2023 Pac-12 Men’s Championships, Night 4: Arizona State Captures First Team Title in Program History

leon-marchand, arizona state
Leon Marchand -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Left Sidebar

2023 Pac-12 Men’s Championships, Night 4: Arizona State Secures Team Title Despite Four Cal Wins

For the first time in program history, Arizona State is the Pac-12 Conference champion, coach Bob Bowman’s squad leading the meet wire to wire. With two scintillating individual medley performances by Leon Marchand and three relay wins over the meet’s first three days, the Sun Devils entered the final night up more than 100 points over defending national champion Cal, and although the Golden Bears made things more interesting on the final night, Arizona State got a win in the 1650 freestyle before Marchand earned his third victory of the weekend while swimming the fastest time ever in the 200 breaststroke.

Meanwhile, Cal showed some serious mettle on the final day despite Arizona State’s big lead in the team race. Three Cal swimmers recorded the fastest times in the country in their events: Destin Lasco in the 200 backstroke, Bjorn Seeliger in the 100 free and Gabriel Jett in the 200 butterfly. Cal also scored a win and the fastest time in the country in the 400 free relay to close out the meet.

Arizona State ended up winning the title by 78.5 points over Cal while Stanford placed third.

2023 Pac-12 Men’s Championships Links

Team Scores

Team Scores - Through Event 21                      

1. Arizona State University        897.5   2. California, University of, Ber    819
3. Stanford University             615.5   4. University of Arizona             323
5. Southern California, Universit  314.5   6. Utah, University of             300.5

Men’s 1650 Freestyle

Arizona State opened what the Sun Devils hope will be a title-clinching session by finishing 1-2 in the 1650 free. The win went to Zalan Sarkany, who arrived from Hungary at midseason and has made an immediate impact for Arizona State. Sarkany went wire-to-wire in the 66-lap race and finished in a time of 14:41.65, which made him the eighth-fastest performer in the country so far this season. By a tenth, Sarkany edged out the time recorded by Ohio State’s Charlie Clark at last week’s Big Ten Championships for the last spot in the top heat of this event at the NCAA Championships later this month.

Meanwhile, Arizona State sophomore Daniel Matheson placed second in 14:48.52, which put him among the top-16 performers in the country this season. Matheson closed in 25.51, which pushed him ahead of Cal’s Daniel Henveaux, who ended up third in 14:48.84. Stanford’s Gabe Machado was fourth (14:50.02), while the Golden Bears’ Matthew Chai (14:55.68) and the Sun Devils’ Julian Hill (14:57.11) finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

