Jan. 3, 2007
TEMPE, Ariz. -
After over one month off from action, Arizona State University's men's and women's swimming and diving teams return to competition for a challenging weekend against conference rivals and nationally ranked squads at ASU's Mona Plummer Aquatic Complex.
The Sun Devils will return to the water by hosting the men's and women's swimming and diving teams from the on Friday, January 5 at 1 p.m. After taking on the Thunderbirds, ASU's No. 21 men (1-3) will face the No. 12 University of Michigan and Pacific-10 Conference foe and fourth-ranked , while the No. 23 Sun Devil women (2-3) will take on conference rival Oregon State. The four-school meet will kickoff at 12 p.m. on Saturday, January 6.
The Sun Devil swimming teams last competed at the , while the diving teams took action at the Ohio State University Buckeye Invitational, both held Nov. 30 to Dec. 2.
At the Texas Invitational, the Sun Devil men placed fifth and the women sixth, highlighted by several outstanding individual efforts by swimmers on both sides as five Sun Devils etched their names into the record books, recording times ranking within ASU's all-time top-10.
Sophomore Jen Beckberger recorded the fourth-best times in ASU history in both the 50 free (23.12) and the 100 free (50.07), while freshman Sara McDaniel swam the fifth-best 100 breast time (1:02.73) and freshman Ashley Evans tied for the seventh-fastest 200 IM time (2:02.88) in school history.
For the men, freshman Ante Cvitkovic jumped into the record books, swimming the fifth-fastest 200 back time (1:46.60) and the sixth-best 100 back time (48.94) in school history, while junior CJ Nuess set a personal best in the 1650 free, finishing in 15:10.03, good for ninth all-time at ASU.
Junior Caitlin Andrew continued to solidify herself as one of the finest swimmers in the nation, earning an automatic NCAA berth in the 100 fly, touching in 53.41. Andrew is ASU's all-time record-holder in the 100 fly (52.23) and was the national runner-up in the event at the 2006 NCAA Championships.
The Sun Devil divers impressed at the Buckeye invitational, highlighted by the efforts of redshirt freshman Micky Benedetti for the men and senior Cassidy Farwell for the women. Benedetti took first place in the 1-meter (381.50 finals) and second in the 3-meter (336.40 finals), while Farwell placed fourth in the platform (281.45 finals).
ASU's swimming and diving teams will continue to see action at home following Saturday's meets, as the Sun Devil women will host No. 4 California on Friday, January 12 before the ASU men and women host the No. 2 Stanford men and No. 1 Stanford men on Saturday, January 13, in the Sun Devils' final home meet of the 2006-07 season.