2023 Pac-12 Men’s Championships, Day 2: Leon Marchand Opts for 200 IM, Goes 1:40.32
Two relays wins on the opening day of the 2023 Pac-12 Men’s Championships Wednesday night put Arizona State in a strong position. But it’ll take depth if the top-ranked Sun Devils hope to hold off No. 2 Cal in Federal Way, Washington, this week.
The teams are battling it out in the first prelims session of the week, with Cal’s depth and Arizona’s top-line talent dueling.
The morning prelims results:
2023 Pac-12 Men’s Championships
2023 Pac-12 Men’s Championships Team Scores
Combined Team Scores - Through Event 5 1. Southern California, Universit 198 2. Utah, University of 146 3. University of Arizona 131 4. Arizona State University 127 5. Stanford University 117 6. California, University of, Ber 72
500 freestyle
Cal is all over the top of the A final, but Arizona State managed to hold serve pretty well.
The top three seeds all go to Golden Bears, led by Lucas Henveaux going 4:11.06. Patrick Callan and Gabriel Jett followed him for Cal.
Arizona State put four swimmers in the A final. That does not include Leon Marchand, who has the fastest swim in the conference this season but unsurprisingly opted for his bread-and-butter 200 IM. Julian Hill went 4:14.68 for the fourth seed. Daniel Matheson is also in the A final, as is newcomer Zalan Sarkany in eighth.
Event 6 Men 500 Yard Freestyle
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NCAA: N 4:06.32 2/19/2020 Kieran Smith, Florida
PAC-12: M 4:08.92 2009 Jean Basson, ARIZ
PAC-12 Champ: P 4:09.49 2021 Trenton Julian, CAL
Name Year School Seed Prelims
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=== Preliminaries ===
1 Henveaux, Lucas GS California 4:17.01 4:11.06
23.01 47.97 (24.96)
1:13.03 (25.06) 1:38.57 (25.54)
2:03.83 (25.26) 2:29.23 (25.40)
2:54.88 (25.65) 3:20.46 (25.58)
3:45.89 (25.43) 4:11.06 (25.17)
2 Callan, Patrick GS California 4:17.92 4:13.21
23.12 48.64 (25.52)
1:14.00 (25.36) 1:39.70 (25.70)
2:05.44 (25.74) 2:31.05 (25.61)
2:56.77 (25.72) 3:22.50 (25.73)
3:47.84 (25.34) 4:13.21 (25.37)
3 Jett, Gabriel SO California 4:17.82 4:13.43
23.24 48.11 (24.87)
1:13.33 (25.22) 1:39.10 (25.77)
2:05.17 (26.07) 2:30.95 (25.78)
2:56.95 (26.00) 3:23.13 (26.18)
3:48.73 (25.60) 4:13.43 (24.70)
4 Hill, Julian SR ASU 4:13.69 4:14.38
23.14 48.19 (25.05)
1:13.34 (25.15) 1:39.13 (25.79)
2:04.78 (25.65) 2:30.56 (25.78)
2:56.48 (25.92) 3:22.19 (25.71)
3:48.34 (26.15) 4:14.38 (26.04)
5 Matheson, Daniel SO ASU 4:17.99 4:15.47
23.42 48.88 (25.46)
1:14.75 (25.87) 1:40.81 (26.06)
2:06.74 (25.93) 2:32.56 (25.82)
2:58.38 (25.82) 3:24.43 (26.05)
3:50.29 (25.86) 4:15.47 (25.18)
6 Forst, Preston JR Stanford 4:16.79 4:15.66
23.75 49.16 (25.41)
1:14.79 (25.63) 1:40.39 (25.60)
2:06.16 (25.77) 2:31.89 (25.73)
2:57.70 (25.81) 3:23.67 (25.97)
3:49.83 (26.16) 4:15.66 (25.83)
7 Gray, Andrew SR ASU 4:15.15 4:16.18
23.18 48.89 (25.71)
1:14.71 (25.82) 1:40.65 (25.94)
2:06.41 (25.76) 2:32.16 (25.75)
2:58.31 (26.15) 3:24.39 (26.08)
3:50.63 (26.24) 4:16.18 (25.55)
8 Sarkany, Zalan FR ASU 4:17.81 4:17.90
22.95 48.41 (25.46)
1:14.58 (26.17) 1:40.72 (26.14)
2:06.78 (26.06) 2:32.88 (26.10)
2:59.20 (26.32) 3:25.71 (26.51)
3:52.11 (26.40) 4:17.90 (25.79)
200 individual medley
Leon Marchand is a second clear of the field in the 200 IM, a big margin by anyone’s standards save his. He went 1:40.32 to grab the top seed in prelims, about a half-second shy of his meet record from last year.