Event 16  Men 1650 Yard Freestyle
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 14:12.08  2/22/2020 Bobby Finke, Florida
       PAC-12: M 14:24.35  2012      Chad La Tourette, STAN
 PAC-12 Champ: P 14:33.69  2021      Zach Yeadon, CAL
    Name                 Year School               Seed     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
  1 Sarkany, Zalan         FR ASU              14:49.68   14:41.65   20  
                 23.08        48.72 (25.64)
        1:15.00 (26.28)     1:41.57 (26.57)
        2:08.21 (26.64)     2:34.86 (26.65)
        3:01.73 (26.87)     3:28.39 (26.66)
        3:55.23 (26.84)     4:22.04 (26.81)
        4:48.78 (26.74)     5:15.50 (26.72)
        5:42.24 (26.74)     6:09.16 (26.92)
        6:35.96 (26.80)     7:03.03 (27.07)
        7:29.91 (26.88)     7:56.69 (26.78)
        8:23.66 (26.97)     8:50.55 (26.89)
        9:17.38 (26.83)     9:44.24 (26.86)
       10:11.30 (27.06)    10:38.33 (27.03)
       11:05.56 (27.23)    11:32.85 (27.29)
       12:00.13 (27.28)    12:27.42 (27.29)
       12:54.64 (27.22)    13:21.66 (27.02)
       13:48.74 (27.08)    14:15.65 (26.91)    14:41.65 (26.00)
  2 Matheson, Daniel       SO ASU              14:54.68   14:48.52   17  
                 24.05        50.19 (26.14)
        1:16.62 (26.43)     1:43.12 (26.50)
        2:09.66 (26.54)     2:36.41 (26.75)
        3:03.31 (26.90)     3:30.26 (26.95)
        3:57.23 (26.97)     4:24.41 (27.18)
        4:51.29 (26.88)     5:18.40 (27.11)
        5:45.32 (26.92)     6:12.33 (27.01)
        6:39.34 (27.01)     7:06.39 (27.05)
        7:33.27 (26.88)     8:00.50 (27.23)
        8:27.69 (27.19)     8:54.66 (26.97)
        9:21.87 (27.21)     9:49.19 (27.32)
       10:16.49 (27.30)    10:43.82 (27.33)
       11:11.07 (27.25)    11:38.47 (27.40)
       12:05.96 (27.49)    12:33.31 (27.35)
       13:00.88 (27.57)    13:28.47 (27.59)
       13:55.84 (27.37)    14:22.71 (26.87)    14:48.52 (25.81)
  3 Henveaux, Lucas        GS California             NT   14:48.84   16  
                 23.82        50.08 (26.26)
        1:16.48 (26.40)     1:43.18 (26.70)
        2:09.99 (26.81)     2:36.64 (26.65)
        3:03.28 (26.64)     3:30.13 (26.85)
        3:56.97 (26.84)     4:23.84 (26.87)
        4:50.68 (26.84)     5:17.54 (26.86)
        5:44.43 (26.89)     6:11.44 (27.01)
        6:38.46 (27.02)     7:05.63 (27.17)
        7:32.86 (27.23)     8:00.36 (27.50)
        8:27.75 (27.39)     8:55.20 (27.45)
        9:22.42 (27.22)     9:49.87 (27.45)
       10:17.16 (27.29)    10:44.38 (27.22)
       11:11.62 (27.24)    11:38.90 (27.28)
       12:06.19 (27.29)    12:33.68 (27.49)
       13:00.91 (27.23)    13:28.27 (27.36)
       13:55.63 (27.36)    14:22.65 (27.02)    14:48.84 (26.19)
  4 Machado, Gabe          SO Stanford         15:17.91   14:50.02   15  
                 24.40        50.97 (26.57)
        1:17.69 (26.72)     1:44.53 (26.84)
        2:11.47 (26.94)     2:38.58 (27.11)
        3:05.56 (26.98)     3:32.82 (27.26)
        4:00.09 (27.27)     4:27.44 (27.35)
        4:54.72 (27.28)     5:22.08 (27.36)
        5:49.45 (27.37)     6:16.76 (27.31)
        6:44.09 (27.33)     7:11.36 (27.27)
        7:38.78 (27.42)     8:06.12 (27.34)
        8:33.31 (27.19)     9:00.41 (27.10)
        9:27.49 (27.08)     9:54.52 (27.03)
       10:21.69 (27.17)    10:48.97 (27.28)
