Arizona Wildcats vs. Arizona State Sun Devils
- February 10, 2024
- Hillenbrand Aquatic Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
- Short Course Yards (25 yards), Dual Meet
- Meet Results
- Team Scores
- #1 Arizona State Men def. #23 Arizona Men 227-73
- #16 Arizona State Women def. HM Arizona Women 189-111
Arizona State took dominant wins over their in-state rivals from the University of Arizona, including the Sun Devil men winning all of the day’s swimming events.
With the win, the top-ranked Arizona State men finished the season with a 9-0-1 record, their only blemish being a tie with 2nd-ranked Cal.
The Arizona State women finished their season 5-6.
The meet served as senior day for the Wildcats.
Men’s Meet
While Arizona’s Gage Dubois swept the diving events, the rest of the wins went to the Arizona State Sun Devils, who went 14-for-14 in swimming races in their last dual meet of the season before the Pac-12 Championships.
The Arizona State men had four swimmers when a pair of events each. That was led by World Champion and World Record holder Leon Marchand, who won the 200 fly in 1:39.62 and 100 fly in 44.67.
Those times both came within a whisker of his lifetime bests in those events, missing his best in the 200 fly by .05 seconds and the 100 fly by .01 seconds. Marchand is unlikely to swim either event at March’s NCAA Championships, though he is the defending World Champion in the 200 fly in long course meters.
Also winning a pair for the Sun Devils was Jack Dolan, who topped the field in the 50 free (19.23) and 100 free (42.17). In the 50, he led a 1-2-3-4 Arizona State finish, with Jonny Kulow (19.47), Ilya Kharun (19.56), and Cam Peel (19.65) following him. Arizona’s Tommy Palmer was 5th in 19.91 to cap the Arizona State run.
In the 100, Kharun was .01 seconds behind Dolan in 2nd place.
Kulow (42.18), Kharun (42.33), Tiago Behar (42.21), and Dolan (41.48) then won the 400 free relay in 3:48.20, with their “B” relay of Marchand (41.39), Patrick Sammon (42.34), Cam Peel (42.78), and Hubert Kos (42.51) finishing 2nd in 3:49.02. Arizona’s “A” relay was 3rd in 2:54.61, just .37 seconds ahead of Arizona State’s “C” relay, showing off just how deep the Sun Devils are in the sprint freestyles this season.
That 41.39 for Marchand is a new personal best; previously he had been 41.61.
That sprint depth might be what puts them over the top for the program’s first NCAA Championship.
The team also went 1-2 in the 200 medley relay, again splitting their top swimmers. Dolan was 21.19 on the backstroke leg and Marchand 23.33 on the breaststroke leg for the “A” relay, which finished 2nd, while Ilya Kharun split 19.55 fly on the fly leg for the winning “B”. His was the defining split, as Kulow anchored the runner-up group in 18.55.
The two relays went 1:23.47 and 1:23.72, respectively, but their best splits would have come out to 1:22.62 – which would be a best time for all but two schools this season (them and Cal).
The other double winners for Arizona State were:
- David Schlicht, the former Arizona Wildcat, won won the 100 breaststroke (52.83), just ahead of teammate Andy Dobrzanski (52.86); and the 200 breast in 1:54.05.
- Owen McDonald, who won the 200 back (1:43.14) and 200 IM (1:44.92).
- Arizona State grad student Julian Hill won the 200 free in 1:33.58, just holding-off Arizona’s Ralph Daleiden Ciuferri, who very-nearly gave the Wildcats a swimming win with his 2nd-place 1:33.62. Daleiden has been a 1:33 in three consecutive dual meets; including the last two faster than his time from last year’s NCAA Championship meet. Hill later won the 500 free in 4:23.40.
Other big winners include Hungarian Zalan Sarkany, who took the victory in the 1000 free in 8:39.89. After spending the fall semester training back home, he made his season debut in January with a new school record in the 1000 free. That time was an 8:38.13 against Stanford, which he lowered a day later against Cal in 8:37.82.
He now has the five best 1000 yard frees in program history, excluding splits en route to a full 1650, which would have entries on that list as well.
Other Winners:
- Jack Wadsworth won the 100 back for Arizona State in 47.47, just ahead of Arizona’s Ogi Maric (47.62).
Women’s Meet
The Arizona State women won 9 out of 14 swimming events, including three individual races from sophomore Charli Brown.
Brown started her winning in the 100 back (53.09), which is just .10 seconds shy of her personal best. Her teammate Katrina Marty was 2nd in 53.31, which is a new personal best for her. That’s in fact her second personal best int hat race in two meets, improving upon her 53.44 from the team’s mid-season invite in November.
Marty, the latest of a huge wave of improvement for Arizona State this season, had never been under 54 seconds coming into this season. She’s now done so eight times in the last four months.
