TEMPE, ARIZ. — The Wildcats fell to top-ranked ASU (No. 4 men's/No. 17 women's) on Saturday, Feb. 8, with athletes on the men's and women's squads posting top times and scores. Most notably, the Wildcats' women's 200 freestyle relay earned an NCAA "A" Cut and set a pool record at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center with a 1:27.75 finish in the event.
The team of Lexi Duchsherer, Riley Botton, Julia Wozniak and Alyssa Schwengel now hold the country's 16th-best time and are less than two seconds behind Arizona's all-time record in the event.
Arizona's diving performances also highlighted the event, with the Wildcats earning two of the top three spots in every diving event. Zara Ayazi and Gage DuBois completed a first-place sweep, securing the top spot in each diving competition. Brooke Earley placed second in both women's diving events, securing a diving 1-2 sweep for her and Ayazi.
Multiple Cats earned personal bests and Arizona season-bests during the meet. Just a few weeks after being awarded Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, Freshman Kayman Neal put up a season-best time for the Cats in the 200 Back, beating her previous record by more than one second with a 1:56.15 finish.
Paige Armstrong also had an incredible day in Tempe, finishing first in the 100 Back with a personal best and Arizona's top time of the season (52.89). Armstrong also secured a second-place finish in the 200 Back with another personal best (1:56.96).
Lexi Duchsherer, Riley Botton and Julia Wozniak's individual and relay finishes rounded out a great performance from the women's squad. Duchsherer and Wozniak both took home second-place finishes and personal bests in their respective individual events. Duchsherer's 22.19 50 free swim was Arizona's season-best, as was Wozniak's 49.25 100 free. Button also nabbed a personal best in the 100 Free (49.82) and all three swimmers contributed to Arizona's A Cut and first place 200 Free relay.
On the men's side, Haakon Naughton once again proved his butterfly prowess, placing third in both the 100 and 200 fly events and playing a crucial role in Arizona's third-place finish in the 200 medley relay. Olympian Ralph Daleiden also made an impact for the Cats, taking home bronze in the 200 free (1:34.46) and also swimming in the 200 medley relay.
Despite these impressive performances from across the squads, the Wildcat women ultimately fell to ASU 110-190, while the men were outscored 73-227.
The Cats ended the meet with seven first place awards and 24 top-three finishes.
Top-three Finishes:
First place:
Second place:
Third place:
*: personal best
†: Arizona season-best
