ASU Women Break 200 Medley Relay School Record For Fourth Time This Season In Win Over Rice

Rice vs. Arizona State

• January 3, 2024
• Mona Plummer Aquatic Center — Tempe, AZ
• 25 Yards (SCY)
• Score: #20 ASU, 230 def. NR Rice, 70
• Full Results

Miriam Sheehan, Iza Adame, Julia Ullmann, and Caroline Bentz rang in 2025 with a school record in the 200 medley relay as the #20 Arizona State woman kicked off the second semester of racing with a dominant win over the mid-major Rice University.

The quartet swam 1:35.69, improving the record they swam at the NC State Invitational by nine-hundredths. This is the third time this quartet—made up of three newcomers to Tempe—has broken the 200 medley program record this season. The onslaught began in the first race of the season in October’s season-opener against UNLV. There, they swam 1:37.05, breaking the school record of 1:37.26 set in 2017.

They reset the record later in October, clocking 1:36.17 before hitting 1:35.78 at midseason. Together, they’ve chopped 1.57 seconds from the program record in about three months.

ASU Women’s 200 Medley Relay Program Record Progression This Season

The Sun Devils swept the top three spots in the 200 medley against the Owls—a trend throughout the meet. They claimed the top three spots in seven events: the 200 medley relay, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, and 400 freestyle relay. Further, they added 1-2 finishes in the 200 butterfly, 200 backstroke, 500 freestyle, and 400 IM.

Bentz, Alexa Reyna, and Charli Brown each won two individual events for the Sun Devils. After setting a school record in the event at mid-season, Bentz led the 50 freestyle podium sweep in 22.31, then flexed her backstroke skill by winning the 200 backstroke by 4.48 seconds (1:53.23). As she’s been doing for most of the dual meets this season, Reyna controlled the distance events, swimming 9:52.64 to win the 1000 freestyle and 4:47.03 to take the 500 free. Brown, a senior, began her meet with a win in the 200 freestyle (1:47.28), then swam 4:13.31 to touch first in the 400 IM, the last individual event of the meet.

As Bentz did, Sheehan, Adame, and Ullmann followed up their record-breaking relay performance with event wins of their own. Each won their respective 100 of stroke, with Sheehan swimming 53.58 to place first in the 100 backstroke, Adame winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.36, and Ullmann posting 52.86 for first in the 100 fly.

Sonia Vaishnani (200 fly, 1:58.15), Erin Milligan (100 free, 50.39), Emma Gehlert (200 breast, 2:12.51), and Kayden Hayes (3-meter, 258.15) picked up the Sun Devils’ other event wins. Bentz (48.34), Milligan (49.63), Ullmann (49.57), and Elli Straume (50.15) closed the meet by winning the 400 freestyle relay in 3:17.69.

Megan Phillip was the sole event winner for Rice at the meet, edging out Hayes on the 1-meter board by scoring 254.78 to win. The Owls went 1-3 on the 1-meter board, with Rylee Coyne placing third with 231.45 points.

In the pool, the team’s top performer was junior Ella Dyson, who recorded a top-three finish in each of her individual events. She took second in the 1000 freestyle in 9:53.42 and was the only swimmer to join Reyna sub-10 minutes in the event. She then took third in the 500 freestyle (4:59.56) and 400 IM (4:19.98).

NCAA qualifier Arielle Hayon finished second in the 100 butterfly (53.81) and third in the 200 fly (2:01.19). Finally, freshman Ava Portello rounded out Rice’s top-three finishes by chasing Milligan down on the final 50 yards for second in the 200 freestyle. Portello split a field-best 26.87 on the final 50 to edge out Milligan by four-hundredths, 1:47.93 to 1:47.97. Later, Portello added a fourth-place finish in the 500 freestyle (4:52.18).