ASU Swimming: Sun Devils face big test versus California
By Cole Bailey
ASU swimming kicks off a big weekend Friday at 3 p.m. MT when they head to Berkeley, California to face the top-ranked Golden Bears.
The men’s team is coming off of a 143-155 loss to Harvard in their first meet of 2018, and will face their biggest challenge of the season when they take on Cal, who is ranked #1 in the latest CSCAA Top 25 poll.
The Bears are led by Pac-12 Men’s Swimmer of the Month for December Justin Lynch, who was a part of four winning relay teams during their commanding win at the Georgia Fall Invitational last month.
The 10th-ranked Sun Devils will look for big contributions from sophomore Zack Poti and senior Christian Lorenz, who both took home victories and achieved NCAA B-cuts in the meet against Harvard.
The women’s team was victorious in a dominating fashion last Saturday with a 177-83 win vs Washington State, and will look to use this momentum to pull off an upset against a Bears team that rose to No. 3 in the CSCAA Top 25.
Chloe Isleta and Kendall Dawson will look to lead the Sun Devils to victory on Friday, with both excelling in the meet vs Washington State.
Isleta was the leading scorer for either team with 27 points, which was fueled by victories in the 100- and 200-yard backstrokes and the 200-yard IM.
Dawson finished 2nd in points with 18, which came from victories in the 500- and 1000-yard freestyles.
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The Cal women’s team is also led by a Pac-12 Swimmer of the Month for December in Abbey Weitzeil, who posted the fastest 50 freestyle time in the country and anchored the team’s 200- and 400-yard freestyle relay teams to victories and top times in the country at the Georgia Invitational.