ASU continues to set records on day four of the Big 12 Championships

(Photo: Casey McNulty/Sun Devil Athletics)

Arizona State junior swimmer Ilya Kharun saved his best swim for last in the final event of the fourth day of the Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships Friday.

After winning the men’s 50-yard freestyle on Wednesday, the Arizona State junior said at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in North Carolina that he wants to improve his time in the 50-yard freestyle so that he can race that event in the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Kharun took a major step toward that goal when he swam the final leg of the men’s 200-yard freestyle relay. ASU swim and dive head coach Herbie Behm comprised the relay team with the top four finishers from Wednesday’s 50-free: Kharun, graduate Remi Fabiani, graduate Adam Chaney and senior Jonny Kulow.

The teammates pushed one another and swam even better than they did as individuals on Wednesday. Each swimmer improved their 50-yard split from two days ago and won the relay with a time of 1:12.98, a new Big 12 record.

When Kharun touched the wall, he had more than three seconds to enjoy the race before Arizona came in second. Kulow, Chaney and Kharun all set a 25-yard split under nine seconds as they also set a school record. The team was 0.18 seconds away from the NCAA record set by Tennessee in 2025.

“The whole year it’s been internal competition and not necessarily thinking about other people,” Behm said.

By the end of the day, the No. 17 women’s team sat at the top of the standings with 1227.5 points. The No. 2 men’s team has held onto first place since the beginning of the championship and doesn’t appear to be giving it up, as it ended with 1373.5 points. All signs point to a repeat championship for the Sun Devils in their second year in the Big 12.

Senior Deniz Ertan and sophomore Julia Ullmann started the successful day, placing first and second in the women’s 200-yard butterfly. The teammates were competing against each other for the majority of the race, while Utah junior Sydney Nethercutt tried to keep up but had to settle for third place.

Kharun defended his Big 12 title in the men’s 200-yard butterfly in a record-setting fashion. He leapt from the blocks and showed off his underwater strength for the first 15 yards before he began to effortlessly swim in the long course of the butterfly. The next two laps were a display of excellent pacing as Kharun maintained a 25-second split before accelerating to victory in 1:37.70 for another Big 12 championship and a meet record.

Behm was concerned with Chaney’s start in the men’s 100-yard backstroke but said, “After that, he did everything pretty well.”

Chaney approached the wall with little room to turn on two occasions, but he made his early arrival work to his advantage. At each turn, Chaney used his premature approach to give himself a big kick off the wall to further distance himself from his competitors to win the Big 12 championship with a time of 44.13.

Seniors Caleb Liban and Lane Stallworth finished the last day of men’s platform diving with great improvement. Liban improved his score from the preliminary event by 15.95 points and finished No. 10 with 271.30 points. Stallworth was right behind him at 284.80 points, raising his preliminary score by adding 9.2 points. The women had the day off from the championships and will finish the diving competition tomorrow.

The final day of the competition will start Saturday at 8:00 a.m. Mountain Standard Time. The championship races will start at 1:00 with the longest race, the 1650-yard freestyle, concluding with the 400-yard freestyle relay.

“We have a lot of people still trying to make the NCAA’s tomorrow,” Behm said. “Hopefully, we can get it done.”