Brown got her next win in the 200 back in 1:55.57, more than two-and-a-half seconds clear of the field, and finished her day with another huge margin in the 200 IM, touching in 1:58.18.
Brown also had the fastest split of the field on the backstroke leg of the 200 medley relay (24.83) on ASU’s 4th-place “B” relay. That could give her the chance to lead off that relay at Pac-12s.
Her teammate Lindsay Looney swept the butterfly events, first winning the 200 in 1:53.44 and the 100 fly in 53.57, the latter by just .15 seconds ahead of Arizona’s Maddy Burt. Looney went undefeated in the 200 fly in dual meets this season and has swept the butterfly events at four meets this season.
We didn’t get to see a head-to-head matchup with Arizona’s Julia Heimstead in the 200 fly. Both swimmers raced the event at last year’s NCAA Championship meet. Heimstead instead swam the 200 free, which she won in 1:44.73, and the 100 free, which she won in 48.73, picking up crucial points for her team. That time in the 200 free was only .04 seconds shy of her personal best.
She also swam the butterfly leg (23.01) on Arizona’s 200 medley relay, which won in 1:37.20. She combined with Paige Armstrong (back – 25.19), Maddy Ahluwalla (breast – 27.17), and Julia Wozniak (free – 21.83) to win that race by over half-a-second.
That anchor split for Wozniak is a revelation – it’s about eight-tenths better than her lifetime best in a flat-start coming into the meet. That flat-start time also fell in this meet – she dropped two-tenths to win the individual event in 22.48 ahead of Arizona State’s Erin Milligan (22.54).
The other double winner for Arizona State was Deniz Ertan, who won the 1000 free in 9:42.34 and the 500 in 4:47.28.
Arizona State finished the day with a win in the 400 free relay in 3:16.21, winning by a second-and-a-half over Arizona. That included 48-second splits on the middle two legs from Ieva Maluka (48.81) and Lindsay Looney (48.73). They had another on their “B” relay from Marte Lovberg, who split 48.97. Those were the only 48-second splits in the field.
Both teams concluded their regular season with this meet and will next race from February 28 – March 2 in Federal Way, Washington.
Cal wins the Men’s NCAA in 2024 due to Marsh Magic – BC will surprise!
Stellar article as always! The ASU men can never cease to amaze me with their dominance in the pool, but unfortunately I believe this article doesn’t do justice to the swimming beast that is Owen McDonald.
Owen’s domination in the sport of swimming simply cannot be overstated. His remarkable skill and determination is unparalleled, so much so that innocent bystanders gawk in awe at his aura alone when he walks by. No matter how much Owen basks in the pure light of victory, he is a champion that will always thirst for more. Power, precision, versatility, athleticism, Owen has it all and more! The way he navigates the water with such finesse must be studied immediately. His ability to… Read more »
True!! Thank you for sharing!
Hello Menguin, it seems you know Owen very well. However, can you address the crazy allegations that he moggs all over the other Pac 12 teams? Apparently he’s just constantly mewing and looksmaxxing in the warm up pool and it’s very distracting to people
Thank you for the question SwimmingPagani! It is true that I am blessed to be acquainted with the magnificent Owen McDonald, and to answer your question I believe the mewing meme rose in popularity from people attempting to find methods in order to bear more resemblance to Owen. It is not commonly known but the constant mewing that Owen seems to be performing is actually just his face, and he indeed is the origin of the looksmaxing trend nowadays! Between you and me, Owen has maintained his mewing streak since the summer of 2016!
Ladies and gentlemen, you have now seen the most losing coach in Arizona history to ASU and this history of this team. Busch lite was the first to lose and the first to be swept by an ASU program who nearly collapsed years ago.
Please explain how he is allowed to still run a team and be responsible for all these young men and women? His staff has been nothing but ncompetent and immoral humans who also can’t to recruit or coach.
This is an all alumni call to wake up and see what he has don’t in short time and the legacy he has ruined.
Leon’s lead-off on the last relay was recognized as a peronal best….but not recognized as a school record. Coming into the year Grant House held the record at :41.48 from 2022. This fall Kulow swam :41.44 to set a new mark. That record was surpassed by Leon’s :41.39 today.
A final observation I’d like to express is again on the “depth” idea. The non-scoring exhibition heats held their own very nicely, being faster than the winner in several instances.
- 200 Free — Great race; Hill (ASU) touched out Arizona’s Daleiden-Ciuferri by 0.04, 1:33.58 to 1:33.62.
- The non-scoring heat was won by ASU’s Tiago Behar at 1:32.91, a PB by .36, and bringing him within 0.06 of last year’s invited
… Read more »Women’s meet recap says Looney was 4th in 200fly at Pac-12 Champs last year. She was 1st.
