Jan. 8, 2000
TEMPE, Ariz. - A hotly-contested dual meet between the Arizona State and Tennessee men's swimming and diving teams capped a busy day of racing Saturday at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center. The 11th-ranked Volunteers defeated #12 ASU 132-108, with a number of races coming down to the wire.
The afternoon's opening race, the 200-yard medley relay, set the tone for the rest of the meet as Tennessee's "A" team (1:28.44) edged its counterpart from ASU by .04 seconds. Both teams clocked in well under the NCAA Championship consideration standard. Sun Devil freshman Anders Lyrbring answered with a victory in the 200 freestyle (1:38.78) before UT senior Raphael Thuin extended his squad's lead by winning the 50 freestyle in 2.38, just .08 ahead of Arizona State senior Pablo Abal. Tennessee (3-2) went on to win the next five events before ASU junior Adam Guzauskas touched the wall first in 200 breaststroke action with an NCAA consideration time of 2:01.73. The Devils (2-3) closed out the meet with a narrow win by its 200 free relay team of Simon MacDonald, Lyrbring, Abal and junior Scott VonSchoff (1:20.34).
UT swept the diving portion of the competition, help Jan. 5-6 at the All-American Diving Invitational in Austin, Texas, with junior Gabi Chereches winning both the one and three-meter events.
The Tennessee-ASU dual meet was preceded by the Sun Devil Invitational, featuring the men's and women's programs from Virginia Tech and Wyoming, as well as some junior swimmers from Sun Devil Aquatics, a local club team. Freshman Claire Hedenskog, a midseason addition to the Arizona State women's team, made an impressive debut in Maroon and Gold with wins in both the 50 (24.19) and 100-yard freestyle (53.12). The Sun Devil women swept both relay events, winning the 400 medley in 3:58.97 and 200 free in a time of 1:37.61.
Arizona State's men's team returns to action Jan. 14-15 at the Dallas Morning News Invitational hosted by SMU, and will then be joined by the ASU women for a Pac-10 dual meet at Stanford on Jan. 21.