       11:16.13 (27.16)    11:43.49 (27.36)
       12:10.64 (27.15)    12:37.79 (27.15)
       13:04.89 (27.10)    13:31.73 (26.84)
       13:58.48 (26.75)    14:24.96 (26.48)    14:50.02 (25.06)
  5 Chai, Matthew          FR California             NT   14:55.68   14  
                 25.06        51.68 (26.62)
        1:18.55 (26.87)     1:45.71 (27.16)
        2:13.10 (27.39)     2:40.58 (27.48)
        3:08.24 (27.66)     3:35.72 (27.48)
        4:02.77 (27.05)     4:30.05 (27.28)
        4:57.39 (27.34)     5:25.00 (27.61)
        5:52.59 (27.59)     6:20.07 (27.48)
        6:47.79 (27.72)     7:15.43 (27.64)
        7:42.79 (27.36)     8:10.40 (27.61)
        8:37.79 (27.39)     9:05.28 (27.49)
        9:32.30 (27.02)     9:58.82 (26.52)
       10:26.15 (27.33)    10:53.76 (27.61)
       11:21.48 (27.72)    11:49.38 (27.90)
       12:17.06 (27.68)    12:44.85 (27.79)
       13:12.54 (27.69)    13:40.24 (27.70)
       14:06.42 (26.18)    14:31.87 (25.45)    14:55.68 (23.81)
  6 Hill, Julian           SR ASU                    NT   14:57.11   13  
                 24.20        50.91 (26.71)
        1:17.84 (26.93)     1:45.09 (27.25)
        2:12.32 (27.23)     2:39.70 (27.38)
        3:07.05 (27.35)     3:34.46 (27.41)
        4:01.82 (27.36)     4:29.20 (27.38)
        4:56.62 (27.42)     5:24.16 (27.54)
        5:51.81 (27.65)     6:19.21 (27.40)
        6:46.66 (27.45)     7:14.16 (27.50)
        7:41.46 (27.30)     8:08.75 (27.29)
        8:35.68 (26.93)     9:02.56 (26.88)
        9:29.48 (26.92)     9:56.40 (26.92)
       10:23.58 (27.18)    10:50.67 (27.09)
       11:18.14 (27.47)    11:45.64 (27.50)
       12:13.27 (27.63)    12:41.11 (27.84)
       13:09.10 (27.99)    13:37.04 (27.94)
       14:04.97 (27.93)    14:31.72 (26.75)    14:57.11 (25.39)
  7 Custer, Liam           FR Stanford         15:15.47   14:59.05   12  
                 24.64        51.41 (26.77)
        1:18.43 (27.02)     1:45.57 (27.14)
        2:12.51 (26.94)     2:39.68 (27.17)
        3:06.81 (27.13)     3:33.97 (27.16)
        4:01.14 (27.17)     4:28.46 (27.32)
        4:55.46 (27.00)     5:22.49 (27.03)
        5:49.66 (27.17)     6:17.05 (27.39)
        6:44.27 (27.22)     7:11.59 (27.32)
        7:38.97 (27.38)     8:06.52 (27.55)
        8:34.16 (27.64)     9:01.75 (27.59)
        9:29.18 (27.43)     9:56.80 (27.62)
       10:24.36 (27.56)    10:52.20 (27.84)
       11:19.91 (27.71)    11:47.65 (27.74)
       12:15.48 (27.83)    12:43.30 (27.82)
       13:10.96 (27.66)    13:38.54 (27.58)
       14:06.12 (27.58)    14:33.04 (26.92)    14:59.05 (26.01)
  8 Nyboer, Mason          JR Arizona          15:24.64   15:09.43   11  
                 25.16        52.01 (26.85)
        1:19.34 (27.33)     1:46.51 (27.17)
        2:13.90 (27.39)     2:41.43 (27.53)
        3:08.87 (27.44)     3:36.28 (27.41)
        4:03.88 (27.60)     4:31.45 (27.57)
        4:58.90 (27.45)     5:26.54 (27.64)
        5:54.05 (27.51)     6:21.63 (27.58)
        6:49.43 (27.80)     7:17.11 (27.68)
        7:44.77 (27.66)     8:12.54 (27.77)
        8:40.17 (27.63)     9:07.97 (27.80)
        9:35.84 (27.87)    10:03.61 (27.77)
       10:31.41 (27.80)    10:59.42 (28.01)
       11:27.28 (27.86)    11:55.33 (28.05)
       12:23.39 (28.06)    12:51.39 (28.00)
       13:19.67 (28.28)    13:47.81 (28.14)
       14:15.51 (27.70)    14:43.27 (27.76)    15:09.43 (26.16)

