(Photo: Courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics)
The No. 2 and No. 18 Arizona State men’s and women’s swim and dive teams toppled their opponents on the first day of the inaugural Big 12 West Championship on Friday at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center. The men’s team currently has 609 points, and the women’s team is first in the leaderboards as well with 894. Both of the Sun Devils’ swim teams placed in every single race against their four competitors, Arizona, BYU, Kansas and Utah.
The Sun Devils began scoring points early in the first session of the two-day championship by opening the meet with a win in the first five races.
ASU junior Sonia Vaishnani and freshman Albane Cachot led the Sun Devils women’s team in scoring for the day with 60 points each. Senior Andy Dobrzanski and junior Ilya Kharun each scored 40 points for the Sun Devils. Dobrzanski swam his fastest time in the men’s 100-yard breaststroke, winning the race in 51 seconds and breaking a pool record that was set by former four-time gold medalist Léon Marchand in 2023.
The Sun Devil fans in attendance cheered loudly in support of Dobrzanski breaking the longstanding record, but it was his last individual race that drew the loudest response from ASU supporters.
At the beginning of the second session, ASU students in attendance received complimentary maroon blankets. ASU mascot Sparky wrapped the blanket around his neck like a superhero’s cape and pumped up the crowd before the men’s 200-yard breaststroke, beckoning everyone to support Dobrzanski.
It was clear from the first 50 yards that Dobrzanski was destined for a win with an impressive split at 24.97 seconds. His only competition was teammate graduate Jordan Tiffany. When Dobrzanski flipped for the last 25 yards, every Sun Devil supporter began waving their maroon blankets and screaming for the senior to finish the race as strong as he started it. Dobrzanski touched the wall at 1:50.95 with Tiffany completing the sweep at 1:54.87 for the Sun Devils.
Before the last relays of each session, the championships paused for an hour for time trials. The time trials gave swimmers an opportunity to qualify for the NCAA standard.
When the sun went down and the second session resumed, ASU used its rest to continue an excellent performance in the 400-yard medley relay. The Arizona women’s relay team might have bested ASU by .05 seconds, but both relay teams placed in the final relay race. The men’s relay race saw ASU sweep the competition, with the two relay teams finishing first and second on the final day of the race.
The Sun Devils swim and dive team will start its final day of competitive swimming at Mona Plummer for the season at 10 a.m. Saturday morning for the final day of the championship. The second time-trial session begins at 1:40 p.m.
