Pac-12 Men’s Championships, Day 3 Finals: Hubert Kos Shines, Arizona State Swims Second-Fastest 400 Medley Relay Ever

Hubert Kos -- Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron

Pac-12 Men’s Championships, Day 3 Finals: Hubert Kos Shines, Arizona State Swims Second-Fastest 400 Medley Relay Ever

The Arizona State Sun Devils continue to exert their will on the Pac-12 Championships. The Sun Devils’ undefeated streak came to an end Friday night in the 100 breaststroke, but ASU still had five wins, with Leon Marchand cruising in the 400 IM before freshman Ilya Kharun won the 100 butterfly and junior Patrick Sammon rocked the 200 freestyle. In the session’s final individual event, Hubert Kos scorched a sub-44 100 backstroke before the team of Kos, Marchand, Kharun and Jonny Kulow swam the second-fastest time ever in the 400 medley relay, nearly knocking off the shocking NCAA record of 2:58.32 set by Florida last season.

Sure, defending national champion Cal is missing most of its top swimmers this week in Federal Way, Wash., but that in no way detracts from what has been an emphatic performance from ASU, with head coach Bob Bowman’s group holding a 219.5-point edge over Stanford heading into the final day of competition.

Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 15                      
 
  1. Arizona State University          725   2. Stanford University             505.5
  3. University of California-Berk     406   4. University of Arizona             372
  5. University of Southern Calif    288.5   6. University of Utah                167

400 IM

Fresh off swimming the fastest time in history in the 500 freestyle Thursday evening, Leon Marchand could have taken a shot at his 400 IM record Friday, with the mark of 3:28.82 standing as the NCAA and U.S. Open record from Marchand’s stunning performance at last year’s NCAA Championships. However, Marchand did not have his best swim in the tank this time around. Arizona State teammate David Schlicht actually out-split Marchand on the breaststroke leg, which is usually where the Frenchman is most dominant, and a whopping six swimmers posted quicker freestyle times.

But it didn’t matter at all as Marchand cruised to the win in 3:34.66, which put him more than three seconds clear of the field and once again on top of the national rankings. Marchand’s time is more than one second ahead of the previous top time in the country, the 3:35.82 posted by the Sun Devils’ Hubert Kos in November. Now, Arizona State occupies the top-three spots in the final national rankings prior to the NCAA Championships as Schlicht came in at 3:37.97 for third.

Closing in a sizzling 49.90 split to take third was Stanford freshman Rex Maurer, whose time of 3:38.10 ranks No. 5 nationally behind the three Sun Devils and Texas A&M’s Baylor Nelson. Meanwhile, Arizona State wracked up a whopping 79 points in just the A-final as Zalan Sarkany, Cale Martter and Daniel Matheson finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

Event 10  Men 400 Yard IM
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 3:28.82  3/24/2022 Leon Marchand, Arizona State
       PAC-12: M 3:28.82  2023      Leon Marchand, ASU
 PAC-12 Champ: P 3:31.57  3/3/2023  Leon Marchand, ASU
                 3:38.90  A Standard
                 3:50.68  B Standard
    Name           Year School            Prelims     Finals       Points 
=========================================================================
                            === A - Final ===                            
 