Men’s 200 Backstroke

If Cal hopes to put a scare into Arizona State’s title hopes, the Golden Bears need everything to go right for the remainder of the final night, and the 200 back final was a start as Destin Lasco and Hugo Gonzalez swam the two fastest times in the country so far this season. Lasco pulled slightly ahead of Gonzalez at the halfway point but never escaped the range of his veteran teammate. Both men finished in 24.3 splits, and the resulting times were brilliant: Lasco in 1:36.94 and Gonzalez in 1:37.19. Both men were under the Pac-12 meet record of 1:37.87 set by former Bear Daniel Carr in 2020.

Both swimmers eclipsed the previous top mark in the country, the 1:38.22 set by Brendan Burns of Indiana, and both crushed the 1:37.77 that Lasco swam to win the NCAA title in the event last year. Lasco was less than a second off his best time (1:35.99) which ranks third all-time behind Ryan Murphy and Shaine Casas while Gonzalez moved to seventh-fastest in history.

However, this event was not a total loss for Arizona State as Owen McDonald and Hubert Kos placed third and fourth, respectively. McDonald touched in 1:39.01, followed by Kos in 1:39.21. Those two plus B-finalist Jack Wadsworth combined for 36 points, while Cal’s Lasco, Gonzalez, Sebastian Somerset and Colby Mefford picked up 57.

Mefford actually posted the third-fastest time of the night with his 1:38.83 in the B-final. The time ranks fifth nationally behind his Cal teammates, Burns and Georgia’s Ian Grum.

Event 17  Men 200 Yard Backstroke
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:35.73  3/26/2016 Ryan Murphy, CAL
       PAC-12: M 1:35.73  2016      Ryan Murphy, CAL
 PAC-12 Champ: P 1:37.87  2020      Daniel Carr, CAL
    Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
                            === A - Final ===                            
 
  1 Lasco, Destin          JR California        1:38.66    1:36.94P  20  
                 23.03        47.94 (24.91)
        1:12.63 (24.69)     1:36.94 (24.31)
  2 Gonzalez de Oliveira,  GS California        1:38.84    1:37.19P  17  
                 23.00        47.98 (24.98)
        1:12.85 (24.87)     1:37.19 (24.34)
  3 McDonald, Owen         FR ASU               1:39.62    1:39.01   16  
                 22.94        48.02 (25.08)
        1:13.88 (25.86)     1:39.01 (25.13)
  4 Kos, Hubert            FR ASU               1:40.63    1:39.21   15  
                 22.84        47.80 (24.96)
        1:13.50 (25.70)     1:39.21 (25.71)
  5 Sequeira, Aaron        SO Stanford          1:40.16    1:39.94   14  
                 23.50        48.79 (25.29)
        1:14.54 (25.75)     1:39.94 (25.40)
  6 MacAlister, Leon       SR Stanford          1:40.60    1:40.16   13  
                 23.42        48.61 (25.19)
        1:14.29 (25.68)     1:40.16 (25.87)
  7 Zuchowski, Josh        FR Stanford          1:40.81    1:40.68   12  
                 23.88        49.67 (25.79)
        1:15.84 (26.17)     1:40.68 (24.84)
  8 Somerset, Sebastian    SR California        1:40.44    1:41.09   11  
                 23.32        48.52 (25.20)
        1:14.43 (25.91)     1:41.09 (26.66)

Men’s 100 Freestyle

For the second consecutive event, Cal finished 1-2 as Bjorn Seeliger and Jack Alexy got the better of all four Arizona State swimmers in the A-final. Seeliger went out in 19.19, more than six tenths clear of the field, and he held on to win in 40.90. That knocked off the 41.17 of Tennessee’s Jordan Crooks for the fastest time in the country this season.

Alexy, meanwhile, finished second in 41.42, which moved him to sixth nationally behind Seeliger, Crooks, Florida’s Josh Liendo, Virginia Tech’s Youssef Ramadan and Ohio State’s Ruslan Gaziev. But neither swimmer is done with the 100 free for the evening as a showdown with Arizona State awaits in the 400 free relay.

The Sun Devils finished third, fourth and fifth here with Grant House (41.69), Jack Dolan (41.96) and Patrick Sammon (41.98), while Jonny Kulow took eighth (42.16) and Max McCuster posted a strong swim in the C-final (42.26). Leon Marchand will surely play a role on ASU’s relay as well. Cal, meanwhile, had Mathew Jensen place seventh in 42.09, and Destin Lasco and Hugo Gonzalez are both options for the Bears’ 400 free relay.

