{"id":582935,"date":"2024-03-30T18:15:35","date_gmt":"2024-03-31T01:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=582935"},"modified":"2024-03-30T20:59:28","modified_gmt":"2024-03-31T03:59:28","slug":"ncaa-mens-championships-arizona-state-finishes-off-team-title-with-400-free-relay-ncaa-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-mens-championships-arizona-state-finishes-off-team-title-with-400-free-relay-ncaa-record\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Men’s Championships: Arizona State Finishes Off Team Title With 400 Free Relay NCAA Record"},"content":{"rendered":"

NCAA Men’s Championships: Arizona State Finishes Off Team Title With 400 Free Relay NCAA Record<\/strong><\/p>\n

Entering the final event of the NCAA Men’s Championships, the Arizona State Sun Devils had already locked up the program’s first-ever team title, but\u00a0Leon Marchand<\/strong> and co. wanted to conclude the contest in style. Arizona State had already won six titles at this meet, with Marchand taking three,\u00a0Zalan Sarkany<\/strong> claiming top honors in the 1650 freestyle,\u00a0Ilya Kharun<\/strong> coming from behind to take the 200 butterfly and the 400 medley relay team setting an NCAA record in a victorious effort. Now, the 400 freestyle relay joins that championship club.<\/p>\n

In short course, Marchand is nearly unstoppable, and he proved that with a brilliant leadoff leg on this relay, clocking 40.28 to move to No. 3 all-time in the individual 100 free behind sprint specialists\u00a0Caeleb Dressel<\/strong> and\u00a0Josh Liendo<\/strong>. From there, Arizona State would never give up the lead, even as teams like Florida and Tennessee made spirited efforts.<\/p>\n

Jack Dolan<\/strong> split 41.28 on the second leg, and\u00a0Patrick Sammon<\/strong> followed with a 41.02 effort.\u00a0Jonny Kulow<\/strong> got a bit of a scare from Florida anchor\u00a0Macguire McDuff<\/strong> early on in their leg, but Kulow ended up splitting 40.82, the second-fastest anchor leg after Cal’s\u00a0Bjorn Seeliger<\/strong>, to seal the deal.<\/p>\n

Arizona State’s final time was 2:43.40, which took two-thirds of a second off the NCAA-record time of 2:44.07 established by Florida at last year’s championships. ASU had gone 2:44.23 at the Pac-12 Championships earlier this month to just miss the record, but here, the Sun Devils came through with the quickest 400 free relay ever.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath, the three Sun Devil swimmers who followed Marchand heaped praise on their French teammate, who had just added another note to his incredible list of accomplishments in college swimming as he paced ASU in this relay win. But the focus for Dolan, Kulow and Sammon was on Marchand as a person, not just how he has elevated the team’s performance across the board, including in these two relay wins.<\/p>\n

“I picked him up from the airport when he first got in,” Dolan recalled. “His English wasn\u2019t great. He\u2019d been awake for like 24 hours. And within a month or two, he was really starting to talk to everybody more, come together with the team. It\u2019s been really fun to see him grow the past couple years. He\u2019s salt-to-the-earth, one of the best human beings you will ever meet. Not even a shred of an ego about the kid. Nothing but great things to say about him. He\u2019s really starting to come out of his shell and grow into who he is. He\u2019s an even better person than he is a swimmer, so it\u2019s been really fun to see.”<\/p>\n

Kulow added, “He\u2019s the greatest swimmer right now, probably going to be ever, and he\u2019s also one of the greatest guys that I know.”<\/p>\n

Entering the last relay, Cal had secured second place in the team race thanks to a strong evening, which included\u00a0Destin Lasco’s<\/strong> win in the 200 backstroke, but Florida was in danger of losing its grip on a top-three finish thanks to the efforts of Indiana University. The Gators had suffered a big setback Friday with the disqualification of their 400 medley relay, and after a 1-2-7 finish from the Hoosiers in diving, Florida was 14 points down entering the 400 free relay.<\/p>\n

Liendo had a rough start on the leadoff leg, with his time of 41.28 more than a second behind his individual-event winning time of 40.20 from earlier in the night. But his teammates came through to deliver the Gators a second-place finish, sufficient to finish two points ahead of Indiana for third place.\u00a0Adam Chaney<\/strong> split 40.80, followed by\u00a0Julian Smith<\/strong> at 41.30 and\u00a0Macguire McDuff<\/strong> at 40.83.<\/p>\n

Florida’s final time was 2:44.21, just 14-hundredths off the previous NCAA record the exact same contingent established last season. Combined with Indiana finishing ninth, that put Florida two points ahead in the team standings.<\/p>\n

“That pressure for the relays, every time we were gunning for the win. It is awesome to see the guys you train with improve so much and it is motivating,”\u00a0Liendo said. “It is really good. We can build that momentum for next year.”<\/p>\n

Cal’s team of\u00a0Jack Alexy<\/strong>,\u00a0Lasco,\u00a0Matt Jensen<\/strong> and\u00a0Seeliger finished third in 2:44.46, with Alexy leading off in 40.79 before Seeliger’s 40.65 closing leg. NC State’s\u00a0Luke Miller<\/strong>,\u00a0Jerry Fox<\/strong>,\u00a0Sam Hoover<\/strong> and\u00a0Quintin McCarty<\/strong> placed third in 2:45.29, with McCarty splitting 41.02 to overtake Tennessee by nine hundredths. The Volunteers saw\u00a0Jordan Crooks<\/strong> lead off in 40.39, two tenths quicker than he went in the individual 100 free final, while\u00a0Gui Caribe\u00a0<\/strong>split 40.96 on the third leg.<\/p>\n