2026 College Swimming Previews: #6 ASU Men Vie For Top Five With Strong Transfer Class

It’s that time of the year again. SwimSwam will be previewing the top 12 men’s and women’s teams (and then some) from the 2025 NCAA Championships. Follow along with the College Swimming Preview Channel. Want to read even more? Check out the latest edition of the SwimSwam magazine.

Men’s #6: Arizona State Sun Devils

Key Losses: Patrick Sammon (15 NCAA Points, 3 NCAA relays), Daniel Matheson (9 NCAA points), Tiago Behar (1 NCAA relay), Jack Wadsworth (1 NCAA relay)

Key Additions: HM Noah Mudadu (NV – free), BOTR Seth Crow (AZ – free), Jordan Tiffany (BYU transfer – fly/free), JT Ewing (NC State transfer – back), Andrew Taylor (Florida transfer – free),  Adam Chaney (Florida transfer – free/back), Brayden Taivassalo (Texas transfer – breast), Remi Fabiani (Cal Baptist Transfer – free/back)

GRADING CRITERIA

Over the years, we’ve gone back and forth on how to project points, ranging from largely subjective rankings to more data-based grading criteria based on ‘projected returning points.’ We like being as objective as possible, but we’re going to stick with the approach we’ve adopted post-COVID. The “stars” will rely heavily on what swimmers actually did last year, but we’ll also give credit to returning swimmers or freshmen who have posted times that would have scored last year.

Since we only profile the top 12 teams in this format, our grades are designed with that range in mind. In the grand scheme of college swimming and compared to all other college programs, top 12 NCAA programs would pretty much all grade well across the board. But in the interest of making these previews informative, our grading scale is tough – designed to show the tiers between the good stroke groups, the great ones, and the 2015 Texas fly group types.

• 5 star (★★★★★) – a rare, elite NCAA group projected to score 25+ points per event
• 4 star (★★★★) – a very, very good NCAA group projected to score 15-24 points per event
• 3 star (★★★) – a good NCAA group projected to score 5-14 points per event
• 2 star (★★) – a solid NCAA group projected to score 1-4 points per event
• 1 star (★) –  an NCAA group that is projected to score no points per event, though that doesn’t mean it’s without potential scorers – they’ll just need to leapfrog some swimmers ahead of them to do it

We’ll grade each event discipline: sprint free (which we define to include all the relay-distance freestyle events, so 50, 100 and 200), distance free, IM, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and diving. Use these grades as a jumping-off point for discussion, rather than a reason to be angry.

Also, keep in mind that we are publishing many of these previews before teams have posted finalized rosters. We’re making our assessments based on the best information we have available at the time of publication, but we reserve the right to make changes after publication based on any new information that may emerge regarding rosters. If that does happen, we’ll make certain to note the change

2024-25 Lookback

ASU lost its head coach shortly after becoming NCAA champions in 2024, with Bob Bowman leaving to join Texas. Associate head coach Herbie Behm was quickly announced as the head coach of the program, and his first season was strong.

After the loss of Bowman, many of their top swimmers either went pro (Leon Marchand) or transferred (Hubert Kos, Zalan Sarkany, Owen McDonald), but they still had a very strong season that culminated with a 6th place finish at the NCAA Championships, and a conference win at their first ever Big 12s.

Sophomore Ilya Kharun had a phenomenal year for the team, scoring 48 points at NCAAs with three top 5 finishes. He came in 4th in the 50 free, 2nd in the 100 fly, and 3rd in the 200 fly on top of his relay duties for the team. He was also their highest point scorer at Big 12s at 92 to tie with junior Jonny Kulow.

Kulow brought in 25 points at NCAAs with a 7th place finish in the 50 free and a 6th place finish in the 100 free on top of the four relays he joined Kharun on.

Patrick Sammon was their final double-digit scorer, bringing in 15 points for the Sun Devils in the form of a 9th place in the 200 free and 11th place in the 100 free.

Senior Daniel Matheson and Junior Andy Dobrzanski were the final individual point scorers for the team at nine points and three points, respectively. Matheson was a distance freestyle specialist, scoring in the 500 free and mile and Dobrzanski swims the breaststroke events and also contributed on both medley relays.

The ASU relays were exceptional at NCAAs, finishing top-ten in all five, and top-five in all but the 800 freestyle relay. The 200 and 400 freestyle relays both won the silver medal just behind Florida, and they were bolstered by massive swims from Kulow.

They also won the Big 12 Championships by more than 600 points over the Arizona men to win their 3rd straight conference title.

Sprint Free: ★★★★

The sprint freestyle events are ASU’s wheelhouse at the NCAA level. They had two swimmers in the 50 freestyle ‘A’ final at the 2025 Championships: Ilya Kharun finished 4th to score 15 points, and Jonny Kulow was 7th to bring in 12 points.

In the 100 free, Kulow scored 13 points with his 6th-place finish. They also had Patrick Sammon in the event, and he finished 11th at 41.36 to score six points for the Sun Devils. Sammon will not be returning, but Kulow and Kharun will both be back this year.

