Three of the best men’s teams in the NCAA went head-to-head last weekend in Tempe, as Arizona State hosted Stanford and Cal with numerous blistering swims being dropped by the three squads.
One of the most exciting races of the meet came in the men’s 100 freestyle, where Olympic gold medalist Jack Alexy and Sun Devil speedster Jonny Kulow went to battle and produced two of the fastest times we’ve seen in the nation so far this season.
Alexy, a Cal senior who won silver in the event at the 2023 World Championships and was a 2024 Olympic finalist in Paris, put up a time of 41.87, while Kulow, a junior at ASU, was just two one-hundredths back in 41.89.
Split Comparison
| Alexy | Kulow |
| 20.15 | 20.07 |
| 41.87 (21.72) | 41.89 (21.82) |
Kulow had the slight edge after the first 50, opening with a 20.07 split to the feet, while Alexy was out in 20.15 and closed in 21.72 to run his rival down for the win.
RACE VIDEO
Courtesy: poolside perspective
Kulow is in Lane 2, closest to the screen, and Alexy is in Lane 3.
The two of them become just the third and fourth male swimmers to break 42 seconds in the 100 free this season, joining two other Arizona State swimmers, Ilya Kharun (41.56) and Patrick Sammon (41.80), who produced their swims against NC State earlier in the season.
Sammon was in the same heat as Alexy and Kulow in the race video above (Lane 5), clocking 42.00 to finish third.
2024-25 NCAA Rankings, Men’s 100 Freestyle
- Ilya Kharun (ASU), 41.56
- Patrick Sammon (ASU), 41.80
- Jack Alexy (Cal), 41.87
- Jonny Kulow (ASU), 41.89
- Jere Hribar (LSU), 42.08
Alexy, who clocked the same time of 41.87 leading off Cal’s 400 free relay, owns a personal best time of 40.59, done en route to finishing third last season at the NCAA Championships.
Kulow was less than half a second off his PB of 41.40, which was also set at the 2024 NCAAs where he finished 13th. He is also the owner of multiple 40-point relay splits for the Sun Devils, including anchoring both the 4×100 free and 4×100 medley relays to wins and new U.S. Open Records at last season’s NCAAs.
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