Swimming and diving face unbeaten USC and UCLA

November 12, 2009

The Arizona State swimming and diving teams will host UCLA and USC this weekend at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center. The women's team will compete against the Bruins on Friday at 1 p.m., while both the men and the women will compete against the Trojans on Saturday at noon. The ASU women's team is currently 3-1 and will be looking to give USC (7-0) and UCLA (2-0) their first loss. The ASU men's team is searching for its first win of the season as they look to put a blemish on USC's current perfect record.<separator></separator>Last Time Out The women dominated in their home opener against UNLV and Washington State. The women defeated the Cougars 209-78 and the Running Rebels 188.5-108.5. The men's team fell in its competition to UNLV 189-105. <separator></separator>New Staff  There are a few new faces at the helm of the swimming program. <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-swim/mtt/tierneywalker_dorsey00.h… Tierney-Walker</a> was named the Sun Devils head coach of both the men and women's swimming programs. Hailing from most-recently Auburn, Tierney-Walker has been a winner in every team she has been a part of and looks to return the Sun Devils to national prominence. <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-swim/mtt/percy_simon00.html">Simon Percy</a> remained on the Sun Devils staff and has been promoted to associate head coach. Tierney-Walker brought in two new coaches to Tempe. <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-swim/mtt/christianson_demerae00.h… Christianson</a>, a fine collegiate athlete who accumulated 15 All-American accolades while competing at Auburn, joins the staff after having served assistant coaching positions at Maryland and Louisville. The final member of the new coaching staff, Brian Pursely, has some familiarity with ASU as he was a graduate assistant for the Sun Devils for two years before a three-year stint at Auburn. <separator></separator>Oh Canada! The Arizona State swimming and diving teams boast six athletes from the neighbors to the north. Highlighting the Sun Devils Canadians are freshman <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-swim/mtt/mccormick_riley00.html">… McCormick</a> and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-swim/mtt/schultz_paige00.html">Pa… Schultz</a>. Both Schultz and McCormick have made an immediate impact to the Sun Devils' squad. McCormick has swept the diving events this season while Schultz has won a total of seven events in three meets for the Sun Devils.<separator></separator>Senior Stars <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-swim/mtt/aubry_ashton00.html">Ash… Aubry</a> and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-swim/mtt/martinez_jamie00.html">J… Martinez</a> have kick-started their senior season in high fashion. The two ASU record-holders won both their events last weekend as Aubry took both of the butterfly events and Martinez succeeding in the backstroke ones. <separator></separator>Jumer Wastes No Time Junior diver <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-swim/mtt/jumer_brittany00.html">B… Jumer</a> wasted no time qualifying for the NCAA Zone E meet. The Minnesotan scored 324.53 on the 3-meter and 273.75 on the 1-meter to punch in her ticket to the zone meet. This is the third straight year she has qualified for the NCAA pre-qualifier. <separator></separator>Going Green <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-swim/mtt/green_jordyn00.html">Jor… Green</a>, who qualified for NCAAs as a freshman last season, picked up two wins last weekend in the breaststroke events. Additionally, the sophomore from Reno, Nev., won the 200 breast at Utah and BYU. <separator></separator>Next Up: The diving team will head down south to compete in the Wildcat Invitational hosted by Arizona. The competition will be held from Nov. 20-22. Swimming will next compete at the Missouri Invitational Dec. 4-6 while diving will be at the Ohio State Invitational.