Kulow had a great summer, qualifying for the United States World Championship team as a relay swimmer, where he had a few strong relay splits for the team. He also had some monster splits at last year’s NCAAs, swimming 39.93 on the 400 freestyle relay and 17.78 on the 200 free relay. If he is able to find that speed in the individual events this year, he could find himself scoring even more points than the two ‘A’ finals swims got him.

They will also return rising senior Tommy Palmer, who has a lifetime best of 18.87 in the 50 freestyle, which is another likely scoring swim, if he can replicate it at the NCAA meet. Last year, he finished 26th overall in 19.16.

In the 200 freestyle, the Sun Devils only had Sammon, who will not be returning, score points. They currently don’t have anyone else who is within a second of the cutline, and they will likely have a hard time scoring points in the event.

In the 50 and 100 events, they have Adam Chaney coming in with best times of 18.71 and 41.74 as a transfer from Florida, which puts him in ‘A’ final position in the 50 and just outside the ‘B’ final in the 100 free.

They added Remi Fabiani from Cal Baptist as an NCAA scorer in the 100 freestyle, having finished 13th last season. Both his sprint free times of 18.82 and 41.23 should put him in scoring position at the meet this year.

Freshman Seth Crow is coming in at 19.46/44.03, which are not in scoring position, but high school boys generally get much faster in the sprint events through the NCAA season, and he is another potential scorer if he develops the way other ASU sprinters have.

Ali Sayed is another freshman coming in with times converting to 19.50 and 43.01, which put him in a similar position to Crow if he can develop well this year.

Despite the depth and speed at the shorter end of the category, bringing in zero points in the 200 freestyle drops the five-star group to four stars.

Distance Free: ★

This is one of the areas where the team will struggle the most. Their top distance freestyler, Daniel Matheson, graduated last year after scoring in the 500 free and 1650 free.

They are bringing in Noah Mudadu, an Honorable Mention recruit from the class of 2025, to bolster the distance program at 4:16.84 and 14:53.49. He will come in as the fastest swimmer on the team in both events as long as he is able to match those swims. He is coming in over the cutline in both events, and it will take significant drops to find himself at the 4:13.15 and 14:43.50 it took to score last year.

They also have rising senior Reece Grady at 4:16.80 and 14:55.22 as a potential qualifier in the events, but he is in the same situation as Mudadu, where it will take significant drops to find himself in scoring position.

Florida Transfer Andrew Taylor will be a junior this season, and his best times do come in under the cutline and as potential scoring swims at 4:13.10 and 14:37.80. He had an off-season last year, swimming best times of 15:01.05 and 4:17.51, but if he is able to get back to his freshman year times, he is also a potential scorer.

Backstroke: ★★★

ASU didn’t score any points at last year’s championships in the backstroke events, and they graduated their top 100 backstroker in Jack Wadsworth.

They will not be without strength in the events, though. Chaney is huge for the Sun Devils with his 43.99 best time in the 100 backstroke. In 2024, he was 3rd at NCAAs, and then he took most of last year off. That swim would have been 5th this year, which would bring in 14 points for the team.

Jordan Tiffany is a BYU transfer who was slightly off last season but has a lifetime best of 45.22, which would have been exactly 16th last year at NCAAs. He will be joined by Remi Fabiani with a best 100 back time of 45.40, but also added last season at NCAAs.

They are also bringing in JT Ewing from NC State in the 200 backstroke. His time of 1:40.06 is under the NCAA cutline, but is just over the 1:39.61 it took to score last season.

Lucien Vergnes will also be returning for the team as the fastest 50 backstroker last season, though Chaney will take over that honor. His 100 time of 45.32 is just over the NCAA cutline of 45.26 in the event, and he has a year of American training under his belt, and just a tenth drop puts him in scoring position.

Breaststroke: ★★

ASU will return its top breaststroker in Andy Dobrzanski. He scored three points in the 100 breast after finishing 14th overall last season in 51.27. He also swam the 200 breaststroke at the meet, finishing 30th overall at 1:54.13. His best time comes in at 1:51.93, though, which would have been 17th, just out of scoring.

The Sun Devils also grabbed transfers Brayden Taivassalo at 52.28 and 1:52.20 and freshman Gur Johnathan Itzhaki at a converted 51.58 in the 100. Taivassalo is more of a threat in the 200, with his time also coming in at 17th, beating UNLV’s Daniel Nicusan, who swam 1:52.27 for the position.

Itzhaki is coming in from Israel, and while he isn’t converting to scoring position yet, he could do very well with the transition, putting two ASU breaststrokers in the final.

Butterfly: ★★★★

We haven’t talked much about him, but ASU’s fly group will be led by rising Junior Ilya Kharun. Last season, he finished 2nd in the 100 fly and 3rd in the 200 fly to bring in 17 and 16 points, respectively.