  1 Marchand, Leon   JR ASU               3:39.20    3:34.66 A       20  
                 22.12        47.40 (25.28)
        1:14.52 (27.12)     1:41.21 (26.69)
        2:11.47 (30.26)     2:42.32 (30.85)
        3:08.82 (26.50)     3:34.66 (25.84)
  2 Schlicht, David  SR ASU               3:38.29    3:37.97 A       17  
                 22.89        49.23 (26.34)
        1:18.06 (28.83)     1:46.05 (27.99)
        2:16.14 (30.09)     2:46.82 (30.68)
        3:12.87 (26.05)     3:37.97 (25.10)
  3 Maurer, Rex      FR STAN              3:40.99    3:38.10 A       16  
                 23.56        50.47 (26.91)
        1:17.97 (27.50)     1:44.70 (26.73)
        2:16.34 (31.64)     2:48.20 (31.86)
        3:13.99 (25.79)     3:38.10 (24.11)
  4 Sarkany, Zalan   SO ASU               3:40.79    3:40.50 B       15  
                 23.41        50.37 (26.96)
        1:19.13 (28.76)     1:46.96 (27.83)
        2:18.51 (31.55)     2:50.04 (31.53)
        3:15.84 (25.80)     3:40.50 (24.66)
  5 Martter, Cale    SO ASU               3:40.94    3:40.53 B       14  
                 23.31        50.35 (27.04)
        1:19.94 (29.59)     1:48.55 (28.61)
        2:18.86 (30.31)     2:49.13 (30.27)
        3:15.12 (25.99)     3:40.53 (25.41)
  6 Matheson, Danie  JR ASU               3:43.31    3:42.07 B       13  
                 23.90        50.75 (26.85)
        1:19.83 (29.08)     1:48.48 (28.65)
        2:20.22 (31.74)     2:51.75 (31.53)
        3:17.25 (25.50)     3:42.07 (24.82)
  7 Kopp, Tyler      SR CAL               3:42.13    3:42.16 B       12  
                 24.25        51.09 (26.84)
        1:19.14 (28.05)     1:47.21 (28.07)
        2:18.87 (31.66)     2:50.67 (31.80)
        3:17.04 (26.37)     3:42.16 (25.12)
  8 Mihm, Rick       SR STAN              3:41.92    3:44.05 B       11  
                 23.70        50.46 (26.76)
        1:19.36 (28.90)     1:47.59 (28.23)
        2:19.24 (31.65)     2:50.90 (31.66)
        3:17.83 (26.93)     3:44.05 (26.22)

100 Butterfly

Few men in the country can stop star Arizona State freshman Ilya Kharun in a butterfly race, and there’s certainly no one in the Pac-12 capable of such a performance. In the 100 fly final, Kharun actually received a challenge from Stanford’s Rafael Gu, who was one hundredth ahead of Kharun at the halfway point, but Kharun opened up a two-tenths lead on the third 25 before closing in 11.82 to seal the deal.

Kharun touched in 44.32, a season-best mark by one hundredth and good enough to move him into a tie for fifth in the country with Indiana’s Tomer Frankel, with only Florida’s Josh Liendo, Virginia Tech’s Youssef Ramadan and Stanford’s Andrei Minakov ahead.

The Cardinal placed 2-3 here with Gu touching second in 45.00 and teammate Aaron Sequeira third in 45.09, just ahead of Filip Senc-Samardzi c (45.18). Notably, Minakov clocked 45.31 in prelims for the fourth-best qualifying time, but he scratched the final.

Event 11  Men 100 Yard Butterfly
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 42.80  3/23/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
       PAC-12: M 43.71  2022      Andrei  Minakov, STAN
 PAC-12 Champ: P 43.90  2022      Andrei Minakov, STAN
                 44.64  A Standard
                 47.08  B Standard
    Name           Year School            Prelims     Finals       Points 
=========================================================================
                            === A - Final ===                            
 
  1 Kharun, Ilya     FR ASU                 44.42      44.32 A       20  
                  9.41        20.77 (11.36)
          32.50 (11.73)       44.32 (11.82)
  2 Gu, Rafael       SO STAN                44.99      45.00 B       17  
                  9.45        20.76 (11.31)
          32.71 (11.95)       45.00 (12.29)
  3 Sequeira, Aaron  JR STAN                45.20      45.09 B       16  
                  9.75        21.04 (11.29)
          32.66 (11.62)       45.09 (12.43)
  4 Senc-Samardzic,  FR ASU                 45.49      45.18 B       15  
                  9.59        21.14 (11.55)
          32.87 (11.73)       45.18 (12.31)
  5 Kulow, Jonny     SO ASU                 45.51      45.80 B       14  
                  9.56        21.30 (11.74)
          33.43 (12.13)       45.80 (12.37)
  6 Colson, Alexand  SR ASU                 45.91      45.90 B       13  
                  9.71        21.17 (11.46)
          33.20 (12.03)       45.90 (12.70)
  7 Naughton, Haako  SO ARIZ                46.01      46.08 B       11.5
                 10.06        21.70 (11.64)
          33.82 (12.12)       46.08 (12.26)
  7 Nabor, Jadan     SR ARIZ                45.90      46.08 B       11.5
                  9.73        21.40 (11.67)
          33.54 (12.14)       46.08 (12.54)

200 Freestyle

The Sun Devils boast one of the top 200 freestyle contingents in the country, with the 800 free relay squad ranking first after a win two nights earlier in Federal Way, and all the members of that team minus Leon Marchand, who clocked 1:30.43 on the leadoff leg, were in this final. One member of that group, Patrick Sammon preserved Arizona State’s undefeated streak as for the meet. Sammon took over the lead from teammate Julian Hill on the third 50 and did not look back.