Event 18  Men 100 Yard Freestyle
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 39.90  3/24/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
       PAC-12: M 40.75  2022      Bjorn Seelinger, CAL
 PAC-12 Champ: P 41.38  2013      Vladmir Morozov, USC
    Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
                            === A - Final ===                            
 
  1 Seeliger, Bjorn        JR California          41.30      40.90P  20  
                  8.98        19.19 (10.21)
          30.00 (10.81)       40.90 (10.90)
  2 Alexy, Jack            SO California          41.80      41.42   17  
                  9.33        19.83 (10.50)
          30.57 (10.74)       41.42 (10.85)
  3 House, Grant           SR ASU                 42.21      41.69   16  
                  9.60        20.13 (10.53)
          31.09 (10.96)       41.69 (10.60)
  4 Dolan, Jack            SR ASU                 41.84      41.96   15  
                  9.40        19.88 (10.48)
          30.98 (11.10)       41.96 (10.98)
  5 Sammon, Patrick        SO ASU                 42.32      41.98   14  
                  9.52        20.15 (10.63)
          31.16 (11.01)       41.98 (10.82)
  6 Minakov, Andrei        JR Stanford            42.03      42.01   13  
                  9.31        20.00 (10.69)
          31.02 (11.02)       42.01 (10.99)
  7 Jensen, Matthew        JR California          42.01      42.09   12  
                  9.45        20.06 (10.61)
          31.10 (11.04)       42.09 (10.99)
  8 Kulow, Jonny           FR ASU                 42.25      42.16   11  
                  9.45        20.02 (10.57)
          30.97 (10.95)       42.16 (11.19)

Men’s 200 Butterfly

It likely will not matter in the team competition with Arizona State more than 80 points clear of Cal following Leon Marchand’s NCAA record in the 200 breaststroke, but Cal was again victorious in the 200 fly, once again with a Golden Bears swimmer recording the country’s fastest time in an event. This time, it was Gabriel Jett who opened up a lead of two tenths by the halfway point of the 200 fly A-final and never let Arizona State’s Alex Colson make up any ground.

Jett touched in 1:39.27 while Colson finished second in 1:39.55. Jett beat out Brendan Burns’ 1:39.51 for the top time in the country while Colson passed Marchand (1:39.57) to move into second. Burns is the defending NCAA champion in the event, but between graduations (Nick Albiero, Trenton Julian and Christian Ferraro) and injuries (Luca Urlando), only four swimmers are returning this season from the 20222 NCAA final: Burns, Jett, Colson and Kentucky’s Mason Wilby.

Arizona State’s Andrew Gray took third in 1:41.20 while Cal’s Dare Rose faded to fourth (1:41.83).

Event 20  Men 200 Yard Butterfly
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:37.35  3/25/2017 Jack Conger, Texas
       PAC-12: M 1:38.53  2021      Trenton Julian, CAL
 PAC-12 Champ: P 1:38.53  2021      Trenton Julian, CAL
    Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
                            === A - Final ===                            
 
  1 Jett, Gabriel          SO California        1:40.46    1:39.27   20  
                 22.19        47.18 (24.99)
        1:12.93 (25.75)     1:39.27 (26.34)
  2 Colson, Alexander      SR ASU               1:42.43    1:39.55   17  
                 22.20        47.42 (25.22)
        1:13.20 (25.78)     1:39.55 (26.35)
  3 Gray, Andrew           SR ASU               1:43.15    1:41.20   16  
                 22.67        47.76 (25.09)
        1:13.89 (26.13)     1:41.20 (27.31)
  4 Rose, Dare             JR California        1:41.82    1:41.83   15  
                 22.48        47.73 (25.25)
        1:13.98 (26.25)     1:41.83 (27.85)
  5 Naughton, Haakon       FR Arizona           1:43.11    1:42.60   14  
                 22.44        48.11 (25.67)
        1:14.85 (26.74)     1:42.60 (27.75)
  6 Affeld, Jonny          JR Stanford          1:43.26    1:42.83   13  
                 22.85        49.08 (26.23)
        1:15.86 (26.78)     1:42.83 (26.97)
  7 Homans, Harry          SR Southern Cali     1:43.94    1:43.52   12  
                 23.11        49.01 (25.90)
        1:15.97 (26.96)     1:43.52 (27.55)
  8 Hu, Ethan              JR Stanford          1:43.58    1:44.03   11  
                 22.76        48.32 (25.56)
        1:15.53 (27.21)     1:44.03 (28.50)

Men’s 400 Freestyle Relay

It did not make a difference in the team competition, but Cal got the better of Arizona State in the meet’s final relay as the two teams recorded the two fastest performances in the country so far this season. The Cal team of Dylan Hawk, Bjorn Seeliger, Matthew Jensen and Jack Alexy combined for a time of 2:45.67, which was almost a half-second better than the 2:46.14 recorded by Arizona State’s Leon Marchand, Grant House, Patrick Sammon and Jack Dolan.

