ASU dominates, extending leads on day three of the Big 12 Championships

(Photo: Casey McNulty/Sun Devil Athletics)

Arizona State Junior Ilya Kharun grabbed another meet record on the third day of the Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in North Carolina. This time it was in the 100-yard butterfly as he cut through the water and showed that ASU had no plan of slowing down. However, he would not be the only Sun Devil on the podium or with a meet record, as many of the finals on Thursday looked like an intrasquad meet.

ASU finished Thursday by expanding its lead to over 100 points in both men’s and women’s races toward the championship. The men ended the day with a score of 1032.5 points, leading over Arizona, which finished the day at 868.5. The women’s side is a bit closer to the rest of the field, but ASU still holds a big lead with a score of 960.5. Arizona is again the second-place team with a score of 690.5.

Sophomore Julia Ullmann started the day right for the Sun Devils, defending her Big 12 crown from last year in the 100-yard Butterfly. She won the first battle of the day for the Sun Devils as she lunged ahead of fellow ASU swimmer junior Miriam Sheehan, who finished second, putting two Sun Devils on the podium to start the day.

The women’s 400-meter individual medley proved to be even more dominant for the Sun Devils, as halfway through the event, it became evident that the real race was between teammates as juniors Alexa Reyna and Sonia Vaishnani pulled away from the pack early.

Despite Vaishnani starting the stronger of the two, Reyna chipped away with every lap, and by the last 50 meters of freestyle, she pulled away from her teammate and took the win with a time of 4:09.22.

In the men’s 100-meter butterfly, to the surprise of few, Olympic and collegiate superstar Ilya Kharun won by almost a second with a time of 43.77.

This is not new for Kharun as he already set the 50 free record on Wednesday. He and two other Sun Devils occupied the top five with a display that proved why ASU is the No. 2 team in the country and leading the Big 12 tournament.

Even in the consolation finals of events, ASU still dominated.

Freshmen Alexia Sotomayor, freshman Eleaunah Phillips and sophomore Michael Hochwalt won their respective constellations finals. Hochwalt, who is a former Big 12 champion, set a time of 3:40.02 in the 400-yard individual medley, which would’ve given him the Big 12 title this year if he qualified for the race.

Due to his falter in the qualifier, ASU had only one swimmer, freshman Reece Grady, in the final of the men’s 400-yard individual medley. Despite his unique position, Grady closed in the second half of the race and brought second place home for the Sun Devils. He and BYU’s Tanner Nelson fought to the last 25 meters in a race that was decided by just hundredths of a second.

With ASU occupying five of the eight lanes in the women’s 200-yard freestyle, the event looked more like a practice at Mona Plumer than a race at the Big 12 championships. Four of the top five finishers would be from ASU, as freshman Albane Cachot took first with a time of 1:44.58, adding on to her 50-yard free win achieved Wednesday.

The men’s 200-yard freestyle was shakier than expected, but ASU still came out on top, despite Arizona taking second and third. Graduate Remi Fabiani ensured a win for ASU and avoided a sour ending as he started fast and never slowed down, touching the wall for a meet record of 1:31.24.

ASU and Arizona would have a fight in the women’s 400-yard medley relay as Sheehan would take two great turns in the backstroke to start, giving ASU a small lead going into the breaststroke section. Arizona took the lead during the breaststroke and butterfly, however, and it would all come down to the freestyle leg. Cachot snatched the lead back in the last 50-yards and then she pulled away by 0.03 seconds to bring ASU’s women’s team the gold.

The men had a lot to live up to for the final event of the evening in their 400-yard medley relay. ASU graduate Adam Chaney would be up as he started with a 43.93-second leg to establish a body length lead for ASU. From there, ASU continued its theme of the day: domination. By the time Remi Fabiani came in as the anchorman, it was all but done as ASU took first and a new meet record of 2:57.48.

Unfortunately for ASU, the one area where its dominance was not seen was diving, where it failed to qualify for the finals of either diving event of the day. The highest finish ASU mustered was junior Kayden Hayes’ sixth place in the consolation of the women’s three-meter dive.

Day four of the Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships begins on Friday at 8:00 a.m Mountain Standard Time, with the finals planned to start at 3:00.