After winning their very first Pac-12 title in 2023, Arizona State men’s swim and dive carried that dominance through the following season and are now repeat Pac-12 champions, the last of the conference.
The Sun Devils had a presiding win as they finished with a score of 1036; the runner-up, Stanford, finished with 733.5.
While winning this title, the Sun Devil swimmers broke three NCAA records alongside 11 ASU records.
Those NCAA records include Léon Marchand’s 500 freestyle with a time of 4:06.18. Hubert Kós set a record in the 200 backstroke, which he swam in 1:35.69, and the 200 medley relay record was set by Marchand, Jack Dolan, Ilya Kharun and Jonny Kulow, who finished with 1:20.55.
After breaking the backstroke record, Kós discussed his post-race feelings in an interview on the Pac-12 Network.
"It’s an honor," Kós said. "To break Ryan Murphy’s (former 200 backstroke record holder) record is really, really cool. Everyone knows he is a backstroking icon."
For the third year in a row, world record-holder Marchand has won the Pac-12 swimmer of the meet award.
At the meet, Marchand became a conference champ in the following races: 200 medley relay (NCAA record), 800 free relay, 500 free (NCAA record), 400 individual medley, 400 medley relay, 100 breast and 400 free relay.
He still holds NCAA records from last year in the 200 individual medley, the 400 individual medley and the 200 breaststroke.
Now, under head coach Bob Bowman, the Sun Devils have eight top-5 finishes (which includes every single time they have gone to the championship under Bowman) and three top-3 finishes.
Bowman led the team to second place at the NCAA championships last year, but has never led the team to an NCAA title. He'll have another shot at the end of March.
ASU’s future is bright, as they have Kharun, who is a promising freshman. At the Pac-12 meet, he won in the 200 medley relay, 200 free relay, 100 fly, 400 medley relay, 200 fly and 400 free relay.
Kharun spoke with the Pac-12 Network after the meet about how proud he is of his first season.
"It’s a great honor … final Pac-12s and all," Kharun said. "It’s just an experience … It’s my first year, just happy to be in it (and) be in the moment."
It seems as though Pac-12 men’s swimming has been a conference of dynasties. Stanford won the conference every year between 1982 and 2012, and California won it seven out of the previous ten years, leading up to ASU’s first win in 2023.
The NCAA championships begin March 27.
Edited by Alfred Smith III, Sadie Buggle and Shane Brennan
Reach the reporter at hjsmardo@gmail.com and follow @HenryJSmardo on X.
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