However, Henry McFadden put a final-length scare into ASU as he finished in 23.39. Previously, McFadden clocked 1:30.87 anchoring Stanford’s 800 free relay to second place, and he was a relay swimmer for the United States at last year’s World Championships. But Sammon hung on to take the win in 1:31.87, the time moving him into the national top-eight, while McFadden was 16-hundredths back in 1:32.03. ASU also claimed third and fourth-place points via Owen McDonald (1:32.21) and Hill (1:32.31).

Event 12  Men 200 Yard Freestyle
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:29.15  3/27/2019 Dean Farris, Harvard
       PAC-12: M 1:30.14  2019      Andrew Seliskar, CAL
 PAC-12 Champ: P 1:30.23  2022      Grant House, ASU
                 1:31.74  A Standard
                 1:35.79  B Standard
    Name           Year School            Prelims     Finals       Points 
=========================================================================
                            === A - Final ===                            
 
  1 Sammon, Patrick  JR ASU               1:32.56    1:31.87 B       20  
                 21.22        44.52 (23.30)
        1:08.28 (23.76)     1:31.87 (23.59)
  2 McFadden, Henry  FR STAN              1:32.42    1:32.03 B       17  
                 21.52        44.86 (23.34)
        1:08.64 (23.78)     1:32.03 (23.39)
  3 McDonald, Owen   SO ASU               1:32.06    1:32.21 B       16  
                 21.27        44.76 (23.49)
        1:08.65 (23.89)     1:32.21 (23.56)
  4 Hill, Julian     SR ASU               1:32.32    1:32.31 B       15  
                 21.27        44.46 (23.19)
        1:08.31 (23.85)     1:32.31 (24.00)
  5 Daleiden Ciufer  SO ARIZ              1:32.95    1:32.78 B       14  
                 21.38        44.82 (23.44)
        1:08.64 (23.82)     1:32.78 (24.14)
  6 Maurer, Luke     SR STAN              1:33.01    1:32.90 B       13  
                 21.80        45.22 (23.42)
        1:09.07 (23.85)     1:32.90 (23.83)
  7 Behar, Tiago     JR ASU               1:33.18    1:33.43 B       12  
                 21.13        44.71 (23.58)
        1:09.12 (24.41)     1:33.43 (24.31)
  8 Jones, Keaton    FR CAL               1:33.67    1:35.29 B       11  
                 21.95        45.68 (23.73)
        1:10.44 (24.76)     1:35.29 (24.85)

100 Breaststroke

For the first time all meet, Arizona State did not occupy the winner’s podium. Instead, it was Cal fifth-year swimmer Liam Bell who went out fast and did not let the field catch up as he claimed a conference title in the 100 breaststroke. Bell is one of few top Cal swimmers who did not skip the conference meet in favor of racing long course at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Westmont, Ill., and he put up a time of 50.89, which tied Virginia’s Noah Nichols for the country’s best time heading into the NCAA Championships.

Stanford would occupy the next two spots behind Bell as Ron Polonsky placed second in 51.17, moving to seventh in an extremely tight national rankings, while teammate Zhier Fan was third in 51.29. The top Arizona State swimmer, Andy Dobrzanski, took fourth in 51.80.

Event 13  Men 100 Yard Breaststroke
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 49.69  3/23/2018 Ian Finnerty, Indiana
       PAC-12: M 50.04  2014      Kevin Cordes, ARIZ
 PAC-12 Champ: P 50.78  2019      Carsten Vissering, USC
                 51.10  A Standard
                 53.63  B Standard
    Name           Year School            Prelims     Finals       Points 
=========================================================================
                            === A - Final ===                            
 
  1 Bell, Liam       GS CAL                 51.46      50.89 A       20  
                 10.68        23.65 (12.97)
          37.08 (13.43)       50.89 (13.81)
  2 Polonsky, Ron    JR STAN                51.55      51.17 B       17  
                 10.80        23.97 (13.17)
          37.41 (13.44)       51.17 (13.76)
  3 Fan, Zhier       SO STAN                51.93      51.29 B       16  
                 10.88        24.14 (13.26)
          37.39 (13.25)       51.29 (13.90)
  4 Dobrzanski, And  SO ASU                 51.52      51.80 B       15  
                 11.25        24.49 (13.24)
          37.95 (13.46)       51.80 (13.85)
  5 Horner, Jaek     GS UTAH                52.25      51.85 B       14  
                 10.89        24.16 (13.27)
          37.74 (13.58)       51.85 (14.11)
  6 Jensen, Matthew  SR CAL                 52.05      51.89 B       13  
                 10.91        24.16 (13.25)
          37.81 (13.65)       51.89 (14.08)
  7 Rivers, Hank     SO CAL                 51.97      52.12 B       12  
                 11.14        24.27 (13.13)
          37.77 (13.50)       52.12 (14.35)
  8 Purdy, Ryan      SR ARIZ                52.41      52.56 B       11  
                 11.25        24.64 (13.39)
          38.46 (13.82)       52.56 (14.10)