> That sprint depth might be what puts them over the top for the program’s first NCAA Championship.
Is it better than Cal’s? Alexy, Seeliger, Lasco, Jensen, Rose, Jett, Hawk, Bell, R. Jones, K. Jones, Hanson, Quarles, Hatton … The list probably goes on. There’s hardly member of Cal’s crew that doesn’t go at least 42 high in the 100 free flat start.
Who knows what will happen at the end? But for purposes of discussion now, per the Cal website, their top 10 2023-24 flat start swims(all rested/suited from either Minnesota Invite or ASU/UofA weekend, are —
Alexy :41.40, Seeliger :41.41, Jett :42.61, Jensen :42.79, then :42.97, 42.99, :43.37, :43.53; :43.73, and 10th :43.84(Hatton) Does not inclue Lasco whose season best is only :43.99 but was :41.26 anchoring at Minnesota. Top 4 add to 2:48.21.
ASU: Marchand :41.39, Kulow: :41.44, Dolan :41.53, Kharun :42.18, Sammon :42.28, :42.66, :42.80, :42.81, :43.03 and 10th : 43.08(Peel). Top 4 add to 2:46.54.
If we use the PBs of the top 4 for each squad:
Cal — Alexy :40.88; Seeliger :40.75, Jensen… Read more »
Were the teams suited? If so, uh oh, ASU might be getting slower … relays not close to what they went at Cal. Kharun slower, Kulow slower, Sarkany slower, Hill slower, Colson slower … Bright spots: Marchand & Dolan. I dunno, this seems like the wrong direction heading towards NCAAs. Unless! They tapered for Cal, now going back up in training intensity, hoping they can double or triple taper for NCAAs. Let’s see how this goes for ’em.
ASU was obviously amped up for the Cal meet.
Cal was slower last weekend against USC, are you panicking about Cal as well?
Nope, why would anyone be worried about Cal after seeing every NCAAs for the past 12 years?
I swim on ASU. We taper every meet all year long. At least 4-6 weeks for each and every meet. We are going for the septendecuple taper this year.
Best comment on swimswam. Bowman not known for heavy training volume so totally makes sense lol
Justin — not sure you can reach such black/white conclusions on the meet. First, as bad as the conditions were in Berkely, They may have been a bit harder for some in Tucson, depending on what your body is responsive to. There was rain, but not quite as much as at Cal but through most of the meet it was 7-8 degrees cooler. And there was enough adreneline in Berkely to keep the heart going fore than in a blowout in Tucson.
Kharun was 0.26 slower on his Medley leg than his leg at the fall invite, but that means he was still :19.55 for goodness sakes. And his :42.18 100 free was a PB by 0.46, 1.5 faster… Read more »
This take is a bit slow and has me worried.
What you are describing is called “dispersion” in mathematical terms. You can only be fastest at one dual meet, so you will be slower at all others. What a surprise that your fastest dual meet is against your biggest rival indeed.
Most of the top ASU guys weren’t even swimming their best events.
Also, ASU can defeat Arizona with their hands tied behind their backs, half asleep.
So I’m sorry but you can keep worrying.
The temp. was in the mid 40’s and raining! I would say, not bad for those conditions.
I was at the meet. Weather conditions were very poor. While not as much rain as at Cal the temperatures were much colder and this showed in the swimming. Most of the ASU team camped out in the lobby to keep warm between events. I would not draw much in the way of conclusions due to the poor weather conditions for the meet. PAC 12s will be a much better indication of the relative strengths of the teams.
Whoa, 41.39 100 free.
Had to go back and read it again. Yikes. In a dual meet. In probably his 8th best event or thereabouts. Wow.
One other note of interest relates to 200 Medley relay. Breaststroke legs: A – Marchand :23.33; B – Heaphy :23.48 — 0.15 differential
I have encouraged ASU to consider taking Marchand off the 4×50 Medley relay so he doesn’t have to double on the “two event” opening night, so he can swim on the 4×50 free, which was ASU’s worst placing relay last year. By the math it comes down to whether Leon has greater differential over Heaphy in a 50 breast or over whomever is the 4th fastest 50 freestyler.
2023-24 times: Dolan :18.90, Kharun :18.93; Kulow :19.00; Peel :19.41. Marchand did his fastest 50 this weekend at :19.86 …. to the feet on his way to a flat… Read more »
I don’t think this is really up for debate. Marchand’s breast split was like a 22.2 at last year’s NC’s. With Marchand and Kharun firing, ceiling is gold in the 200 medley relay, whereas he can’t make that much of a difference in the 4×50 free, and ASU’s ceiling in that event remains lower.
He can obviously do the day 1 double quite well, if last year is any indication.
Broke Kulow’s ASU School Record, set at NCState Fall Invite in :41.44.