A pair of Cal swimmers are on his tail, with reigning NCAA 400 IM champ Hugo Gonzalez second in 1:41.53 and Destin Lasco three tenths back in third. Arizona State pushed four total swimmers into the A final, Grant House leading the rest in fourth. Not among them, though, is Hubert Kos, the Hungarian Olympian landing 11th in prelims and missing the A final by .2.
Event 7 Men 200 Yard IM
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NCAA: N 1:38.13 2/15/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
PAC-12: M 1:37.69 2022 Leon Marchand, ASU
PAC-12 Champ: P 1:39.65 2022 Leon Marchand, ASU
Name Year School Seed Prelims
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=== Preliminaries ===
1 Marchand, Leon SO ASU 1:38.89 1:40.32
21.38 45.57 (24.19)
1:14.33 (28.76) 1:40.32 (25.99)
2 Gonzalez de Oliveira, GS California 1:42.79 1:41.53
22.71 48.16 (25.45)
1:17.21 (29.05) 1:41.53 (24.32)
3 Lasco, Destin JR California 1:41.28 1:41.83
22.37 47.86 (25.49)
1:17.90 (30.04) 1:41.83 (23.93)
4 House, Grant SR ASU 1:42.27 1:42.32
21.80 47.74 (25.94)
1:17.59 (29.85) 1:42.32 (24.73)
5 McDonald, Owen FR ASU 1:45.43 1:42.94
21.82 46.87 (25.05)
1:18.10 (31.23) 1:42.94 (24.84)
6 Schlicht, David SR ASU 1:43.48 1:42.97
22.35 48.56 (26.21)
1:18.05 (29.49) 1:42.97 (24.92)
7 Polonsky, Ron SO Stanford 1:42.08 1:43.16
22.19 47.48 (25.29)
1:17.54 (30.06) 1:43.16 (25.62)
7 Affeld, Jonny JR Stanford 1:44.67 1:43.16
22.38 48.01 (25.63)
1:17.59 (29.58) 1:43.16 (25.57)
50 freestyle
Bjorn Seeliger matched his season-best time of 18.87 to take the top seed in the 50 free. He’s the only swimmer sub-18. The meet record, set in 2014 by Brad Tandy at 18.80, is surely in his sights this evening, as is the conference record set in 2021 by Cal’s Ryan Hoffer at 18.33.
Jack Dolan and Jonny Kulow parlayed stellar swims Wednesday night into the second and third seed, respectively. Dolan led in 19.13, with Kulow .02 back. Teammates Max McCusker and Patrick Sammon made if four Sun Devils in the A final.
Andrei Minakov of Stanford is the fourth seed in 19.16, with Cal’s Jack Alexy fifth.
Event 8 Men 50 Yard Freestyle
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NCAA: N 17.63 3/22/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
PAC-12: M 18.33 2021 Ryan Hoffer, CAL
PAC-12 Champ: P 18.80 2014 Brad Tandy, ARIZ
Name Year School Seed Prelims
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=== Preliminaries ===
1 Seeliger, Bjorn JR California 18.87 18.87
8.96 18.87 (9.91)
2 Dolan, Jack SR ASU 18.92 19.13
9.21 19.13 (9.92)
3 Kulow, Jonny FR ASU 19.46 19.15
9.16 19.15 (9.99)
4 Minakov, Andrei JR Stanford 19.55 19.16
9.22 19.16 (9.94)
5 Alexy, Jack SO California 19.14 19.22
9.29 19.22 (9.93)
6 McCusker, Max SR ASU 19.31 19.32
9.24 19.32 (10.08)
7 Perham, Ryan SR Arizona 19.39 19.33
9.29 19.33 (10.04)
7 Sammon, Patrick SO ASU 19.98 19.33
9.29 19.33 (10.04)
