No. 3/14 Swim and Dive Readies for No. 24/23 Minnesota

TEMPE – A week after a pair of victories over Rice and Grand Canyon, No. 3/14 Sun Devil Swim and Dive welcomes No. 24/23 Minnesota for a ranked dual meet this Friday at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center at 2 p.m. MST. Admission is free for the meet.

There will be no live-stream however fans are encouraged to follow along with the action with live results via the Meet Mobile app which requires a subscription and on the team's Twitter/X account, @ASUSwimDive and on Instagram @sundevilswimdive. 

LAST TIME OUT:
The Sun Devil women defeated both Rice and Grand Canyon last week to move to 6-3 on the year after a balanced performance to open the calendar year by winning every event during the two meets.

For the Sun Devil men, they defeated Grand Canyon to stay undefeated this season.

In the dual against Rice, the quartet of Miriam Sheehan, Iza Adame, Julia Ullmann and Caroline Bentz broke the 200 medley relay record again, setting a new mark with a time of 1:35.69.

Distance swimmer Alexa Reyna went 4-for-4 in her individual races last weekend by winning the 1650 free (16:48.07) and the 500 free against GCU (4:48.42) and also won the 1000 free (9:52.64) and the 500 free (4:47.03) against Rice.

Butterfly specialist Julia Ullmann won the 100 fly (52.86) against Rice and won the 200 fly against GCU, swimming a 1:59.82, the only one under sub-2 minutes for the race. She also placed second in the 100 free (50.44) and in the 50 free (22.87) against RIce. Graduate Caroline Bentz swept the freestyle events against Grand Canyon, winning the 100 free and the 200 free.

Breaststroke specialist Andy Dobrzanski win the 100 breast (52.92) and the 200 breast (1:55.30) handedly. Olympian Tolu Young won the 50 free (19.90) and the 100 fly (47.62) last weekend against GCU, and Ilya Kharun won the 100 free (42.15) by more than two seconds.

OPPONENT OUTLOOK:
Minnesota Gophers:
In their first meet of the calendar year the Gopher men's team sits at 4-1 this season with their lone defeat coming against No. 18 Wisconsin, and the women's team is at 6-1, with their only loss being against the No. 23 Badgers.

Three swimmers for the Gophers have won Big Ten freshman of the week honors, with Jacob Johnson winning the award three times this year. He's set two school records in the 200 fly with a time of 1:41.70.

The Gopher men finished third in the Minnesota invite before the holidays, and the women's team were second with California winning the meet on both sides. 

Last season, both men's and women's teams finished 20th at NCAA Championships, and Vivi Del Angel won the national championship with 327.90 points in the platform diving final, becoming the first Gopher to win the national championship on platform diving.

BIG AWARD WINNERS:
Sun Devil Swim and Dive have won 21 Big 12 weekly awards since the season began from eight different athletes, including sweeping the swimming awards four times since the season began on Oct. 4.

Andy Dobrzanski earned his first career weekly conference honor after sweeping the breaststroke events against GCU. Olympian Tolu Young won his second weekly honor this season after going 2-for-2 in his individual events. Bentz gathered her sixth weekly honor after going 4-for-4 in indiviudal events this past weekend against Rice and GCU. Butterfly specialist Julia Ullmann won her second newcomer of the week award after he successful weekend.

2024-25 Big 12 Weekly Award Winners:
Men's swimming:
Jan. 8: Andy Dobrzanski (Swimmer of the Week), Tolu Young (Newcomer of the Week)
Nov. 27: Ilya Kharun (Swimmer of the Week)
Nov. 13: Ilya Kharun (Swimmer of the Week), Lucien Vergnes (Newcomer of the Week)
Oct. 30: Ilya Kharun (Swimmer of the Week), Lucien Vergnes (Newcomer of the Week)
Oct: 16: Tolu Young (Men's Newcomer of the week)
Oct. 9: Ilya Kharun (Men's Swimmer of the Week), Tommy Palmer (Men's Newcomer of the week)

Men's Diving:
Nov. 27: Lane Stallworth (Diver of the Week)
Oct. 30: Lane Stallworth (Co-Diver of the Week)

Women's Swimming:
Jan. 8: Caroline Bentz (Swimmer of the Week), Julia Ullmann (Newcomer of the Week)
Nov. 27: Caroline Bentz (Swimmer of the Week)
Nov. 13: Caroline Bentz (Swimmer of the Week), Julia Ullmann (Newcomer of the Week)
Oct 30: Deniz Ertan (Swimmer of the Week), Caroline Bentz (Newcomer of the Week)
Oct. 9: Caroline Bentz (Women's Swimmer & Newcomer of the Week)

IN THE RANKINGS
The Sun Devils remain ranked in both the men and women's CSCAA December polls. The men check in at No. 3 in the country, down a spot from their No. 2 ranking in November and the women moved down a spot to No. 14. Both are the only teams to represent the Big 12 in the rankings, moreover, Arizona's men's team and BYU's men's team have received votes.

Sun Devils at Short Course World Championships:
Four Sun Devils performed at the World Aquatics Short Course World Championships taking place in Budapest, Hungary on Dec. 10-15. Ilya Kharun represented Canada, Daniel Matheson represented the United States, Deniz Ertan represented Turkey and freshman Tolu Young for Fiji.

Kharun won three medals total, highlighted by becoming a world champion in the 200m butterfly and setting a Canadian Record of 1:48.24. He also won silver in the 50 fly (20.80) and secured a bronze medal in the 4x100 mixed medley relay swimming a 48.27 100m fly.

Young broke two national records for Fiji, swimming a 21.70 50m free and a 23.11 50 fly. Matheson appeared in seven events in Budapest and Ertan had two top-25 finishes in the 500 free and the 800 free.

RETURNING OLYMPIANS:
The Sun Devils return five total Olympians who have competed in the Olympics. Deniz Ertan and Miriam Sheehan both competed in Tokyo in 2021. Tiago Behar, freshman Tolu Young and Ilya Kharun all swam for their respective countries in 2024 in Paris.

Kharun, representing Canada, garnered two bronze medals in Paris, coming in the 200m and the 100m fly after coming off a freshman year where he claimed the 200y fly individual title at NCAA Championships. Similar to his teammate Matheson, he'll also be competing in Budapest at the short-course world championships. Kharun currently holds the school record in the 100 fly (43.95) and 200 fly (1:37.93).

How to Follow:
Follow the meet on Meet mobile and on the team's social media accounts on Twitter/X @ASUSwimDive and on Instagram @sundevilswimdive.