It’s unlikely the new reality show “What Would Ryan Lochte Do?” will answer the bigger question of who Lochte really is.
A swimming hunk to be admired for his body — and the 11 Olympic medals it’s brought him — and not his brain? Or someone shrewd enough to play along with his media image all the way to the bank?
Twelve-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin proved she still has much to offer the sport Friday night, swimming a personal best 24.90 seconds at age 30 to win the 50-meter freestyle at the Arena Grand Prix in Mesa.
Coughlin bettered her previous best 24.92 from 2008 to decisively beat Jessica Hardy (25.38) and Christine Magnuson of Tucson (25.47) on the second of three days at Skyline Aquatic Center.
Olympian Breeja Larson made a triumphant return to her hometown Mesa on Thursday, passing Caitlin Leverenz in the final 50 meters to win the 200 breaststroke on the first night of finals at the Arena Grand Prix.
Larson, who just completed her junior season at Texas A&M by defending her NCAA 100-yard breast title, won in 2 minutes, 28.03 seconds. Leverenz of Tucson, who just finished her collegiate career at California, was second in 2:29.13.
Natalie Coughlin remembers swimming in a Grand Prix meet at Phoenix Swim Club when she was 14.
Now 30, Coughlin is a 12-time Olympic medalist and still swimming in the first Grand Prix in Arizona since 1997. The elite field of 300 swimmers at Skyline Aquatics Center in Mesa also includes the other end of the age spectrum in eighth-graders Ryan Hoffer and Sierra Schmidt.
No. 23 Arizona State had a 4-1 week and won a series over No. 7 Oregon but was left with a hollow feeling again Sunday after dropping its fourth consecutive Pac-12 series finale.
Unlike the previous conference Game 3 defeats — by a combined six runs with one going extra innings — this one was a laugher, at least for the Ducks.
Arizona State baseball repeated Friday’s plot and the result Saturday night.
The No. 23 Sun Devils built a 10-4 lead over No. 7 Oregon, suffered an eighth-inning meltdown due to a tiring starting pitcher but held on for an important Pac-12 win with the help of some freshman hitting.
Misty Hyman was a high school prom queen the last time Arizona hosted a Grand Prix swim meet.
Finally, 16 years later, USA Swimming brings the series back for the first of a four-year run at Skyline Aquatics Center in Mesa. This will keep a state that regularly produces Olympic swim stars such as Hyman as a stop on the road to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Arizona State freshman R.J. Ybarra drove in the winning run for the second time in three games Friday night in the 11th inning of a critical 6-5 victory over Oregon.
Ybarra also delivered the game winner with two outs in the ninth of a 4-3 win at Wichita State on Tuesday.
Carl Bradford remains composed when talking about the recent death of his father, but it’s still easy to feel his loss.
“I love that man,” the Arizona State linebacker said when a conversation beginning with condolences comes back around to Roy Bradford. “He was my hero, my idol. Any little boy would look up to their father in a superhero way.”
Let this sink in: Every position player, including designated hitter, starting for the No. 23 Arizona State baseball team is from metro Phoenix.
Even coach Tim Esmay, who goes back with the program to his playing days more than 25 years ago, can’t remember a time when the lineup has been so locally heavy.
If Arizona State baseball can figure out its No. 3 starting pitcher, it can compete with almost anyone.
But through the first seven weeks of the season, no one has emerged as a reliable starter behind Trevor Williams and Ryan Kellogg. Adam McCreery only lasted through four batters Saturday, failing to record an out, and the Sun Devils burned through eight pitchers in a 12-10, 10-inning loss to No. 7 UCLA.
Ryan Kellogg needed help following up his no-hitter on Friday night, and Kasey Coffman offered plenty.
Coffman slammed his second and third home runs of the season for a career-high five RBIs, lifting Arizona State to a 7-4 win over No.7 UCLA before 3,561 at Packard Stadium.
It takes more than Ryan Kellogg for Arizona State to win a Pac-12 baseball series.
