Adam Chaney will transfer to Arizona State to use his COVID-19 fifth year. Chaney was originally slated to return to Florida for his fifth year but did not compete for the Gators at all this season. Chaney entered the transfer portal as a graduate transfer in January.
Chaney spent his undergraduate career at Florida and last competed with the Gators at 2024 NCAAs. There he was 3rd in the 100 back in a 43.99 as well as 15th in the 50 free and 20th in the 100 free. In addition to his individual contributions, he also was key to the team’s relay success as he helped the 200 free and 200 medley relays to NCAA titles. He also swam on the 400 free relay that was 2nd. The team’s 400 medley relay was DQed.
Best Times (SCY):
- 50 freestyle: 18.71
- 50 freestyle split: 18.26
- 100 freestyle: 41.74
- 100 freestyle split: 40.80
- 100 backstroke: 43.99
The Arizona State men are coming off their first season under head coach Herbie Behm after Bob Bowman took the Director of Swimming job at Texas in April 2024. The ASU men won the NCAA team title in 2024 and finished 6th this past season with 248 points to finish just behind 5th place Tennessee (266.5 points).
Leading the way for Arizona State was Ilya Kharun as he was 2nd in the 100 fly, 3rd in the 200 fly, and 4th in the 50 free. Swimming in the ‘A’ final as well in the 50 free was junior Jonny Kulow.
The addition of Chaney is huge for the Sun Devils as Chaney would have been the top 100 backstroker by over a second this past season. Jack Wadsworth led the team with a 45.01. The team’s 400 medley relay was 3rd at NCAAs but was only 0.02 behind 2nd place Texas.
In addition to improving the medley relays, Chaney also joins a strong sprint group led by Kharun and Kulow. The team’s 200 free relay of Kharun, Tommy Palmer, Patrick Sammon, and Kulow was 2nd at 2025 NCAAs only behind record-setting Tennessee. The four also teamed up in the 400 free relay for 2nd as well. Sammon just finished his senior year so there is a gap to fill at the relay level.
It’s so interesting to see various takes on top programs in the swimswam comments. Whenever an athlete leaves a big program, the commenters hop in here saying that the program is dead and the coach is toxic. But clearly some people think the coach is the greatest person ever. Julian Smith sang the praises of Coach Nesty at NCAAs (despite Chaney’s transfer). Simone and Regan have talked about the supportive environment Coach Bowman has cultivated (despite many comments about him not being supportive of those being cut). The Walsh sisters regularly give credit to Coach Desorbo (despite some transfers and underperformance on the men’s side). Jassen Yep was thankful for the opportunity Coach Looze gave him (despite many comments here… Read more »
BREAKING: Joe Biden will use his COVID 5th year, will return as president next year.
Ugh. Can these covid years just go away.
Best wishes to Adam training with the ASU. Coach Behm is a brilliant and compassionate coach who will continue doing great work! Christos Anesti!
Great pickup for the Sun Devils!
I kind of hope that SwimSwam has articles about someone using a Covid year on April 1 next year. We’ve gotten to the point where I’ve passed being tired of reading about it and just find it funny now.
Wow. If you go by the SwimSwam comment community, pretty much all college coaches (except Eddie Reese, who has been elevated to god status) are jerks, create bad team chemistry, incompetent and/or worse.
Florida is clearly washed (according to swimswam commenters).
It’s nuts. Might as well scrap the whole sport
There’s gonna be a huge news about a recruit going to UF. You heard it here first.
Pan Zhanle?
Ahmed jaouadi