{"id":572952,"date":"2023-11-18T18:00:22","date_gmt":"2023-11-19T01:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=572952"},"modified":"2023-11-18T20:20:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-19T03:20:26","slug":"nc-state-invitational-ilya-kharun-hubert-kos-make-statements-on-final-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/nc-state-invitational-ilya-kharun-hubert-kos-make-statements-on-final-night\/","title":{"rendered":"NC State Invitational: Ilya Kharun, Hubert Kos Make Statements on Final Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

NC State Invitational: Ilya Kharun, Hubert Kos Make Statements on Final Night<\/strong><\/p>\n

He began his college career having already tied for fourth in a World Championships final and with medals at the Short Course World Championships already collected. Now,\u00a0Ilya Kharun<\/strong> might already be one of the top performers in college swimming after putting on a show at his first invitational. At the NC State Invite in Greensboro, N.C., the freshman has already taken a huge role on Arizona State’s relays, and individually, he broke 19 for the first time in the 50 freestyle and won the 100 butterfly in 44.33.<\/p>\n

All that was a precursor to a dominant performance on the final night of the meet in the 200 fly. Kharun’s veteran teammate\u00a0Alexander Colson<\/strong> tried to go with him over the first 100 yards, but Kharun showed off the same blistering finishing speed that nearly netted him a Worlds medal in the 200-meter fly in July. Splitting 25.91 on the third 50 and 26.59 coming home, Kharun swam a time of 1:39.10, blowing away his previous best of 1:40.07 and becoming the No. 12 performer all-time in the event. Colson came in second in 1:41.32, with NC State’s Noah Bowers<\/strong> placing third in 1:42.11.<\/p>\n

Notably, that time would have placed third at last year’s NCAA Championships, with national titlist\u00a0Aidan Hayes<\/strong> of NC State swimming only 31-hundredths quicker than Kharun did Saturday evening. Kharun also eclipsed the previous top time in the country this season, the 1:39.65 posted by ASU teammate Leon Marchand<\/strong>. Marchand is the world champion in the 200-meter fly, but he has not raced the yards version of the event the past two years at the NCAA Championships, instead focusing on the 200 breaststroke, and a similar decision for 2024 would make sense with Kharun and Colson in place.<\/p>\n

Marchand, meanwhile, did not race on the final day of the meet after battling illness throughout, but the Sun Devil men continued to stack up wins. In addition to Kharun’s performance in the 200 fly,\u00a0Hubert Kos<\/strong> swam by far the top time in the country thus far this season in the 200 backstroke, clocking 1:36.54. After a weekend in which he posted sizzling times of 1:39.26 in the 200 IM, 3:35.82 in the 400 IM and 44.37 in the 100 back, Kos swam to a mark of 1:36.54 in the 200 back.<\/p>\n

That result made him the sixth-fastest performer in history, and on the NCAA level, only Cal’s\u00a0Destin Lasco<\/strong> has ever been faster, although it’s worth noting that Kos did place third in the event at the NCAA Championships last year behind Lasco and the graduated\u00a0Hugo Gonzalez<\/strong>. But Kos has been on a tear in recent months, and after upsetting\u00a0Ryan Murphy<\/strong> to win the 200-meter back world title in July, Kos could be on track for his first collegiate title in March.<\/p>\n

The Sun Devils ended up sweeping the 200 back as\u00a0Owen McDonald<\/strong> took second in 1:39.31, the second-quickest time in the ountry behind Kos (pending other results from invitationals Saturday) while\u00a0Jack Wadsworth<\/strong> was third in 1:41.28.<\/p>\n

Other Arizona State men to earn wins Saturday included\u00a0Jonny Kulow<\/strong> and\u00a0David Schlicht<\/strong> while on the women’s side, NC State’s Katharine Berkoff<\/strong> swam the country’s second-quickest time in the 100 free.<\/p>\n