Leon Marchand Dominant as Arizona State Sweeps Georgia, Missouri; Georgia Women Take Wins

Leon Marchand -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Leon Marchand Dominant as Arizona State Sweeps Georgia, Missouri; Georgia Women Take Wins

After Georgia beat Arizona State’s women and men in a Friday evening meet consisting of unusual relays and 150-yard individual races, the teams returned to Gabrielsen Natatorium Saturday morning along with the Missouri Tigers for a triple dual meet. The Arizona State men, who broke through with a sixth-place finish at last year’s NCAA Championships in Atlanta, were dominant in their return trip to the Peach State, beating the Bulldog men 155.5 to 145.5 and Missouri by a 191-109 margin. Georgia’s men won 205-95 over Missouri. Georgia’s women also swept their opponents, beating ASU 203-90 and Missouri 190-105, while the Missouri women knocked off ASU 164.5-133.5.

It was no surprise that Sun Devils sophomore Leon Marchand was a dominant force in this meet as he won three individual events and helped ASU take first in the meet-ending 400 free relay. Marchand, now one of the world’s best swimmers after winning two individual titles at last year’s NCAAs and then sweeping the 200 and 400 IM at the World Championships, won a duel with Georgia’s Luca Urlando in the 200 butterfly, 1:43.21 to 1:44.54. Both men were finalists in the long course version of the event at Worlds, with Marchand claiming silver and Urlando touching fifth.

Later on, Marchand dominated the 200 breast in 1:57.67, and he crushed the field in the 200 IM just the same with a mark of 1:44.32. The team of Grant House, Patrick Sammon, Jack Dolan and Marchand won the 400 free relay in 2:52.89, almost two seconds up on the rest of the field.

It was also a big day for House, who anchored the team of Dolan, John Heaphy and Cody Bybee to a 200 medley relay win (1:26.50). House later won the 200 free in 1:34.54, just three tenths over Bulldogs distance standout Jake Magahey (1:34.85). Zachory Lundgren won 3-meter diving with a score of 302.65.

Georgia’s men were led by Ian Grum, who led a 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 backstroke (47.38) before leading Bradley Dunham in a Georgia 1-2 in the 200 back (1:42.91). Magahey won the 1000 free for Georgia (9:15.59). Dillon Downing went 19.85 to win the 50 free, and Andrew Abruzzo took the 500 free in 4:23.56. Urlando was clocked at 46.55 in his first-place effort in the 100 fly. The only individual swimming win for Missouri’s men was Ben Patton’s 55.28 in the 100 breast, and Carlo Lopez won 3-meter diving (351.35).

On the women’s side, Georgia finished first in every swimming individual event, with Zoie Hartman claiming three individual wins in the 100 breast (1:01.65), 200 breast (2:11.99) and 200 IM (2:00.82). Abigail McCulloh won the 1000 free (9:46.48) and 500 free (4:47.90), and Sloane Reinstein touched first in the 200 free (1:47.93) and 100 free (50.03). Marie Schobel swept the 100 back (53.85) and 200 back (1:56.58), with teammate Millie Sansome placing second in both events. In the butterfly races, Callie Dickinson was the top swimmer in both the 200-yard race (1:58.76) and 100 (54.21), and Eboni McCarty swam a time of 22.96 to win the 50 free.

Georgia’s Meghan Wenzel won 3-meter diving (309.70), but the Bulldogs’ streak was broken in 1-meter diving as Missouri’s Sarah Rousseau finished with 278.50 points. Schobel, Hartman, Dickinson and McCarty won the 200 medley relay in 1:39.18, but in the final swimming event of the day, Arizona State got the better of Georgia in the 400 free relay. The team of Lindsay Looney, Erin Milligan, Ieva Maluka and Charli Brown came in at 3:24.78, just seven hundredths ahead of the top Georgia team.

Full results are available here.

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