ASU Swimming: Sun Devils fall short against UCLA, Air Force

(Photo: Sun Devil Athletics)

A long weekend at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center concluded in disappointment on Saturday for the Sun Devils with the women losing to UCLA with a final score of 180-116, and the men losing to Air Force 158-142.

Following Friday’s loss to USC, both teams had a quick turnaround for today’s meet. The women only won four of 13 events, and the men won eight of their 13. Although the men won majority of the events, the depth of Air Force propelled them ahead of the Sun Devils.

“It wasn’t an easy weekend,” ASU junior Tadas Duskinas said. “We pulled it together in the second half of the meet today, and that was good.”

Duskinas proved to be the swimmer of the day for the ASU men. In the 50-yard freestyle, Duskinas out-touched Air Force’s Jordan Dahle with a time of :20.86. Later, in the 100-yard butterfly, Duskinas recorded his fastest time of the year with a :47.46.

“I really wanted to go that 47,” Duskinas said. “I went all out and that happened.”

ASU head coach Bob Bowman said Duskinas is a key asset to the team, as he showed on Saturday.

“Well he has just been exactly where we want him to be,” Bowman said. “He has all the skills and he has put together some really good races.”

The ASU women will want to leave this long weekend behind them. They started off strong today by taking first, second and third place in the 200-yard freestyle, but failed to keep their momentum throughout the meet. Despite the loss, the ASU women are still proud of themselves.

“I think that we raced awesome,” ASU freshman Kaya Philapil said. “Obviously the Pac-12 is hard to race in. I was really proud of us and I thought we hung tough.”

Philapil had a strong day for the Sun Devils. She finished second in the 200-yard breastroke, and won the 100-yard breastroke with a time of 1:04.62.

“I am definitely happier with my performance,” Philapil said. “I was three seconds slower yesterday, so I really wanted to pick it up today.”

ASU won’t have another dual meet for a long time. Bowman said the plan right now is to just get back to training.

“I think a couple weeks to kind of get over this will be good,” Bowman said. “It was a lot of hard racing in two days.”

With all the changes made before the season, the team appears to still be positive and excited. Bowman said this weekend that he is happy where is team is at right now.

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