{"id":598208,"date":"2024-10-25T17:52:49","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T00:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=598208"},"modified":"2024-10-26T06:40:47","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T13:40:47","slug":"ilya-kharun-leads-arizona-state-men-to-slight-lead-over-nc-state-leah-shackley-shines-in-wolfpack-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ilya-kharun-leads-arizona-state-men-to-slight-lead-over-nc-state-leah-shackley-shines-in-wolfpack-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Ilya Kharun Leads Arizona State Men to Slight Lead Over NC State; Leah Shackley Shines in Wolfpack Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ilya Kharun Leads Arizona State Men to Slight Lead Over NC State; Leah Shackley Shines in Wolfpack Debut<\/strong><\/p>\n

The North Carolina State Wolfpack swim and dive teams are opening their 2024-25 seasons this weekend at home in Raleigh while welcoming elite competition to town: the Arizona State Sun Devils, including the defending national champion men’s team. As one might expect in a showdown of two top programs, the first of two competition days produced fireworks, led by ASU sophomore Ilya Kharun<\/strong> and NC State freshman\u00a0Leah Shackley<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The men’s meet is extremely competitive heading into Saturday morning’s finale, with ASU up 98 to 88 on the home team. For the women, the Wolfpack own a 126-60 lead.<\/p>\n

The Sun Devils set the tone by edging NC State by a half second in the 200 medley relay, going 1:22.40. The team of Lucien Vergnes<\/strong>,\u00a0Andy Dobrzanski<\/strong>, Kharun and\u00a0Jonny Kulow<\/strong> swam for ASU, with Kharun splitting 19.31 and Kulow coming home in 18.23 to overtake NC State’s early lead. The team of\u00a0Quintin McCarty<\/strong>,\u00a0Sam Hoover<\/strong>,\u00a0Luke Miller<\/strong> and\u00a0Drew Salls<\/strong> finished in 1:22.99.<\/p>\n

Shortly thereafter, Kharun unleashed a fantastic performance in the 200 butterfly, clocking 1:38.74 to come within a half-second of his winning time from last season’s NCAA Championships (1:38.26). Only nine other men have ever surpassed that time, with only two (Stanford’s\u00a0Andrei Minakov<\/strong> and Cal’s\u00a0Dare Rose<\/strong>) still active college swimmers. Kharun, a sophomore who represents Canada internationally, is coming off a breakout Olympic Games in which he won individual bronze medals in both butterfly events<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dobrzanski had the first win of the day for Arizona State as he clocked 52.26 for the win in the 100 breaststroke while Patrick Sammon<\/strong> swam a time of 1:32.63 in the 200 freestyle to beat NC State’s\u00a0Kaii Winkler<\/strong>, with the German Olympian coming in second at 1:33.08. Another fiery freestyle showdown went the way of the Sun Devils as McCarty touched out Kulow for first in the splash-and-dash, 18.91 to 18.95.\u00a0Lane Stallworth<\/strong> topped 3-meter diving (306.53).<\/p>\n

Arizona State<\/a> concluded the day with a monster time of 2:46.58 in the 400 free relay. Kharun led off in 41.56, followed by Sammon splitting 41.29 on the second leg.\u00a0Following\u00a0Filip Senc-Samardzic’s<\/strong> solid 42.46 third leg, Kulow finished off with a 41.27 split.<\/p>\n

NC State’s\u00a0Chase Mueller<\/strong> claimed first in the 500 free in 4:15.31, and teammate\u00a0Hudson Williams<\/strong> finished first in the 100 backstroke (46.40).\u00a0Daniel Diehl<\/strong> kicked off his season with a 1:43.11 clocking in the 200 IM to take the win. Finally, Hoover and\u00a0Jerry Fox<\/strong> each recorded sub-42 splits in NC State’s second-place 400 free relay. Those efforts kept NC State within striking distance but unable to bridge the gap on the high-flying ASU men.<\/p>\n