Marchand, fresh off his record-breaking performance in the 200 breast, led off in 41.61, well ahead of Hawk’s 42.43, but Seeliger responded with a 40.87 split to take the lead away from House. Sammon then put Arizona State back in front with his 41.18 leg, only for Alexy to move slightly ahead over the first 50 yards of his anchor leg and then pull away. Alexy’s split of 40.80 was the quickest of the race. Both teams ended up beating the 2:46.25 set by Tennessee at the SEC Championships, a mark that had been No. 1 in the country. Cal beat the Pac-12 record set by a Hawk, Alexy, Hugo Gonzalez and Seeliger last season as well as the 2022 NCAA winning time, the 2:46.03 posted by Texas.

Arizona finished third in 2:49.90 with Ryan Perham, Ralph Daleiden Ciuferri, Hunter Ingram and Marin Ercegovic. Stanford’s team, which featured Andrei Minakov splitting 41.77 on the second leg, touched third but was disqualified.

Event 21  Men 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
==================================================================================
         NCAA: N 2:44.31  3/24/2018 NC State
                          R.Held,  J. Ress, J. Molacek, C. Stewart
       PAC-12: M 2:45.94  2022      Univ of California, Berkeley, CAL
                          Hawk, Alexy, Gonzalez, Seeliger
 PAC-12 Champ: P 2:45.94  2022      Univ of California, Berkeley
                          Hawk, Alexy, Gonzalez, Seeliger
    School                                 Seed     Finals Points 
==================================================================================
  1 California  'A'                     2:47.07    2:45.67M  40  
     1) Hawk, Dylan JR                2) Seeliger, Bjorn JR           
     3) Jensen, Matthew JR            4) Alexy, Jack SO               
                 20.24        42.43 (42.43)
        1:01.31 (18.88)     1:23.30 (40.87)
        1:42.84 (19.54)     2:04.87 (41.57)
        2:24.12 (19.25)     2:45.67 (40.80)
  2 ASU  'A'                            2:47.93    2:46.14   34  
     1) Marchand, Leon SO             2) House, Grant SR              
     3) Sammon, Patrick SO            4) Dolan, Jack SR               
                 20.12        41.61 (41.61)
        1:01.43 (19.82)     1:23.47 (41.86)
        1:42.94 (19.47)     2:04.65 (41.18)
        2:24.15 (19.50)     2:46.14 (41.49)
  3 Arizona  'A'                        2:50.47    2:49.90   32  
     1) Perham, Ryan SR               2) Daleiden Ciuferri, Ralph FR  
     3) Ingram, Hunter SR             4) Ercegovic, Marin GS          
                 20.33        42.61 (42.61)
        1:02.89 (20.28)     1:25.32 (42.71)
        1:45.74 (20.42)     2:07.91 (42.59)
        2:27.61 (19.70)     2:49.90 (41.99)
  4 Utah  'A'                           2:51.30    2:52.06   30  
     1) Ungur, Andrei SR              2) O'Haimhirgin, Finn SR        
     3) Hynes, Jp SR                  4) Horner, Jaek SR              
                 20.57        43.39 (43.39)
        1:03.51 (20.12)     1:26.15 (42.76)
        1:46.42 (20.27)     2:09.23 (43.08)
        2:29.61 (20.38)     2:52.06 (42.83)
  5 Southern Cali  'A'                  2:53.37    2:54.17   28  
     1) Saunders, Max SR              2) O'Grady, Chris SO            
     3) Dillard, Ben JR               4) Selin, Artem SO              
                 20.74        43.30 (43.30)
        1:03.84 (20.54)     1:27.23 (43.93)
        1:47.98 (20.75)     2:11.35 (44.12)
        2:31.06 (19.71)     2:54.17 (42.82)
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x