March 24, 2000
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - All-America honors were in abundance for Arizona State student-athletes during Friday's second day of competition at the 2000 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in the University Aquatic Center. Five Sun Devil individuals and two relay teams earned All-America accolades and added 77 points to ASU's 121.5 point total, putting the team in ninth place with one day of competition remaining. Texas leads the team standings with 416 points.
Relays were a particular strength for Arizona State. The 800-meter freestyle team of Attila Czene, Anders Lyrbring, Bo West and Scott VonSchoff notched the highest relay finish in ASU national championship history with second place performance of 7:09.40. Czene opened the race with a blistering 1:46.25 split to give the Devils an early lead over eventual winner Texas.
"The 800 relay was awesome," Arizona State Head Coach Michael Chasson said. "Attila came out with a fantastic lead-off. That time would have gotten second or third tonight in the 200 [free]. If we didn't get at least second it would have been real hard [to be in the top-10 overall]."
In 200 medley action, Pablo Abal, Adam Guzauskas, Czene and Simon MacDonald garnered Honorable Mention All-America status by opening the evening session with a win in the consolation finals at 1:37.97. That mark placed the group ninth overall, equaling ASU's finish in Thursday's 200 free relay.
Individually, junior Otto Hinks was a surprise qualifier for the championship finals of the 100 breaststroke, where he touched the wall eighth in 1:02.73 after enduring adverse circumstances. The native of Ottawa, Ont., held the sixth fastest time in the afternoon preliminaries, but lost his goggles and, in turn, his contact lenses midway through the race.
Meanwhile in 100 backstroke action, Abal notched his best-ever individual finish at the NCAA's with an 11th place, 53.40 performance. The senior's time, if converted to short-course yards, is nearly .70 seconds faster than the existing Sun Devil record held by Doug King. Czene followed up his world record performance in Thursday's 200 IM with a 15th place showing in the 100 butterfly (53.60). Also scoring points was Lyrbring with his 16th place, 1:48.67 mark in 200 free action.
Junior Marc Briggs became the first diving All-American since Dan Plant in 1983 by placing 15th overall on the three-meter springboard. The Madera, Calif., native, who captured the three-meter crown at last month's Pac-10 Championships, finished with 502.10 points on Friday. VonSchoff had the highest non-scoring Sun Devil performance with his tie for 18th in the 200 freestyle at 1:48.27. In the same race West placed 27th in a time of 1:48.79. Meanwhile Guzauskas carded a 25th place performance in the 100 breast (1:01.95) while MacDonald touched the wall 28th in 100 fly competition at 54.40.
The NCAA Championships conclude with on Saturday with preliminary heats beginning at 11:00 a.m. and finals commencing at 7:00 p.m. CST.
"It's going to be a battle tomorrow," Chasson said. "We still have our work cut out for us in the team scoring race. We'll see what happens."
Complete ASU Results:
200 MR: Abal, Guzauskas, Czene, MacDonald (9th - 1:37.97)
100 Fly: Czene (15th - 53.60), MacDonald (28th - 54.40)
200 Free: Lyrbring (16th - 1:48.67), VonSchoff (t18th - 1:48.27), West (27th - 1:48.79)
100 Breast: Hinks (8th - 1:02.73), Guzauskas (25th - 1:01.95)
100 Back: Abal (11th - 53.40)
Three-Meter: Briggs (15th - 502.10)
800 Free Relay: Czene, Lyrbring, West, VonSchoff (2nd - 7:09.40)