ASU Swimming: Sun Devils fail to compete with USC

(Photo: Blake Bernard/WCSN)

The USC Trojans came to the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center Friday morning and defeated the Arizona State men’s and women’s swim teams.

The ASU women had no answer for the Trojans; USC won 13 of the 14 events with a final score of 178-106. However, the ASU men looked promising despite a loss. The men brought the meet into the final few events, but eventually lost with a final score of 159-139.

With nationally ranked swimmers including Reed Malone and Michael Domogala, USC had the squad to dominate the ASU men’s team. However, ASU sophomore Patrick Park and junior Barkley Perry led their team in staying with the Trojans.

“I treat it like a showcase,” Park said. “It’s a great opportunity to race. It’s not about how you feel. It’s about stepping up on the blocks, putting the cap on, and representing ASU.”

Both Perry and Park recorded top times in their events. Park won both the 100-yard freestyle and the 200-yard butterfly, while Perry out-touched USC’s Jon Knox by 10 milliseconds in the 200 yard backstroke with a time of 1:47.23

“You have to be optimistic at this point,” Park said. “Yeah sure it was a loss, but I am very optimistic for this team and for the guys behind me.”

ASU head coach Bob Bowman was happy with the team’s progress despite the loss.

“I think overall, the kids raced hard,” Bowman said. “I was really pleased on the men’s side. We won a lot of events and we really gave USC a meet.”

Although the men surprised speculators with strong performances, the Sun Devil women struggles in their defeat. The USC women dominated nearly every event. Among the 13 Trojan victories, four of the events included a sweep of first through third place. The one victory for ASU came from junior Alysha Bush, when she won the 50-yard freestyle.

“Our team is really small, and every race matters,” Bush said. “We get all of our mental energy and put it into every race we have.”

Bush won the first sprinting event but lost the 100-yard freestyle. The loss in one of her signature events was tough for her to experience.

“We are very excited about what’s going on here, and we’re going to get better,” Bowman said. “We are where we want to be right now.”

The weekend slate continues for the Sun Devils on Saturday when the team dives in against UCLA and Air Force.

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