Leon Marchand Leads Arizona State Men Over USC; Trojan Women Top Sun Devils

Leon Marchand -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Leon Marchand Leads Arizona State Men Over USC; Trojan Women Top Sun Devils

In a Pac-12 showdown between the Arizona State Sun Devils and USC Trojans Friday afternoon in Los Angeles, the ASU men easily topped USC by a 185-to-115 margin, with star individual medley specialist Leon Marchand leading the way, while USC’s Anicka Delgado led her team to 180-to-103 win over the ASU women.

Marchand began the competition with a rare appearance in the 100 breaststroke, and he won in 52.75 before he swam a 1:53.34 in the 200 breast and 1:42.55 in the 200 IM. He was NCAA champion in both 200-yard races last year before claiming world titles in long course in the 400 IM and 200 IM in June, and Marchand is poised to lead the country in his main events once again this year. He also anchored the Sun Devils’ team in the 400 freestyle relay to a win in 2:55.22. Jack Dolan, Patrick Sammon and Max McCuster also competed on that squad.

ASU’s Dolan, John Heaphy, McCuster and Grant House opened the meet with a time of 1:26.38 in the 200 medley relay for an easy triumph, and the Sun Devils rattled off wins after that. Daniel Matheson won the 1000 free (9:16.29) before Sammon (1:36.54) and Julian Hill (1:36.89) went 1-2 for ASU in the 200 free. Dolan went 47.65 for a win in the 100 backstroke, and Alexander Colson won the 200 butterfly (1:46.39). Later in the meet, House (100 free, 43.44) and McCuster (100 fly, 47.18) secured wins for head coach Bob Bowman’s group.

Artem Selin won the 50 free for USC in 19.78, and teammate Evangelos Makrygiannis won the 200 back (1:46.96). The 500 free went to Paul Retterer (4:27.08). In diving, Sean Wang won 1-meter (371.48) while Laurent Paradis took first on 3-meter (339.23).

For the Trojan women, none of Delgado’s wins came in dominant fashion, but the junior from Laguna Hills, Calif., got the job done each time. Delgado won the 50 free by a tenth over teammate Kaitlyn Dobler, 22.89 to 22.99, and she edged teammate Elise Garcia 50.01 to 50.10 in the 100 free. She took the 100 fly triumph in 54.05, just two hundredths ahead of the Sun Devils’ Lindsay Looney (54.07). Aria Bernal, Dobler, Delgado and Garcia won the 200 medley relay convincingly in 1:39.64.

Also for the Trojans, Marlene Kahler won the 1000 free (9:57.29) and 500 free (4:52.33), and in the 200 free, Justina Kozan (1:48.53) and Kahler (1:49.12) secured a 1-2 USC finish. Hanna Henderson swept the 100 back (54.39) and 200 back (1:59.65), and Isabelle Odgers won the 200 breast (2:11.05) and 200 IM (1:59.01). Dobler was victorious in the 100 breast (1:00.50), while Caroline Scuti won 1-meter (323.33) and 3-meter (282.45) diving.

Henderson, Kozan, Garcia and Dobler held off USC to win the 400 free relay (3:21.49), while the only victory for the Sun Devil women on the day came in the 200 fly, where Looney recorded a strong mark of 1:57.78.

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Steve West

1 year ago

Marchand is impressive