Sun Devils Shine in High-Stakes Dual, Men Triumph Over Top Rivals

(Photo: Casey McNulty/Sun Devil Athletics)

TEMPE – As the two-day dual between the nation’s top teams comes to a close, the intense competition demonstrated among Arizona State, the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford brought out the best in the Sun Devils and proved they can overcome any challenge.

Speaking of overcoming a challenge, the Sun Devil men prevailed over the nation-leading Golden Bears and the Cardinal, signaling a massive win. However, the Sun Devil women were less successful, falling short to both teams.

The racing began with the women’s 800-yard freestyle relay. Senior Charli Brown, fifth-year Elli Staume, freshman Jordan Greber and sophomore Alexa Reyna finished with a time of 7 minutes and 12.23 seconds to earn fifth place. Although it was a slow start for the Sun Devil women, senior Patrick Sammon, sophomore Filip Senc-Samardzic, senior Tiago Behar and junior Jonny Kulow picked up the slack in the men’s event and touched first.

As the relay’s anchor, Kulow is no stranger to swimming fast with his teammates. However, he believes the Sun Devils have much more to offer when championship season rolls around.

“I think we are where we want to be, and I think it’s really exciting to see how much faster we can get,” Kulow said. “It’s only November, so it’ll be fun to see what we can do come March.”

Freshman Lucien Vergnes continued his impressive performances from Thursday. He took second place in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:42.32 after having no prior experience in the event. The freshman also earned a new personal best in the 200-yard individual medley.

Another highlight was sophomore Ilya Kharun’s dominance in the 50-yard freestyle. Kharun had the lead right from the start and threw down a blistering 18.67 to win by nearly a full body length. To no one’s surprise, the sophomore also claimed first in the 100-yard butterfly, cruising to an easy victory and adding to the Sun Devils’ success.

The final event of the meet was the 200-yard freestyle relay, and the women’s race was tight from the start. Ultimately, the Golden Bears took the win, while the Sun Devils finished third. The Sun Devil men produced a different narrative, and they bested their own nation-leading time to take first.

After the Sun Devils’ performance at this meet, head coach Herbie Behm remains undefeated on the men’s side. While this is an accomplishment for the new head coach, he believes it only raises the team’s expectations as the season continues.

“Now that we’ve done something, we have to keep raising the bar on that,” Behm said. “That’s where it does become a competition against yourself, and when you’re really good, it’s stiff competition.”