(Photo: Casey McNulty/Sun Devil Athletics)
Coming off several fierce performances and record-breaking moments during day one of the GAC Invitational, Arizona State swim and dive channeled ambition and power to maximize its momentum going into day two of the competition.
The women started right where they left off, with first-place finishes in each heat of the 200-yard medley relay. The night’s best performance came from the dominant quartet of sophomore Miriam Sheehan, senior Iza Adame, freshman Julia Ullmann and graduate student Caroline Bentz, who took first place overall. The team narrowly set a new personal best and beat their own school record with a final time of 1 minute and 35.78 seconds.
The men also began by setting a dominant tone, with the team of freshman Lucien Vergnes, juniors Andy Dobrzanski and Jonny Kulow and sophomore Ilya Kharun clinching the fastest time of the event and a new best time as a team. Kharun also swam a 50-yard butterfly time of 18.89, the fastest split in history.
The women’s strength translated to individual events, with two top-three finishes and several personal best times in the 400-yard individual medley. The standout performance came from senior Charli Brown, who claimed second place overall and dropped nearly five seconds from her preliminary time. Just behind her was sophomore Sonia Vaishnani, who finished third and touched almost three seconds faster than her preliminary time.
The Sun Devil men fell just short of North Carolina State University in the event. Still, freshman Michael Hochwalt secured a new career record and second-place finish overall after touching with a time of 3:42.12.
Continuing a string of solid performances, the women took three second-place finishes in the 100-yard butterfly with Sheehan, junior Hannah Hurleman and Ullmann. Ullmann’s final time of 51.56 seconds simultaneously took second overall and set a new school record for ASU, the freshman’s second of the day.
The men continued to shatter records as Kharun took first overall and beat his own national record of 43.85 in the 100-yard butterfly. Just behind Kharun, sophomore Filip Senc-Samardzic took the fourth-best time of the race with his time of 45.35.
In the 200-yard freestyle, the women fell short to NC State and Virginia Tech. However, sophomore Alexa Reyna claimed the third fastest time of the event for the Sun Devils.
It was a different story for the men as senior Tiago Behar, and Kulow took second and third overall, both shaving time off from their prelims swims. Senior Patrick Sammon finished right behind Behar and Kulow in fourth.
The Sun Devil women had two top-five finishes in the 100-yard breaststroke, with Adame claiming the second-fastest time of the event and senior Emma Gehlert claiming fifth.
Dobrzanski took second place overall for the men, dropping time from his prelims swim and achieving a time of 52.39.
In the 100-yard backstroke, Bentz had a standout performance as she achieved her second school record of the night, dropping nearly half a second for a time of 52.39 and finishing fourth on the board.
In the night’s final event, the 800-yard freestyle relay, the women claimed two top-3 spots. The second-place finish came from the quartet of Reyna, Brown, Vaishnani and fifth-year Elli Straume. The third-place finish came from fifth-year Erin Milligan, freshman Jordan Greber, junior Ella Guilfoil and sophomore Grace Lindberg.
With day two defined by many individual successes and shattered records, the Devils must push their limits and capitalize on the momentum to close out the three-day competition on Saturday. As the season passes the halfway milestone, ASU’s efforts to repeat last year’s national success must become more refined as the path narrows toward the finish line.
