(Photo: Alli Cline/WCSN)
The Sun Devils did nothing but impress in the annual Maroon vs. Gold Intrasquad Meet last week, putting up many impressive performances. This week, ASU returned to practice at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center to build on their strong performances before their first dual meet on October 21 in Utah.
Richard Bohus and Thibaut Capitaine helped lead the way last Friday, putting up NCAA Championship “B” cuts in their respective events, the 100-yard backstroke and the 100-yard breaststroke, with times of 48.24 and 55.33. Bohus performed well, but missed the “B” qualifying standard in the 50-yard freestyle by just one one-hundredth of a second, posting a time of 20.20.
Also, the highly anticipated freshman class performed very well. Cameron Craig swam five events and posted the fastest split on the 400-yard freestyle relay with a 44.08. The strong performance made Head Coach Bob Bowman very pleased.
“I thought a lot of our freshmen swam really well,” Bowman said. “I thought in general the energy was very good. We had some very good relay swims, both in the 200-medley and the 400-freestyle relays.”
The coaches and swimmers were very pleased after the first meet of the season, but there is still plenty for them to work on to get better as the season moves forward.
“There are a ton of technical details that we are very sloppy on,” said Coach Bowman. “We’re missing walls, not kicking out far enough, the relay takeoffs were poor, our starts were not that great, those kind of things.”
Another swimmer that impressed everyone on Friday was Patrick Park, by winning the 100-yard butterfly and leading off the 400-freestyle relay in under 45 seconds.
“I think I did pretty well, but I know I could do better,” Park said. “There’s some technical mistakes that I’ve done during the race and I can’t wait to get back in and work on that.”
Park is eager for the new season and the heights that this team can reach, stating that he has been looking forward to this season since the NCAA Championships concluded back in March.
“We’ve been labeled as a potential contender,” Park said. “What I think is at least top-three at the Pac-12 Championships. I think we have a lot more going for us in the future.”
Having an all-time great coach like Bowman at Arizona State sets a great precedent. He is looking to take the team to new heights in his second year as the team’s head coach.
“It’s truly a blessing to have a coach like Bob Bowman here,” Park said. “Coach Bowman always says that he wants Arizona State to be the center of the swimming world, and he’s doing exactly that.”