That’s clear after ASU’s 2-4 conference start in which freshman pitcher Kellogg notched both wins and threw a no-hitter last week. Still the Sun Devils are three games behind the Pac-12 tri-leaders including No. 7 UCLA, which is at Packard Stadium starting Thursday for an important pre-Easter series.
Ryan Kellogg thought the hoopla over pitching Arizona State’s first no-hitter in 20 years would have died down by now.
Instead the College Baseball Hall of Fame called asking for his hat from the gem Saturday at Oregon State. And the freshman was named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week, a no-brainer it would seem except that the guy left out was Oregon State’s Matt Boyd, who merely one-hit ASU. He also received two national Pitcher of the Week awards.
Sherman Morris played some junior college and Arena football but mostly his athletic background is in track.
“That’s a benefit,” for his new job as Arizona State assistant athletic director for football recruiting Morris said. “When you have to gauge everything you do by a tenth, hundredth or thousandth or a second, you learn early in the game attention to detail. The detail (in recruiting) is what differentiates you from everyone else.”
Taylor Kelly could have been the quarterback after Colin Kaepernick at Nevada.
Kelly committed to sign with the Wolfpack in summer 2009 but changed his mind six months later, signing instead with Arizona State, then coached by Dennis Erickson.Todd Graham replaced Erickson and chose Kelly to be his starting quarterback last season when the Sun Devils went 8-5.
Arizona State baseball coach Tim Esmay and women’s basketball coach Charli Turner Thorne recently received contract extensions through 2015.
Esmay is in his fourth season as head coach with a record of 143-53-1 including 12-5-1 so far this year. He was Pac-10 Coach of the Year in 2010 when ASU reached the College World Series and directed the Sun Devils to within one game of another CWS appearance in 2011.
For as long as Mike Leake plays for a team that trains in the Cactus League, he’s likely to be more appreciated during spring training than in his major-league home.
Leake was that good at Arizona State, winning 40 games from 2007-09 and earning National Player of the Year as a junior from the American Baseball Coaches Association over another pitcher from San Diego you’ve likely heard a thing or two about, Stephen Strasburg.
Overreacting to No. 18 Arizona State baseball losing its first series of the season is easy, even natural, because it occurred at home at the start of the Pac-12 gantlet against an unranked opponent.
It’s also because the immediate future includes four road games in six days, including a series at No. 4 Oregon State (19-1), which is coming off a sweep of defending national champion Arizona.
Ask Michael Morse for his best of Seattle going into his second tour of duty with the Mariners, and his mind goes to an unexpected place.
Not to Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, Puget Sound or even nearby Mount Rainier. His first thought is about Mariners fans, who have endured losing seasons in seven of the past nine years.
No. 18 Arizona State played lethargic baseball for half a game Wednesday night, committing four errors and giving up three unearned runs to New Mexico.
Then Michael Benjamin hit a solo home run to awaken the Sun Devils, who scored twice in the eighth to pull even, and Kasey Coffman drove in the winning run in the 11th for a 4-3 victory.
Ryan Kellogg joked that he wouldn’t have been much help to Team Canada during its World Baseball Classic brawl with Mexico.
“It’s not really my type of play but, hey — hockey-player mentality, I probably would have gotten in there,” said Kellogg, the 2011 Canadian Junior National Team Most Valuable Player. But the 6-foot-5 left-handed freshman already is an integral part of a pitching staff that could carry Arizona State back to the College World Series for the first time in three years.
No. 21 Arizona State baseball sent 14 men to the plate in the fourth inning Sunday, scoring nine runs en route to an 11-2 win over Long Beach State.
Long Beach State committed a one-out error to start the ASU barrage that included a two-run double by Michael Benjamin.
The Arizona State baseball team reached the 2010 College World Series, as the No. 1 seed no less, by turning games over late to a bullpen of Jake Barrett, Mitchell Lambson and Jordan Swagerty.
That trio went 12-2 with 19 saves, a combined ERA of 2.42 and 187 strikeouts vs. 40 walks.
The Arizona State women’s basketball team will be short-handed in the post at the Pac-12 Tournament.
Freshman forward Haley Videckis will not play because of a death in her family, leaving ASU with only two backups for starters Janae Fulcher and Joy Burke.
