(Photo: Casey McNulty/Sun Devil Athletics)
During night two of the NCAA Championships, Arizona State women’s swim and dive continued their successful momentum from day one, moving forward with grit to attain their goals.
Graduate Caroline Bentz carried the sprint department for the Sun Devils in the 50-yard freestyle. The graduate qualified 16th in the event in prelims and was swimming out of lane eight for the final. During the race, Bentz had a quick turn at the 25-yard mark. She stayed with her competitors as she finished the race, touching in a tie for third place with her time of 21.65 seconds. Bentz set a personal best by 0.12 seconds and finished in 11th overall. She also broke her school record and earned second-team All-American honors.
For the 200-yard freestyle relay, ASU swam out of lane four of the second heat. The quartet of Bentz, freshman Julia Ullmann, sophomore Miriam Sheehan and fifth-year Erin Milligan came in as the top seed in the heat. Bentz came out strong as usual and put the Sun Devils ahead. Ullmann and Sheehan continued the momentum as the Devils kept the lead. When Milligan dove into the pool, Wisconsin slowly took the lead and won the heat. Arizona State swam a time of 1:27.74 and earned 15th overall.
With the meet halfway done, there have not been any individual podium finishes for the Devils. In order to flip the narrative, ASU will have to rely on its previous successes at the meet to push through the rest of the competition.
