(Photo: Sun Devil Athletics)
Arizona State swim and dive is slated to face in-state rivals Arizona, Northern Arizona and Grand Canyon this Friday in Tucson. Last season, the Sun Devils hosted the first quad meet with three other Division I Arizona schools. ASU came out on top against all other programs, with Arizona just behind.
ASU and Arizona last saw each other in the NCAA and Big 12 Championships. ASU rose over the Wildcats and took home the Big 12 Championship for both the men’s and women’s teams. The Sun Devil men and women are also coming off a win against UNLV in their season opener. All three other teams are opening up their seasons with the All-Arizona Invite.
The Sun Devils will have standout freshman Alexia Sotomayor competing in the butterfly and breaststroke events. Sotomayor holds five national records across her specialty events in her home country, Peru. Junior Ilya Kharun is returning to the Sun Devil men’s lineup for his third season. Kharun is an Olympic bronze medalist in the 100 and 200-meter butterfly, set in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Arizona has senior Eleni Gewalt on its women’s side who specializes in the breaststroke and freestyle strokes. Gewalt was a part of the All-Big 12 First Team last season. Sophomore Tomas Lukminas has been a huge pickup for the Wildcat men, taking part in the NCAA Championships and Big 12 Championships with the team last season.
Senior Casey Craffey focuses on distance events for Northern Arizona. Craffey has won the 1650-meter freestyle for the past three years in the WAC Championships. NAU has now won 12 consecutive WAC Championship titles.
Grand Canyon will set up strong competition in the breaststroke events. Sophomore Taylor Stasny transferred to GCU from Liberty this season and is equally as strong in the 200-meter individual medley. Senior Mario Perez and Alex Volkov are returning to the Lopes men’s team this season and tend to be versatile in their events.
The Sun Devils are faced with new and old competition and have to adapt to the differences between these teams. The Devils will hope to use their past victories to influence their performance on Friday.
