#17 Arizona State vs. UCLA (Women)
- November 3, 2023
- Mona Plummer Aquatic Center, Tempe, Arizona
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- Results
- Team Scores
- #17 Arizona State W 175 – UCLA W 125
In a battle between two women’s teams on an upswing in the Pac-12, the 17th-ranked Arizona State women beat the unranked UCLA Bruins 175-125.
This is the deepest that the Sun Devil women have looked this season, winning 10 out of 16 events on the day. That depth is important because last year, they finished almost 200 points behind UCLA for 4th at the Pac-12 Championships.
The story of the Arizona State season has been breakout falls, with several members of the team posting best times early in the year. Among that group is sophomore Ieva Maluka, who on Friday won the 200 free (1:46.24) and the 200 IM (1:58.31).
While neither swim is a personal best, the 200 free is better than her personal best coming into the season. In the 200 free, she entered the year with a best of 1:46.25, and was 1:45.31 two weeks earlier against NC State. That is the 4th individual double-win meet of her career (including a triple against UCLA last year).
She was one of four Arizona State swimmers who picked up two wins at the meet. That includes the team’s star and US World Championship Team member Lindsay Looney, who swept the butterfly races with a 53.46 in the 100 yard fly and a 1:55.49 in the 200 yard fly.
That 100 fly time was a season-best for her, but not far behind was her fellow Arizona State senior Jade Foelske, who finished 2nd in 53.59. Foelske’s 100 fly and 200 fly (1:58.74) were both season bests, and both were about a second better than she was at this meet last year.
Erin Milligan swept the sprint freestyles for Arizona State, winning the 50 in 22.70 and the 100 in 48.92. In both cases, she beat-out a strength for UCLA, with Bruins 5th year Brooke Schaffer (22.74/49.58) taking 2nd in each race.
Indigo Armon is another story to watch for the Arizona State sprint group. She caught attention for battling with the program’s post-grads Simone Manuel and Olivia Smoliga in the team’s “Official 25 Free World Championship,” but she has been on-fire in the team’s real dual meets as well. Her best 50 free time coming into the year 23.31. She has been faster than that in all six of the team’s meets so far this season, including a 23.17 to tie for 4th on Friday.
The other double winner for Arizona State was incoming transfer Deniz Ertan. She won the 1000 free in 9:36.84 and later added a victory in the 500 free in 4:44.42. Ertan is another example of the Sun Devils’ breakthrough fall – her three 1000 yard free times this season (9:36, 9:36, 9:33) are all better than her best dual meet time at Georgia Tech last year (9:43).
While the Sun Devils controlled the team scoring from start-to-finish, UCLA did have a mid-meet surge and a pair of personal bests.
Sophomore Rosie Murphy won the 200 backstroke in a season-best of 1:56.19, which puts her 4th in the Pac-12 so far this season. She also swam season-bests in the 100 back (54.88) leading off UCLA’s medley relay and the 200 IM (2:01.92); and she also picked up a new lifetime best in the 200 free (1:50.89).
One event later, UCLA junior Ana Jih-Schiff won the 200 breast in 2:10.45, a two-second margin of victory. That is a lifetime best for a swimmer who was 11th at last year’s Pac-12 Championships. Her previous best was 2:12.13, which she also undercut against Arizona the next day.
UCLA finished 1-2 in that event with Sarah Bennetts touching in 2:12.41, for a 13-6 win.
Bennetts, a freshman, picked up a win in in the 100 breast in 1:00.09 a new lifetime best for her as well. That 1-2-3 sweep, along with a pair of 1-2-3 diving sweeps (16-3 event wins) kept the Bruins in the battle.
