2023 Pac-12 Men’s Championships, Day 2: Leon Marchand Opts for 200 IM, Goes 1:40.32

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

2023 Pac-12 Men’s Championships, Day 2: Leon Marchand Opts for 200 IM, Goes 1:40.32

Two relays wins on the opening day of the 2023 Pac-12 Men’s Championships Wednesday night put Arizona State in a strong position. But it’ll take depth if the top-ranked Sun Devils hope to hold off No. 2 Cal in Federal Way, Washington, this week.

The teams are battling it out in the first prelims session of the week, with Cal’s depth and Arizona’s top-line talent dueling.

The morning prelims results:

2023 Pac-12 Men’s Championships

2023 Pac-12 Men’s Championships Team Scores

Combined Team Scores - Through Event 5                      
 
  1. Southern California, Universit    198   2. Utah, University of               146
  3. University of Arizona             131   4. Arizona State University          127
  5. Stanford University               117   6. California, University of, Ber     72

500 freestyle

Cal is all over the top of the A final, but Arizona State managed to hold serve pretty well.

The top three seeds all go to Golden Bears, led by Lucas Henveaux going 4:11.06. Patrick Callan and Gabriel Jett followed him for Cal.

Arizona State put four swimmers in the A final. That does not include Leon Marchand, who has the fastest swim in the conference this season but unsurprisingly opted for his bread-and-butter 200 IM. Julian Hill went 4:14.68 for the fourth seed. Daniel Matheson is also in the A final, as is newcomer Zalan Sarkany in eighth.

Event 6  Men 500 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 4:06.32  2/19/2020 Kieran Smith, Florida
       PAC-12: M 4:08.92  2009      Jean Basson, ARIZ
 PAC-12 Champ: P 4:09.49  2021      Trenton Julian, CAL
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Henveaux, Lucas        GS California        4:17.01    4:11.06  
                 23.01        47.97 (24.96)
        1:13.03 (25.06)     1:38.57 (25.54)
        2:03.83 (25.26)     2:29.23 (25.40)
        2:54.88 (25.65)     3:20.46 (25.58)
        3:45.89 (25.43)     4:11.06 (25.17)
  2 Callan, Patrick        GS California        4:17.92    4:13.21  
                 23.12        48.64 (25.52)
        1:14.00 (25.36)     1:39.70 (25.70)
        2:05.44 (25.74)     2:31.05 (25.61)
        2:56.77 (25.72)     3:22.50 (25.73)
        3:47.84 (25.34)     4:13.21 (25.37)
  3 Jett, Gabriel          SO California        4:17.82    4:13.43  
                 23.24        48.11 (24.87)
        1:13.33 (25.22)     1:39.10 (25.77)
        2:05.17 (26.07)     2:30.95 (25.78)
        2:56.95 (26.00)     3:23.13 (26.18)
        3:48.73 (25.60)     4:13.43 (24.70)
  4 Hill, Julian           SR ASU               4:13.69    4:14.38  
                 23.14        48.19 (25.05)
        1:13.34 (25.15)     1:39.13 (25.79)
        2:04.78 (25.65)     2:30.56 (25.78)
        2:56.48 (25.92)     3:22.19 (25.71)
        3:48.34 (26.15)     4:14.38 (26.04)
  5 Matheson, Daniel       SO ASU               4:17.99    4:15.47  
                 23.42        48.88 (25.46)
        1:14.75 (25.87)     1:40.81 (26.06)
        2:06.74 (25.93)     2:32.56 (25.82)
        2:58.38 (25.82)     3:24.43 (26.05)
        3:50.29 (25.86)     4:15.47 (25.18)
  6 Forst, Preston         JR Stanford          4:16.79    4:15.66  
                 23.75        49.16 (25.41)
        1:14.79 (25.63)     1:40.39 (25.60)
        2:06.16 (25.77)     2:31.89 (25.73)
        2:57.70 (25.81)     3:23.67 (25.97)
        3:49.83 (26.16)     4:15.66 (25.83)
  7 Gray, Andrew           SR ASU               4:15.15    4:16.18  
                 23.18        48.89 (25.71)
        1:14.71 (25.82)     1:40.65 (25.94)
        2:06.41 (25.76)     2:32.16 (25.75)
        2:58.31 (26.15)     3:24.39 (26.08)
        3:50.63 (26.24)     4:16.18 (25.55)
  8 Sarkany, Zalan         FR ASU               4:17.81    4:17.90  
                 22.95        48.41 (25.46)
        1:14.58 (26.17)     1:40.72 (26.14)
        2:06.78 (26.06)     2:32.88 (26.10)
        2:59.20 (26.32)     3:25.71 (26.51)
        3:52.11 (26.40)     4:17.90 (25.79)

200 individual medley

Leon Marchand is a second clear of the field in the 200 IM, a big margin by anyone’s standards save his. He went 1:40.32 to grab the top seed in prelims, about a half-second shy of his meet record from last year.

