Sun Devils Set 4 State Relay Marks at 4 Corner Champs

By Duncan Scott
TEMPE, Ariz. Aug. 2. FOUR Arizona State Senior records were set on the first day of competition at the Four Corners Championships, in Tempe, Arizona. The meet brings together the top swimmers from Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah.

Sun Devil Aquatics accounted for the new marks in both 4 x 50 medley relays. The women knocked four seconds off the old Arizona mark at 1:59.15 – only .16 off
the American Club Record held by a Nashville squad including the great Tracy Caulkins. The men were a whopping 11 seconds under the old mark at 1:44.28.

Tucson Ford Dealer's Aquatics won the women's 4×50 freestyle relay in 1:48.83, nearly 4 seconds under the previous state mark.

Phoenix Swim Club won the men's 4×50 Freestyle, the final event of the evening, at 1:31.88 over Sun Devil at 1:32.30, both squads surpassing the American Club record of 1:34.17 but just off the U.S. Open club record of 1:30.38 for squads which include international athletes which both Phoenix and Sun Devil did.

Possibly the outstanding performance of the evening was the :22.54 leadoff leg of Roland Schoeman for the Phoenix men's freestyle relay which was made up entirely of athletes training with the prodigious sprint group of Coach Mike Bottom which includes co-Olympic 50 meter champions Anthony Ervin and Gary Hall, Jr.

Schoeman just returned from winning a bronze medal for
South Africa at :22.18 behind Ervin's gold in the 50 freestyle at the FINA World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. Schoeman, who swims for UofA collegiately is a former world record holder in the short course 50 meter freestyle.

The outstanding individual swim of the session was the 8:54.54 winning performance of Rory Schmidt of Sun Devil Aquatics in the women's 800 meter freestyle.

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