Ilya Kharun Splits 7th Fastest 50 Fly Leg in History at ASU vs GCU Dual

ASU vs GCU

• Tempe, AZ
• January 4, 2025
• SCY (25 Yards)
• Full Meet Results

Arizona State swept the events versus Grand Canyon on Saturday, with the #3 ranked men winning 233-66 and the #14 ranked women winning 248-48.

The events were highlighted by Ilya Kharun splitting 19.26 on the medley relay for the 7th fastest fly split in history.

Men’s Recap

The meet opened with the 200 medley relays, where the ASU men took the top four spots. The ‘A’ team of Quinlan Gould (22.39), Filip Senc-Samardzic (24.45), Ilya Kharun (19.26), and Leo Roden (19.47) went 1:25.57 for the win by about half a second over the ‘B’ relay.

Kharun’s split marks the 7th fastest split ever, coming in just behind his own 19.24 split from the 2023 NC State Invite. Kharun has been faster twice this season, clocking 18.89 at this year’s Wolfpack Invite for the #1 spot on the rankings and 19.12 at a tri-meet with Cal and Stanford for #4 all time. Kharun also occupies the #9 and #10 spots on the all-time rankings.

The ASU men had four two-event winners. Freshman Tolu Young won the men’s 50 free in 19.90, the only swimmer under 20 seconds, and the men’s 100 fly in 47.62, a new best time and tenth drop from the 47.71 he went at the Wolfpack Elite Invitational.

The other men’s dual-event winners were Daniel Matheson, a senior, in the 500 free (4:21.69) and 400 IM (3:52.31), junior Andy Dobrzanski in the 100 breast (52.92) and the 200 breast (1:55.30), and freshman Lucien Vergnes in the 100 back (46.66) and 200 back (1:44.95).

Sophomore Ilya Kharun swam the 100 and 200 freestyles, winning the 100 in 42.15. He finished 3rd in the 200 free, going 1:36.22 for his first time swimming the event this season. Senior Tiago Behar won the 200 in 1:34.79, and Jonny Kulow took 2nd in 1:35.53.

ASU also took the top three spots for the men. The men’s race was closer with Patrick Sammon (42.36), Tiago Behar (42.78), Christian Osterndorf (44.01), and Jack Wadsworth (43.79) winning the event by a second-and-a-half over the ‘B’.

100 free champion Ilya Kharun appeared on the C-relay, which he led off in 42.08 (the fastest split of the day). Jonny Kulow led off the ‘B’ in 42.64. Other notable relay splits came from Filip Senc-Samardzic going 42.79 on the ‘C’-relay, and Quin Seider swimming 43.26 on the ‘B’. All of these splits would have been faster than some of the swimmers on the ‘A’.

Other ASU Event Winners:

• 1650 Free: Dylan Gravely– 15:21.71
• 200 Fly: Filip Senc-Samardzic– 1:46.37
• 1-Meter Diving: Lane Stallworth– 315.90
• 3-Meter Diving: Caleb Liban– 311.55

The Grand Canyon men had a few fast swims as well. Graduate student Harper Houk picked up two 2nd-place finishes in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events, swimming 55.26 and 2:00.76 respectively. Junior Alex Volkov took 2nd in the 100 backstroke at 47.17. GCU also picked up 2nd and 3rd in the 50 freestyle with sophomore Guillermo Carrey swimming 20.06 for 2nd and junior Mario Perez finishing in 20.08 for 3rd.

Top three finishing swimmers included senior Sam Jennings in the 200 backstroke, finishing in 1:48.95 for 3rd, and sophomore Jasu Ovaskainen in the 100 fly, finishing in 48.05.

The divers also earned three top-three finishes. In the 1-meter event Andrew Bussman (313.90) and Omar Elsayed (212.33) picked up 2nd and 3rd on the men’s side. Elsayed finished 2nd in the 3-meter with a score of 308.63.

Women’s Recap

The ASU women dominated the meet, taking the top two in every event and the top three in all but one. They started the meet off with the top four spots in the 200 medley relay, coming in at 1:38.41 with their team of Caroline Bentz (24.63), Iza Adame (27.10), Charli Brown (24.16), and Erin Milligan (22.52). This was almost two seconds ahead of their ‘B’ relay’s time of 1:40.21.

Their medley relay has broken the school record four times this season, most recently the day before swimming this meet, but they went with a different order and configuration vs GCU. The normal relay is Miriam Sheehan, Iza Adame, Julia Ullmann, and Caroline Bentz and they hold the team record at 1:35.69. Ullmann ended up swimming fly on the ‘D’ relay, splitting the fastest split of 23.48, and Sheehan appeared on the backstroke leg of the ‘C’ relay where she also went the fastest split at 24.26

ASU also had two dual-event winners. Sophomore Alexa Reyna swept the distance free events, coming in at 16:48.07 in the mile to win by more than 10 seconds. She also went 4:48.42 in the 500 free, 13 seconds ahead of 2nd place Lia Csulak’s 5:01.76.

Graduate transfer Caroline Bentz was the other women’s two-event winner, taking the top spot in the 100 and 200 freestyle events in 48.73 and 1:47.41 respectively.

While nobody else had two 1st-place finishers, there were three women who earned 1st and 2nd place spots, and two of them came from the breaststroke events. Seniors Iza Adame and Emma Gehlert traded off 1st and 2nd positions. Adame won the 100 breaststroke in 1:01.06 and picked up a 2nd place in the 200 breaststroke at 2:14.82. Gehlert was the opposite, winning the 200 breast in 2:13.34 and finishing 2nd in the 100 at 1;01.73.

Freshman Julia Ullmann was the other 1-2 finisher, winning the 200 butterfly in 1:58.82, and coming in just behind Bentz for 2nd in the 100 free with her 50.44.

ASU ended the meet with another dominant relay swim, again collecting the top four places. The ‘A’ team of Caroline Bentz (49.13), Erin Milligan (50.04), Mary Brinker (50.77), Elli Straume (50.56) swam 3:20.50 to beat the ASU ‘B’ squad by almost four seconds.

Other ASU Event Winners:

• 100 Back: Payden Rafferty– 54.51
• 50 Free: Indigo Armon– 23.15
• 1-Meter Diving: Kayden Hayes– 276.00
• 200 Back: Ella Guilfoil– 1:59.14
• 100 fly: Hannah Hurleman– 54.99
• 3-Meter Diving: Mayari Coriano– 254.85
• 400 IM: Sonia Vaishnani– 4:15.87

Grand Canyon had two women finish in the top three, one swimmer and one diver. Senior Aleksandra Wegrzynowska finished 3rd in the 500 freestyle at 5:05.20.

In the 1-meter diving event, Lacy Neighbor finished 2nd with a score of 249.68 for the women, 26 points back of the 1st place finisher.

ASU will be back in the water on January 10th to host Minnesota.

The GCU women will swim again on January 11th vs New Mexico State, and the GCU men are back in action on January 18th vs California Baptist.