A pair of Cal swimmers are on his tail, with reigning NCAA 400 IM champ Hugo Gonzalez second in 1:41.53 and Destin Lasco three tenths back in third. Arizona State pushed four total swimmers into the A final, Grant House leading the rest in fourth. Not among them, though, is Hubert Kos, the Hungarian Olympian landing 11th in prelims and missing the A final by .2.

 Event 7  Men 200 Yard IM
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:38.13  2/15/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
       PAC-12: M 1:37.69  2022      Leon Marchand, ASU
 PAC-12 Champ: P 1:39.65  2022      Leon Marchand, ASU
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Marchand, Leon         SO ASU               1:38.89    1:40.32  
                 21.38        45.57 (24.19)
        1:14.33 (28.76)     1:40.32 (25.99)
  2 Gonzalez de Oliveira,  GS California        1:42.79    1:41.53  
                 22.71        48.16 (25.45)
        1:17.21 (29.05)     1:41.53 (24.32)
  3 Lasco, Destin          JR California        1:41.28    1:41.83  
                 22.37        47.86 (25.49)
        1:17.90 (30.04)     1:41.83 (23.93)
  4 House, Grant           SR ASU               1:42.27    1:42.32  
                 21.80        47.74 (25.94)
        1:17.59 (29.85)     1:42.32 (24.73)
  5 McDonald, Owen         FR ASU               1:45.43    1:42.94  
                 21.82        46.87 (25.05)
        1:18.10 (31.23)     1:42.94 (24.84)
  6 Schlicht, David        SR ASU               1:43.48    1:42.97  
                 22.35        48.56 (26.21)
        1:18.05 (29.49)     1:42.97 (24.92)
  7 Polonsky, Ron          SO Stanford          1:42.08    1:43.16  
                 22.19        47.48 (25.29)
        1:17.54 (30.06)     1:43.16 (25.62)
  7 Affeld, Jonny          JR Stanford          1:44.67    1:43.16  
                 22.38        48.01 (25.63)
        1:17.59 (29.58)     1:43.16 (25.57)

50 freestyle

Bjorn Seeliger matched his season-best time of 18.87 to take the top seed in the 50 free. He’s the only swimmer sub-18. The meet record, set in 2014 by Brad Tandy at 18.80, is surely in his sights this evening, as is the conference record set in 2021 by Cal’s Ryan Hoffer at 18.33.

Jack Dolan and Jonny Kulow parlayed stellar swims Wednesday night into the second and third seed, respectively. Dolan led in 19.13, with Kulow .02 back. Teammates Max McCusker and Patrick Sammon made if four Sun Devils in the A final.

Andrei Minakov of Stanford is the fourth seed in 19.16, with Cal’s Jack Alexy fifth.

Event 8  Men 50 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 17.63  3/22/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
       PAC-12: M 18.33  2021      Ryan Hoffer, CAL
 PAC-12 Champ: P 18.80  2014      Brad Tandy, ARIZ
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Seeliger, Bjorn        JR California          18.87      18.87  
                  8.96         18.87 (9.91)
  2 Dolan, Jack            SR ASU                 18.92      19.13  
                  9.21         19.13 (9.92)
  3 Kulow, Jonny           FR ASU                 19.46      19.15  
                  9.16         19.15 (9.99)
  4 Minakov, Andrei        JR Stanford            19.55      19.16  
                  9.22         19.16 (9.94)
  5 Alexy, Jack            SO California          19.14      19.22  
                  9.29         19.22 (9.93)
  6 McCusker, Max          SR ASU                 19.31      19.32  
                  9.24        19.32 (10.08)
  7 Perham, Ryan           SR Arizona             19.39      19.33  
                  9.29        19.33 (10.04)
  7 Sammon, Patrick        SO ASU                 19.98      19.33  
                  9.29        19.33 (10.04)

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