Edit: Corrected because Bowman took over in 2015, not 2016 as originally stated.
While there have been a few sour grapes wafting out of Tempe about the abrupt departure of head coach Bob Bowman just two days after leading the men’s team to its first NCAA Championship in swimming & diving, in 8 seasons* Bowman essentially re-wrote the swimming & diving program’s record books in almost every conceivable way.
*Bowman was head coach at Arizona State for 8 collegiate seasons, plus the year where he redshirted his entire team
When Bowman took over, the program was 8 years removed from the athletics department attempting to discontinue the program before a massive fundraising effort saved it. In Bowman’s first season, the team broke four of five men’s relay records.
Another 8 years on, that program, especially on the men’s side, is almost unrecognizable, with two-straight Pac-12 titles and an NCAA Championship in their trophy case.
Only one swim in the men’s program’s all-time top 10 performances (not performers) is from earlier than 2020, and that’s Scott Brackett’s 1984 swim in the 1000 free that ranks 8th (in a non-NCAA Championship event).
While the women’s program didn’t make quite that same level of progress, they too have seen a lot of progress in a lot of events.
Men’s Record Progressions:
| 2016 Record | 2016 Record Holder | Current Record | Current Record Holder | Improvement |
Current Top 10 performances
|
|
| 50 free | 19.32 | Francisco Sanchez (1996) | 18.59 | Jack Dolan | -0.73 | 18.9 |
| 100 free | 42.82 | Francisco Sanchez (1996) | 40.28 | Leon Marchand | -2.54 | 41.53 |
| 200 free | 1:33.73 | Troy Dalbey (1991) | 1:28.97 | Leon Marchand | -4.76 | 1:31.51 |
| 500 free | 4:17.83 | Christiano Michelena (1993) | 4:02.31 | Leon Marchand | -15.52 | 4:12.55 |
| 1000 free | 8:57.64 | Scott Brackett (1984) | 8:37.82 | Zalan Sarkany | -19.82 | 8:58.58 |
| 1650 free | 14:55.54 | Gal Nevo (2006) | 14:23.01 | Zalan Sarkany | -32.54 | 14:48.52 |
| 100 back | 47.16 | Richard Bohus (2014) | 43.75 | Hubert Kos | -3.41 | 44.58 |
| 200 back | 1:42.50 | Barkley Perry (2015) | 1:35.69 | Hubert Kos | -6.81 | 1:38.49 |
| 100 breast | 53.21 | Thibaut Capitaine (2013) | 50.65 (split) | Leon Marchand | -2.56 | 52.21 |
| 200 breast | 1:55.07 | Thibaut Capitaine (2014) | 1:46.35 | Leon Marchand | -8.72 | 1:50.39 |
| 100 fly | 46.1 | Tadas Duskinas (2014) | 44.26 | Ilya Kharun | -1.84 | 44.72 |
| 200 fly | 1:43.72 | Alex Coci (2013) | 1:37.93 | Ilya Kharun | -5.79 | 1:39.92 |
| 200 IM | 1:42.72 | Attila Czene (2000) | 1:36.34 | Leon Marchand | -6.38 | 1:39.23 |
| 400 IM | 3:44.51 | CJ Nuess (2008) | 3:28.82 | Leon Marchand | -15.69 | 3:35.27 |
| 200 free relay | 1:18.32 | 1997 | 1:13.95 | 2024 | -4.37 | |
| 400 free relay | 2:54.03 | 1998 | 2:44.23 | 2024 | -9.80 | |
| 800 free relay | 6:24.73 | 2000 | 6:04.95 | 2024 | -19.78 | |
| 200 medley relay | 1:25.72 | 2014 | 1:20.55 | 2024 | -5.17 | |
| 400 medley relay | 3:09.71 | 2014 | 2:57.32 | 2024 | -12.39 |
Women’s Record Progressions:
| 2016 Record | 2016 Record Holder | Current Record | Current Record Holder | Improvement |
Current Top 10 performances
|
|
| 50 free | 22.07 | Caitlin Andrew (2008) | Same | Same | Same | 22.07 |
| 100 free | 48.34 | Caitlin Andrew (2008) | Same | Same | Same | 48.83 |
| 200 free | 1:44.35 | Shannon Landgrebe (2012) | 1:43.45 | Emma Nordin | -0.9 | 1:44.15 |
| 500 free | 4:41.08 | Tristin Baxter (2013) | 4:33.74 | Emma Nordin | -7.34 | 4:37.39 |
| 1000 free | 9:43.49 | Tristin Baxter (2012) | 9:30.44 | Emma Nordin | -13.05 | 9:38.52 |
| 1650 free | 16:02.60 | Tristin Baxter (2012) | 15:47.15 | Emma Nordin | -15.45 | 16:02.60 |
| 100 back | 52.66 | Kelli Kyle (2012) | 52.58 | Charli Brown | -0.08 | 53.25 |
| 200 back | 1:55.78 | Jamie Martinez (2009) | 1:54.33 | Charli Brown | -1.45 | 1:55.84 |
| 100 breast | 58.9 | Rebecca Ejdervik (2011) | 58.44 | Silja Kansakoski | -0.46 | 59.34 |
| 200 breast | 2:07.64 | Agnes Kovacs (2002) | 2:06.41 | Silja Kansakoski | -1.23 | 2:08.31 |
