ASU breaks records but finds itself off the podium after day one of the NCAA Men’s Swimming Championships

(Photo: Austin Hurst/Sun Devil Athletics)

At the halfway point of the 200-yard medley freestyle relay, Arizona State graduate swimmer Adam Chaney’s backstroke had his team 0.1 seconds behind Texas, Cal and Indiana.

It seemed the Sun Devils were going to be outside of the podium on the first day of the NCAA Men’s Swimming Championship at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta.

Senior Andy Dobrzanski provided a good second leg for the Sun Devils, but good isn’t enough to win a relay race where each member swims two lengths of the pool. With 100 yards left, a big push from the final two members would be crucial.

When junior Ilya Kharun, the third member of the team, dove into the water, he exhibited textbook form in the butterfly stroke, and speed followed. The top of Kharun’s head barely left the water, and his 18.7-second 50-yard split was the fastest third leg in the pool.

Kharun’s incredible effort propelled ASU from fourth to first place, and senior Jonny Kulow held on, barely out-touching Florida at the wall with a final time of 1:20.56 for his relay team to come from behind and win.

The time set three new records for the Sun Devils: a school record, a Big 12 record and a meet record. The win gave the Sun Devils 40 points and the momentum to stay competitive as the first day of competition continued, winding up in fourth place with 62 points, behind Florida and Indiana, both with 86 points tied for first, and Texas in third with 72.

The 800-yard freestyle relay race that followed left Kulow with little time to celebrate his upset win.

In the 800-yard relay, Texas had a similar comeback effort to ASU’s in the 200-yard relay. The Longhorns came back from third place to win with a time of 6:05.82. Every team but ASU – who sent Kulow, graduate Remi Fabiani, junior Filip Senc–Samardzic and freshman Mattia Mauri to the blocks – improved its time. The Sun Devils’ team added .4 seconds to their preliminary time and finished in 6:08.71 for seventh place and 22 points.

The lack of a swimmer in the 1650-yard freestyle event was a hindrance to ASU in the standings. If a Sun Devil had qualified, they could potentially be higher on the leaderboards. The 500-yard freestyle is another race in which the Sun Devils don’t have a qualifier.

The relay team will have a chance to climb up the leaderboard on Thursday, where it’ll compete in the 200-yard freestyle relay. In addition, seven swimmers will be competing in three individual events.

Sophomore Tolu Young and senior Tommy Palmer will join Kharun in the preliminaries for the 100-yard butterfly to start Thursday’s events at 7 a.m. Mountain Standard Time. The finals start at 3 p.m.