(Photo: Casey McNulty/Sun Devil Athletics)
As the season reaches its climax for Arizona State men’s swim and dive, everything the program has invested in during the year is being tested at the NCAA Championships. Looking to defend their 2024 national title, the Sun Devil men will channel determination and attempt to assert dominance against the country’s best teams.
The night began with the 200-yard medley relay. Most recently, the quartet of freshman Lucien Vergnes, junior Andy Dobrzanski, sophomore Ilya Kharun and junior Jonny Kulow swam this event at the Big 12 Championships. There, the team qualified for NCAAs and achieved the fourth-best time in the nation this season after clocking a time of 1 minute and 21.16 seconds. As the Devils’ final meet of the season began, they dove into the competition with one goal: to defend that performance and kickstart ASU’s final push toward national success.
Vergnes began the race displaying the same versatility he’d established as a newly appointed backstroker. The freshman swam closely alongside the competition and finished with a 21.29 backstroke split. Dobrzanski dove into the water, looking to keep the Devils in contention. After swimming from eighth place, his 23.02 breaststroke leg did little to close the gap between the competition. Ready to lead off the second half, Kharun displayed his reputable butterfly prowess to bring ASU back into the battle for the podium. He managed to tighten the gap and achieve a split of 18.78. For the final time this season, Kulow found himself gearing up to anchor the race for the Devils. The junior maximized effort and strength in a familiar fashion, powerfully pulling ASU back into top-three contention. While Kulow closed in a 17.78, the team clocked in a final time of 1:20.87.
After Florida was disqualified in the race for an early relay take-off, the Sun Devil men secured fourth place within their heat and fourth overall.
In the 800-yard freestyle relay, ASU aimed to defend its second-place finish at last year’s NCAAs. The squad of senior Patrick Sammon, senior Tiago Behar, freshman Quin Seider and sophomore Filip Senc-Samardzic held the sixth-best time of 6:08.54 going into the race.
Sammon laid a solid foundation for the Sun Devils. While Cal and Texas established early dominance, Sammon kept ASU in steady third-place contention as he neared the wall to clock a 1:31.25 split. Behar dove in, ready to maximize his leg and move up the ranks for the Devils. Racing alongside Olympians senior Chris Guiliano from Texas and senior Jack Alexy from Cal, Behar began to fall behind. In a battle for a top-three time, Behar pushed for a 1:31.60 finish as the announcers declared it a two-team battle between Texas and Cal for first place. The Sun Devils didn’t give up in the second half of the race. Behind Cal and Texas, Seider kept it close alongside the rest of the competition, but a gap slowly crept up on ASU. The freshman clocked a 1:33.12 before Senc-Samardzic began the final push. All eyes were on the Golden Bears and Longhorns as they lapped the competition. Despite a final leg of 1:33.03 from Senc-Samardzic, it wasn’t enough to bring the Devils back to the top.
ASU failed to repeat last year’s success, finishing last in its heat. However, its final time of 6:09.00 was a top-10 finish, as it secured ninth place overall and narrowly missed the podium.
As day one of the NCAA Championships concluded, ASU was chasing the nation’s best in points. With one podium finish and one narrow miss, the team’s most defining competition of the season is off to a fair start. The Sun Devils will plan to channel ambition and aggression to attack the best in the nation and secure the consecutive title they seek.
