way to start off and kick off the season with a bang."
READ MORE: Professor McCarthy and Co. help Sun Devil Swim and Dive break attendance record
Returning Sun Devils continued their hot streaks from last season, with sophomore freestyle and butterfly competitor Albane Cachot breaking her own record in the women's 100 freestyle with a time of 47.23 seconds.
Sophomore freestyler Noah Mudadu put up a personal best in the men's 1,000 freestyle, touching the wall almost 15 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. Coach Herbie Behm described Mudadu's performance as "lights out."
ASU lost a considerable amount of talent after notable seniors — such as Jonny Kulow, Deniz Ertan and Andy Dobrzanski — graduated this past spring. Even so, Behm hopes the continued dominance of returners, aided by the strength of an increasingly impressive freshman class, will fill in any holes left by these swim and dive alumni.
"It was probably the most talented senior class we've ever had," Behm said. "These guys just filled right in. I'm super enthusiastic to see what they can do because this was their first college meet ever."
The biggest waves in the pool were made by those freshmen who dove right into the season with top times during their Sun Devil debuts.
Freshman freestyle and backstroker Alyssa Albertyn placed first in the women's 200 freestyle and 200 backstroke, competing in her first collegiate meet alongside her brother, freshman all-arounder Dillon Albertyn. Both the men's 100 and 200 breaststroke events were won by freshman breaststroker Oliver Munn.
Rowynn Biffart, a freshman all-arounder, notched a second-place finish in the women's 200 IM behind junior individual medley and backstroke competitor Jordan Greber. She related her successful debut to the energy from her fellow Sun Devils.
"I'm excited to get into the pool every day and see them and walk alongside them," Biffart said. "We all have one goal to get better and faster, and we all push each other to do that."
One of Behm's biggest takeaways from the first meet was how incredible his freshman class proved itself to be and their desire to get better each week, not remaining complacent with early wins.
The newcomers will need to continue training hard and looking toward veteran swimmers in order to ensure their development as the season progresses. Many returning Sun Devils and upperclassmen swimmers welcome the chance to be the mentors that these freshmen need.
"Parker (Deshayes) and Nathan (Muratory) have never swam yards before, so they have no idea what the times mean," Behm said. "(Simons) knows everything about the times, so it's a really good combination."
Sun Devil swim and dive now has a benchmark for what to anticipate from its team in coming meets against formidable opponents. Broken records and program-best times are the expectation for these swimmers, with a desire to constantly and unceasingly raise the bar with every new competition.
If there is any team ready to take on this challenge, it is ASU swim and dive.
"I like to say 'iron sharpens iron,' and I've never seen iron sharpen more iron than here at ASU," Simons said.
Edited by Char O'Neil, Alan Deutschendorf III and Sophia Keeling.
Reach the reporter at bcsmit41@asu.edu.
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Brooklyn Smith is a reporter for the Sports desk at The State Press. She is majoring in English Literature and Economics. This is her third semester with The State Press.