100 Backstroke

Arizona State was back on top in the 100 back as Hubert Kos pulled away from fifth-year teammate Jack Dolan, the 50 free winner Thursday night, to become the first swimmer in the country to break the 44-barrier this season. Kos, the world champion in the 200-meter back last year, swam a time of 43.75 to make himself the sixth-fastest performer in history in the event. Only Luca Urlando, Ryan Murphy, Brendan Burns, Coleman Stewart and Dean Farris have ever been quicker. Kos also broke the Pac-12 championship record of 44.14 established by ASU’s Zachary Poti in 2020.

Kos also crushed the 44.12 from Florida’s Jonny Marshall for the country’s top time so far this season. Kos might opt not to swim the 100 back at the NCAA Championships later this month, considering he also owns the country’s second-best time in the 400 IM, but if he swims this race, he will face off with three other swimmers who have clocked sub-44s in their career: 2023 winner Burns (Indiana), 2022 winner Kacper Stokowski (NC State) and Destin Lasco (Cal).

Dolan was second in 45.15 while Aaron Sequeira claimed third place in 45.23 for his second top-three finish of the evening after his earlier 100 fly success.

Event 14  Men 100 Yard Backstroke
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 43.35  3/25/2022 Luca Urlando, Georgia
       PAC-12: M 43.49  2016      Ryan Murphy, CAL
 PAC-12 Champ: P 44.14  2020      Zachary Poti, ASU
                 44.71  A Standard
                 47.47  B Standard
    Name           Year School            Prelims     Finals       Points 
=========================================================================
                            === A - Final ===                            
 
  1 Kos, Hubert      SO ASU                 44.03      43.75PA       20  
                 10.38        21.06 (10.68)
          32.41 (11.35)       43.75 (11.34)
  2 Dolan, Jack      SR ASU                 45.07      45.15 B       17  
                 10.50        21.38 (10.88)
          33.23 (11.85)       45.15 (11.92)
  3 Sequeira, Aaron  JR STAN                46.01      45.23 B       16  
                 10.63        21.65 (11.02)
          33.26 (11.61)       45.23 (11.97)
  4 Wadsworth, Jack  JR ASU                 46.55      45.93 B       15  
                 10.69        22.22 (11.53)
          34.13 (11.91)       45.93 (11.80)
  5 Crews, Kai       JR CAL                 46.30      46.01 B       14  
                 10.95        22.39 (11.44)
          34.00 (11.61)       46.01 (12.01)
  6 Hardy, Ryan      SO ARIZ                46.17      46.28 B       13  
                 10.84        22.39 (11.55)
          34.45 (12.06)       46.28 (11.83)
  7 Makrygiannis, V  JR USC                 46.67      46.42 B       12  
                 10.80        22.39 (11.59)
          34.56 (12.17)       46.42 (11.86)
  8 Somerset, Sebas  GS CAL                 46.65      46.89 B       11  
                 10.94        22.61 (11.67)
          34.81 (12.20)       46.89 (12.08)

400 Medley Relay

Arizona State has been simply dynamite in relays so far at the Pac-12 meet, swimming the fastest 200 medley relay time in history before posting the country’s fastest 800 free relay and the third-quickest 200 free relay. Now, the Sun Devils have set the national pace in the 400 medley while coming within 17-hundredths of the fastest relay ever.

Hubert Kos led off in 44.04, just off his 43.75 time from earlier in the evening, while Leon Marchand clocked 49.87 on breaststroke. On butterfly, freshman Ilya Kharun unleashed a 43.84 split before Jonny Kulow clocked in 40.74. The final time was 2:58.49, breaking the Pac-12 record established by Jack Dolan, Marchand, Max McCusker and Kulow last season. This ASU group also clobbered the meet record of 3:00.36 set by the Cal team of Destin Lasco, Reece Whitley, Ryan Hoffer and Bjorn Seeliger in 2022.

