Sun Devil men dominate while women fall short in split with No. 7/No. 16 Trojans

(Photo via Xavier Litman/WCSN

On Saturday, the No. 1/No. 21-ranked Sun Devil swimmers took on the No. 16/No. 7 USC Trojans in Tempe. The men took care of business, winning 208-92, while the women fell 189-111 despite a strong effort.

With every meet, it is becoming more evident that there is something special to watch in both the men’s and women’s teams. Friday, both teams swam up to par with what head coach Bob Bowman expected, especially the women who also competed on Friday.

“I’m pretty happy with it,” Bowman said. “We had good energy through the whole meet, swam comparably to what we did yesterday or a little bit better on the women’s side,” Bowman said. “I’m very happy with it.”

There’s no question that junior Léon Marchand is one of the premier swimmers in the world, but just when Sun Devil fans thought he couldn’t break more records, Marchand broke the 100-yard butterfly school record with a time of 44.66 seconds. That was the highlight of Marchand’s stellar day, as he would also take first in the 200 and 100 breaststroke, winning the latter with a time of 51.96, the best time in the country.

Also on the men’s side, Hungarian sophomore Hubert Kós had an excellent day for ASU. In the 100 backstroke, he swam a season-best 45.99. Bowman has emphasized improvements in technique as he adjusts to collegiate short course events. Friday, Kós showed great improvements.

“With me being Hungarian and coming from a different system, I’ve had to really focus on my turns and underwaters,” Kós said. “That really showed today that I put in the effort, and I was able to do a couple good ones.”

Kós also took first on Saturday in the 200 backstroke and the 200 IM. After the meet, Kós cited his pre-meet music as the motor behind his success.

“Christmas music, that’s my thing,” Kós said. “I don’t even know when I started that, but it’s been a big part of my success.”

In the Sun Devils’ 200 medley relay, graduate swimmer Jack Dolan, Marchand, freshman Ilya Kharun and sophomore Jonny Kulow led off the meet with a 1:22.37 time. ASU took first and second in the event. Impressive has become the new normal for the Sun Devil men as they close out their long home stand to start the season.

The Sun Devil women came into Saturday’s meet on a back-to-back after a win over No. 23 UCLA on Friday. A loss wasn’t the desired outcome, but they continue to impress and show the strides they’ve made this season.

“There’s great potential, and I am so excited about the women,” Bowman said. “It’s just really fun to be here now and see them going for it. USC has a very talented team, and I thought we raced them pretty tough.”

One standout from Saturday’s meet was sophomore Deniz Ertan, who put up a personal best in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 9:33.07. The time was also the second fastest in school history. Ertan also raced in a close 500 freestyle race, where she emerged victorious with a season-best time of 4:42.01.

“Yesterday and today, I did the hardest events with the 1000 and 500 free,” Ertan said. “It’s always hard to do long distance back-to-back, but with the practices and hard work, I can always be confident and motivate myself.”

After starting the first few months of the young season at home, ASU will now begin a long stretch of away meets through the heart of the season into 2024. Expectations continue to rise for the Sun Devils as they focus on improving every day to compete for a Pac-12 and NCAA championship.

“We don’t ever talk about winning a championship. We talk about what it takes to be a champion,” Bowman said. “Everyone is telling them how great they are, but we’re telling them, ‘Hey, you can do this better.’ That’s how you eventually get to a good level.”