ASU Swim and Dive: Sun Devil men prevail while women fall short in Athens

(Photo via Xavier Litman/WCSN)

After losses to Georgia on Friday for both the men’s and women’s teams, ASU swim and dive faced Georgia and Missouri on Saturday in Athens, Georgia.

The men’s team dominated the meet, placing first against Georgia and Missouri, with final scores of 155.5-145.5 against Georgia and 191-109 against Missouri.

During Saturday’s meet, the top performers on the men’s side included sophomore Léon Marchand and graduate student Grant House.

Marchand defeated his opponents in all three of his events, including the 200 butterfly (1:43.21), the 200 breaststroke (1:57), and the 200 IM (1:44.32).

In addition to Marchand, House acquired multiple victories. He and his relay team of Marchand, sophomore Patrick Sammon and redshirt junior Jack Dolan swept opponents in the 4×100 freestyle relay (2:52.89). House also won the 100 freestyle (43.91) and the 200 freestyle (1:34.54).

Both these individuals performed well in the Maroon and Gold Scrimmage, so it comes as no surprise that they performed as well as they did to start the season.

Although the men’s team secured two wins in one meet, the women’s team didn’t do as well as they expected. They fell to both Missouri and Georgia, with the final score being 90-203 against Georgia and 133.5-164.5 against Missouri.

Although it wasn’t a perfect day for the women, several swimmers still performed well and emerged victorious in some of their events. Freshman Ieva Maluka, redshirt junior Lindsay Looney, redshirt sophomore Erin Milligan and sophomore Charli Brown won the 4×100 freestyle relay with a time of 3:24.78. In addition, to helping swim the triumphant time in the 4×100 freestyle relay, Maluka finished second place in the 200 freestyle (1:49.37).

Many of the swimmers are first and second-year students this year and new to college competition. Despite being new, some younger swimmers showed glimpses of success when they competed this past weekend.

Freshman Zoe Summar placed in the top three in the 200 IM, and sophomore Emma Gehlert won that same race with a time of 2:04.24.

With some time to regroup before competing again, the Sun Devils are hoping to perform better in the future, and with new and old talent for this season, it will be interesting to see what they accomplish in upcoming meets.

In their next meet, the Sun Devils will face Wisconsin in their home pool in Tempe on Oct. 22, at 11:00 a.m.