Kharun is coming off a strong summer that saw him earn a bronze medal in the 100 fly and a 4th place finish in the 200 fly at the 2025 World Championships. His 100 fly was also a new personal best time, which bodes well for him this season in his race with Josh Liendo, though he was almost half a second back last year.

In the 200 fly, he has a steep mountain ahead of him in Luca Urlando, but he could end up in silver medal position this year with his lifetime best of 1:37.93, moving him just behind Urlando in the rankings.

They will also return Filip Senc-Samardzic, who swam the individual 100 fly where he placed 27th in 45.28, and Tommy Palmer, who finished 32nd in 45.44. Senc-Samardzic’s lifetime best of 44.93 would have qualified 16th out of prelims and Palmers would have been 18th.

They will also bring in transfer Jordan Tiffany, who holds a best 100 fly of 44.51. This would have qualified for the ‘A’ final with his 100 fly time, but as we mentioned in the backstroke section, he had an off-season and did not meet his lifetime bests.

IM: ★

ASU’s IM group is sort of an enigma. They scored an exceptional number of points at the Big 12s, with 131 in the 200 and 147 in the 400. This came as a result of them putting 4 athletes in both ‘A’ finals, taking home the conference title in both events.

That shouldn’t change drastically this year with their top 400 IMer and 2nd fastest 200 IMer, Michael Hochwalt, coming back this season, but that doesn’t necessarily improve their chances of scoring NCAA points in the IM events.

They did lose their top 200 IMer Cale Martter to Georgia, but they retained 2nd place finisher Hockwalt, and 5th place finisher Lucien Vergnes.

Hochwalt would have finished 20th in the 400 IM had he swum his best time of 3:41.40, which is still out of NCAA scoring position. In order to score, he would need to drop almost exactly second to 3:40.38, which was 16th out of prelims.

Jordan Tiffany comes in at 1:41.88, which would still be outside of scoring position, but is closer than any of ASU’s current swimmers.

Diving: ★

ASU did not have any divers at the 2025 NCAAs, and without bringing in any divers this season, it is hard to predict that they will score points this year.

At the Big 12 Championships, the ASU divers scored 99 total points thanks to Lane Stallworth finishing 7th on the 3-meter and 1-meter and 4th on the Platform. They also saw points from Caleb Liban finishing 21st on 3-meter, 19th on 1-meter and 16th on platform, and Carson Christiansen, who was 21st on 1-meter and 23rd on platform.

All three of these divers will be back this season.

Relays: ★★★★★

ASU had some exceptional relays last season, and they are only getting stronger this year, with most relays losing just one swimmer. The only relay they are losing multiple athletes in is the 800 freestyle relay, which was their lowest finishing relay at 9th overall.

In the other four relays, the Sun Devils finished in the top five, and they were 2nd in both the 200 and 400 free relays. They will also return the entire 200 medley relay team that finished 4th and all but one spot on the other three relays.

Here is how the relays looked last year:

The Sun Devil men have a chance to win a majority of the relays this year. All three of their freestyle relays will lose Patrick Sammon, but ASU’s depth in the sprint freestyle events ensures they will have no problem replacing him this year. Fabiani and Chaney are both coming in as potential replacements on the 200 free and 400 freestyle relays with times that could challenge the splits set by Sammon. In both relays, they came in 2nd behind a Tennessee team that lost Jordan Crooks and Lamar Taylor.

The medley relays will also see a huge boost. They will return all four swimmers from their 4th-place 200 medley relay, but they will likely sub out Vergnes, who has a best 50 backstroke time of 20.66, for Chaney, who has been 20.19. The same is true for the 400 medley, where ASU lost backstroker Jack Wadsworth. They finished 3rd with Wadsworth splitting 45.25, and Chaney will be coming in more than a second faster with a best of 43.99. Last season, a second drop from ASU would have moved them up to 2nd behind Florida, but the Gators graduated breaststroker Julian Smith, who split a monster 48.85 on the breaststroke leg.

The 800 freestyle relay is their trickiest situation at the moment, with two of their swimmers graduating. Fabiani and rising sophomore Quin Seider are the next fastest 200 freestylers at 1:33.72 and 1:33.75, respectively, but they will need to find some more speed if they want to finish in the top 10 again.

Total: 21/40

Outlook:

The Sun Devils have some major players coming in with a huge transfer class that will help score a lot of NCAA points, especially in a few events in which they are weak.

The relays will be a shining star for the Sun Devils, and they could walk away with the National Title in four of the five relays, especially if their transfers live up to their potential.

Their sprint freestyle events will always be very strong, and the freshman class they brought in will continue to help boost the program, though they might need a few years before they are ready to take the reins.

Jonny Kulow and Ilya Kharun will be critical in scoring individual points for the team, and if they want to move up the rankings, they both need to be on their ‘A’ game at the meet.

IM and Distance Freestyle are the biggest weak points for ASU, but if they can get anyone over the hump of scoring, it would be key in helping them earn their way back into the top five this year.

Men’s College Swimming Preview Index: