Trio Of Freshman Divers Dive Way To Finals, @ASUSwimDive Completes Day One

Nov 20, 2014

By Jordan Parry, SDA Media Relations

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The first day of competition for the Arizona State men and women’s swim and dive teams are in the books, and for five Sun Devils, they were able to swim and dive their way into the thick of the action in Finals events. Overall, the teams raced well and are in good shape heading into the final two days of competition as they both rounded out the day in 5th.

“We continued to drop time in 14 of our 18 swims tonight,” associate head coach Greg Earhart said. “We need to carry that momentum into tomorrow.”

Competing in the 2014 Art Adamson Invitational from College Station, Texas, the lone senior on the men’s swim team, Zac Dalby, and freshman Patrick Park shined in the spotlight. After earning a spot in the 200 IM Final (1:49.59), Dalby improved on his time by .25 of a second and finished 8th in the Championship swim (1:49.34).

Moving from the oldest to the youngest, Patrick Park qualified 5th in the 50 freestyle preliminary (20.33), just missing out on an NCAA “B” cut (20.19). In the Championship, he, too, notched an 8th-place finish (20.50).

“It was a pretty sweet day marred by a bitter finish,” Earhart said.

What he alludes to is the fact that the women’s team had three medley relay teams disqualified, something the Devils need to clean up for the future.

“It’s something that was a point of pride for us last year,” Earhart explained. “Our team needs to understand that’s not something we can take for granted. It’s something that comes from practice.

“That shouldn’t take away from a good night, though,” Earhart concluded.

While the swimmers raced in College Station, the divers competed in Austin at the Texas Invitational, where three divers--two men and one woman, and all freshman--dove their way into the Finals.

After securing three top-two finishes in a two-day span this past weekend, Mara Aiacoboae scored a 307.85 in the 3-meter preliminary, good enough for 4th. In the Championship, she stepped up her performance to an even higher level, finishing 3rd with a score of 311.95.

On the men’s side of the action, David Hoffer (296.80) and Heikki Makikallio (275.05) both advanced to the Finals in the 1-meter dive. Hoffer dove his way to a 5th-place finish (310.70) in the Championship, while Makikallio finished right behind him in 6th (301.40).

Both swimming and diving have two days of competition remaining, with the following schedule:

Art Adamson Invitational

Friday:

13/14: 200 Medley Relay

15/16: 400 IM

17/18: 100 Butterfly

19/20: 200 Freestyle

21/22: 100 Breaststroke

23/24: 100 Backstroke

25/26: Diving

27/28: 800 Freestyle Relay

Saturday:

29/30: Platform Diving

31/32: 1,650 Freestyle

33/34: 200 Backstroke

35/36: 100 Freestyle

37/38: 200 Breaststroke

39/40: 200 Butterfly

41/42: 400 Freestyle Relay

UT Diving Invite