Oct. 16, 2008

The Arizona State swimming and diving program will open its regular season this weekend. The women's team will host the University of Kansas on Friday October 17 at 3:00 p.m. at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center. The women and the men will both compete on Saturday in their annual intersquad meet. The meet starts at 11 a.m.

Scouting the Jayhawks
Kansas opens the 2008-09 at the Sun Devils. Danielle Herrmann was their lone NCAA qualifier last season. The Jayhawks placed fourth at last year's Big 12 Championships.

Who's Back
Jen Beckberger and Jess Perazzo return after earning honorable mention All-American honors last season for their contribution to relays. Beckberger is second in the 50 and 200 free and third in the 100 free on ASU's all-time list. Perazzo is currently ranked fourth in the 50 and second in the 100. Ashton Aubry, who also competed at the 2008 NCAA Championships, is also looked at to be a big contributor in the 2008-09 season. Aubry is currently second in the 200 fly on ASU all-time list and third in the 100 fly. Junior Jamie Martinez looks to improve on her numerous standings on ASU's Top 10 lists. Martinez is currently sixth in the 100 back, third in the 200 back, 10th in 100 fly, fifth in the 200 fly and ninth in the 400 IM.

On the men's side, the lone All-American returnee for the Sun Devils is diver Micky Benedetti. Benedetti earned All-American honors on the 1-mtr last season and was named an honorable mention All-American on the 3-mtr and platform. Sun Devils returning that are currently on ASU all-time lists include Sean Boyle (ninth, 100 fly; sixth; 200 fly), Ante Cvitkovic (third, 100 back; third, 200 back), Magnus Kjellberg (10th, 50 free; seventh, 100 free), Collin Gladys (ninth, 100 breast; fifth, 200 breast, sixth 200 IM) and Max Laney (seventh, 200 back).

New Faces
The Sun Devils welcome several newcomers in the 2008-09 season. The women's team has 11 newcomers. Freshmen Jordyn Green, Julia Olson, Shoshanna Rutemiller, Ashley Stephens, Sasha Stephens, Aliya Wishner and Penelope Yamauchi look to make an immediate impact in their transition from high school to collegiate athletics. Transfers Samantha Caldwell and Trudi Maree will aid the Sun Devils by providing depth in the freestyle events. International newcomers Elina Eggers and Rebecca Ejdervik will look to help the Sun Devils in diving and the breaststroke events respectively. On the men's side, West Virginia transfer Tony Cisneros will make an immediate splash in the sprint and middle distance freestyle events while freshmen Anthony Calenti and Yutaro Yamashita will provide depth in the freestyle and butterfly events. Diver Chris Pasanella will also compete in his first season as a Sun Devil.

Up Next
The women's team will head to Dallas, Texas next week. After a dual against SMU on October 23, the women will compete in the SMU Classic on October 24-25. The men will not return to action until November 11 when they compete against USC while the women compete against USC.

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