The Sun Devils will head to the NCAA Championships sitting two seconds clear of the next-best team in the national rankings, with Florida sitting at 3:00.49. The Gators, who swam the quickest time ever at 2:58.32 last year, have an electric lineup with freshman Jonny Marshall joining Aleksas Savickas, Josh Liendo and Macguire McDuff two weeks ago at the SEC Championships, a race that saw Liendo go 42.77 on butterfly.

But no other contender can match Marchand’s breaststroke split; at last year’s NCAAs, Marchand was a full second quicker than any other swimmer as he went 49.23, the fastest split in history, and he will likely again be in that position on the national level this year. However, ASU is more likely to hang on for a national crown with Kos making massive improvements on backstroke and Kharun providing an influx of speed on the butterfly leg.

In the race behind ASU, Stanford’s team of Rex Maurer, Ron Polonsky, Rafael Gu and Luke Maurer came in at 3:03.55 for second place while Cal’s Kai Crews, Liam Bell, Samuel Quarles and Trent Frandson placed third in 3:04.02.

Event 15  Men 400 Yard Medley Relay
==================================================================================
         NCAA: N 2:58.32  3/24/2023 Florida
                          A. Chaney, D. Hillis,  J. Liendo, M. McDuff
       PAC-12: M 2:59.18  2023      Arizona State, ASU
                          Dolan, Marchand, McCusker, Kulow
 PAC-12 Champ: P 3:00.36  2022      Univ of California, Berkeley
                          Lasco, Whitley, Hoffer, Seeliger
                 3:04.96  A Standard
                 3:06.84  B Standard
    School                           Seed     Finals       Points 
==================================================================================
  1 ASU  'A'                      3:01.60    2:58.49MA       40  
     1) Kos, Hubert SO                2) Marchand, Leon JR            
     3) Kharun, Ilya FR               4) Kulow, Jonny SO              
                 21.19        44.04 (44.04)
        1:07.13 (23.09)     1:33.91 (49.87)
        1:53.91 (20.00)     2:17.75 (43.84)
        2:36.78 (19.03)     2:58.49 (40.74)
  2 STAN  'A'                     3:06.13    3:03.55 A       34  
     1) Maurer, Rex FR                2) Polonsky, Ron JR             
     3) Gu, Rafael SO                 4) Maurer, Luke SR              
                 21.70        45.40 (45.40)
        1:09.22 (23.82)     1:36.46 (51.06)
        1:57.22 (20.76)     2:21.37 (44.91)
        2:41.34 (19.97)     3:03.55 (42.18)
  3 CAL  'A'                      3:02.82    3:04.02 A       32  
     1) Crews, Kai JR                 2) Bell, Liam GS                
     3) Quarles, Samuel FR            4) Frandson, Trent JR           
                 22.36        45.60 (45.60)
        1:08.88 (23.28)     1:36.07 (50.47)
        1:56.87 (20.80)     2:21.64 (45.57)
        2:41.98 (20.34)     3:04.02 (42.38)
  4 ARIZ  'A'                     3:06.25    3:05.60 B       30  
     1) Hardy, Ryan SO                2) Purdy, Ryan SR               
     3) Nabor, Jadan SR               4) Daleiden Ciuferri, Ralph SO  
                 22.40        46.40 (46.40)
        1:10.56 (24.16)     1:38.76 (52.36)
        1:59.71 (20.95)     2:24.48 (45.72)
        2:43.81 (19.33)     3:05.60 (41.12)
  5 USC  'A'                      3:06.61    3:08.59         28  
     1) Makrygiannis, Vaggelis JR     2) Dillard, Ben SR              
     3) Chmielewski, Michal FR        4) Selin, Artem JR              
                 22.46        46.33 (46.33)
        1:11.07 (24.74)     1:39.64 (53.31)
        2:01.02 (21.38)     2:26.27 (46.63)
        2:45.91 (19.64)     3:08.59 (42.32)
  6 UTAH  'A'                     3:11.03    3:11.31         26  
     1) McOmber, Parker SR            2) Horner, Jaek GS              
     3) VanBrocklin, Evan SO          4) Woodall, Will FR             
                 23.38        48.75 (48.75)
        1:12.88 (24.13)     1:41.27 (52.52)
        2:02.73 (21.46)     2:27.77 (46.50)
        2:48.02 (20.25)     3:11.31 (43.54)

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