| 100 fly | 51.68 | Caitlin Andrew (2008) | Same | Same | Same | 52.65 |
| 200 fly | 1:56.14 | Ashton Aubry (2009) | 1:52.14 | Lindsay Looney | -4 | 1:53.42 |
| 200 IM | 1:57.70 | Alex Popa (2013) | 1:54.43 | Ieva Maluka | -3.27 | 1:57.29 |
| 400 IM | 4:10.20 | Mattie Kukors (2012) | 4:07.65 | Marlies Ross | -2.55 | 4:11.05 |
| 200 free relay | 1:29.60 | 2008 | 1:29.35 | 2018 | -0.25 | |
| 400 free relay | 3:15.96 | 2008 | 3:13.52 | 2024 | -2.44 | |
| 800 free relay | 7:04.19 | 2012 | 6:57.06 | 2024 | -7.13 | |
| 200 medley relay | 1:37.42 | 2011 | 1:37.26 | 2019 | -0.16 | |
| 400 medley relay | 3:31.52 | 2012 | Same | Same | Same |
I would bet that most team records are faster in the same time period.
1:33 in 1991 is just nasty
Well, Troy had won the US Olympic Trials in ’88 over Biondi.
You may already know this, but Rowdy was the first American to go under 1:34 in 1981. I’m unsure if he was also the first in the NCAA.
Joe B, you must have something against college swimming, as no college sport is above a professional level. NCAA Champions is what all college athletics strive for… it is why they compete and for most athletes, they never will again at that level.
Now you are writing about school records? Give it a rest. Now matter how much you propagandize, Bob Bowman didn’t invent championship swimming at the NCAA level. And he doesn’t walk on water.
ASU – a dynasty of one.
Imagine being saturated with so much swim media that you request of a media source to STOP publishing articles on one of the hottest coaches in the country.
One of the hottest coaches in the country? Can’t argue. Especially, since you qualified it to ”country” and not the world. Outside the ”sea to shining sea,” the NCAAs is an afterthought. It’s short course. Even worse, it’s yards. When it comes to world aquatics, the NCAAs is minor league baseball, the NBA G-League, the XFL. Even U.S. television thinks so. The NCAAS is not ESPN, or ESPN2. It is ESPN+, the bottom-feeder of pay-per-view. So, too, does ncaa.com. Has the sport’s own governing body posted any videos of the men’s and women’s 2024 DI meet on its site, since both were so ”historic?” No? Wonder why?
Wasn’t it enoug that every ASU practice was written about? OK. That’s an… Read more »
JoeB — A bit of history on some of the 2016 (and before) record holders at ASU is appropriate here. Several of the names on the 2016 record listings were quite relevant in their time.
It seems to me the 2016 v current record board comparison simply reflets the still continuing nature of the sport, in that it, not just particularly ASU, keeps improving. I suspect maybe 50% of the colleges in the country would have similar comparitive advancement of their school records from a decade earlier, albeit possibly not by quite the same margins.
The current board carries a characteristic which strikes me as suggesting an “Aces & spaces” weakness, which was not really present; 13 of the… Read more »
The women’s 50 free Top 10 performance time should be 22.36, not 22.07. I wish they had their top 10 performers listed online because top 10 performances can be skewed by one fast person who swims the event a lot. For example, Lindsay Looney has every top 10 performance in the 200 fly. While it shows her domination, it doesn’t necessarily demonstrate the depth of the program (which I think is there and should be highlighted).
Agree; both perspectives useful.
Meanwhile, down south, their rival has moved in a completely different direction over this same period of time. Sad.
Amazing how old some of those records were. The 1000 being old (maybe not 1984 old) makes some sense, but some of those freestyle records being 25 years old is kind of surprising.
Agree that Coach Bowman transformed ASU swimming, especially men’s swimming. With Bob choosing to move on to Texas, all us ASU fans must give new head coach Herbie all our support and continue the tradition of top ranked swimming teams. I have some ideas on how swimmers, alumni, fans can help accomplish this that I will post separately.