Sun Devils Sweep Relays On Day One Of Big 12s

(Photo: Casey McNulty/Sun Devil Athletics)

Arizona State tipped off the Big 12 Championships on Tuesday and quickly set the tone for the week ahead. The Sun Devils broke multiple conference records to prove their dominance on the opening day of racing.

The meet began with the 200-yard medley relay. The Sun Devil women dove into the water in the second heat, ready to race. Junior Paige Armstrong touched first for Arizona after the backstroke leg. When Sun Devil senior Iza Adame dove into the water for the breaststroke, she closed the gap between Arizonas. Graduate Caroline Bentz finished the relay for ASU with a blistering 50-yard freestyle to touch in a time of 1 minute and 35.63 seconds. Cincinnati and Arizona tied for second with a time of 1:36.16.

The Sun Devil men completely swept the heat with their structured relay of freshman Lucien Vergnes, junior Andy Dobrzanski, sophomore Ilya Kharun and junior Jonny Kulow. Vergnes opened up the backstroke portion of the relay with a quick 20.66 seconds. Dobrzanski kept the pace in the breaststroke leg, cutting through the water. Kharun swept the butterfly section with his time of 19.21, and he picked up half a second for the squad. Kulow finished the relay touching at 1:21.14 to set a new Big 12 conference record.

The Sun Devil women looked to keep their winning momentum going into the 800-yard freestyle relay. ASU was the number one seed heading into the race, and the relay squad of fifth-year Erin Milligan, senior Charli Brown, sophomore Grace Lindberg and sophomore Alexa Reyna lived up to expectations. Milligan dominated in the first leg and set a new personal best of 1:44.49 to bring the team over a body length ahead of the competition. The Sun Devils took off from there and were half a pool length ahead the entire race. Reyna anchored the relay, and the Devils earned an NCAA “B” time of 7:04.24.

The Sun Devil men concluded the first day with their 800-yard freestyle relay. ASU went into the relay with the 10th fastest time in the nation, with Arizona right behind at 11th. Senior Tiago Behar and freshman Quin Seider struggled during the first half of the race for the Sun Devils. Seider was racing freshman Tomas Lukminas from Arizona and was swimming from behind. Sophomore Filip Senc-Samardzic and senior Patrick Sammon took over for the Sun Devils in the second half of the race. Sammon struck the wall at 6:08.54 to set a new meet record. Arizona touched over two seconds behind, while Utah placed third.

The Sun Devils established the atmosphere for the rest of the Big 12 Championships and are in favorable standings for the rest of the meet. In order to produce a championship sweep, the Sun Devils will look to continue their relay dominance throughout the next four days of racing.