Arizona vs. Arizona State
- February 8, 2025
- Mona Plummer Aquatic Center — Tempe, AZ
- SCY (25 Yards)
- Scores:
- Women: #18 Arizona State, 190 def. NR Arizona, 110
- Men: #5 Arizona State 227 def. #19 Arizona, 73
- Full Results
Men’s Recap
The Sun Devil men swept the swimming events in their final meet of the regular season, rolling past the Wildcats by 154 points. The action started in the opening 200 medley relay, as the Sun Devils went 1-2 in the 200 medley relay. The ‘A’ relay of Lucien Vergnes, Andy Dobrzanski, Ilya Kharun, and Jonny Kulow won in 1:21.88, with Kulow anchoring in 18.13.
Courtesy: Poolside Perspective
Kharun continued his excellent season, ripping a 19.08 50 butterfly split, the fifth-fastest in history. He knocked one of his swims out of the top 10, so Kharun still owns six of the ten fastest 50 butterfly splits in history.
All-Time Top 10 50 Butterfly Splits:
- Ilya Kharun, ASU — 18.89 (2024 Wolfpack Elite Invite)
- Jordan Crooks, Tennessee /Ilya Kharun, ASU — 18.90 (2023 SEC Championships/2025 Eddie Reese Showdown)
- (Tie)
- Josh Liendo, Florida — 18.97 (2024 NCAA Championships)
- Ilya Kharun, ASU — 19.08 (2025 Arizona State vs. Arizona)
- Ilya Kharun, ASU — 19.12 (2024 Arizona State vs. Cal vs. Stanford)
- Nyls Korstanje, NC State — 19.15 (2023 NCAA Championships)
- Ilya Kharun, ASU — 19.24 (2023 NC State Invite)
- Jordan Crooks, Tennessee — 19.27 (2023 NCAA Championships)
- Ilya Kharun, ASU — 19.29 (2024 Cal vs. Arizona State)
Kharun went on to sweep the butterfly events at the meet, winning the 100 butterfly in 44.79 and the 200 butterfly in 1:39.22. The 200 fly swim marked his sixth sub-1:40 outing of the season.
The Sun Devils’ other double-event winners were Kulow, Dobrzanski, and Jack Wadsworth. Kulow swept the sprint freestyle events, clocking 18.90/41.60. Arizona State swept the podium in both sprint freestyles, flexing their depth in the discipline. Notably, after breaking 19 seconds for the first time at the Eddie Reese Showdown, Tommy Palmer swam two lifetime bests in the 50 freestyle at the meet. After knocking a hundredth off his best in the individual event, Palmer, a transfer from Arizona, led off the 200 freestyle relay in 18.88, slicing another tenth off his best.
Courtesy: Poolside Perspective
For his part, Dobrzanski swept the breaststroke events, swimming 52.18/1:53.36. In his final college dual meet, Wadsworth controlled the backstrokes. He swam season bests in both, taking the 100 back in 46.07 and the 200 back in 1:42.50.
While the Arizona men didn’t win any events in the pool, they did win both the 1- and 3-meter diving events. Gage Dubois and Colin Agor placed first and second on the 1-meter, then Dubois won the 3-meter.
First and second place finishes were hard for the Wildcats to come by in the pool. However, Ralph Daleiden Ciuferri placed 3rd in the 200 freestyle (1:34.46) and Haakon Naughton did the same in the 200 butterfly (1:45.20). The team also took third in the 200 medley relay with a 1:25.75, about a half-second from their season-best 1:25.29.
Fresh off nearing his 200 freestyle lifetime best at the Eddie Reese Showdown, senior Patrick Sammon won the event at this meet in 1:32.92. Senior Daniel Matheson also closed out his regular season career with a win. He placed first in the 500 freestyle, swimming 4:19.26.
Freshman Michael Hochwalt swam a lifetime best 1:45.79 to lead a 1-2-3 Sun Devil finish in the last individual event of the meet. It’s Hochwalt’s third time swimming a 200 IM lifetime best this season, undercutting the 1:45.83 he swam at the Eddie Reese Showdown. Hochwalt’s best was a 1:47.06 when he arrived on campus.
Other Event Winners:
- 1000 free: Reece Grady, ASU sophomore, 8:56.65 (ASU 1-2-3-4)
Women’s Recap
The #18 Arizona State women closed the regular season by defeating in-state rivals Arizona, 190 to 110. The Sun Devils used their depth to control the meet, winning all but two events in the pool and logging multiple podium sweeps.
The 200 medley relay quartet of Miriam Sheehan, Iza Adame, Julia Ullmann, and Caroline Bentz—who have broken the ASU program record four times already this season—won the opening event with a 1:36.16.
Courtesy: Poolside Perspective
From there, the Sun Devils continued picking up steam, touching 1-2 in the 1000 and 200 freestyle, which Deniz Ertan (9:41.64) and Erin Milligan (1:46.76) won. Bentz and Sonia Vaishnani were double-event winners for Arizona State. Bentz swept the sprint freestyle events, clocking 22.01/48.69 to win ahead of 2-3 finishes for the Wildcats. Meanwhile, the sophomore Vaishnani won the 200 butterfly (1:57.67) and 200 IM (1:59.09). Both events were podium sweeps for Arizona State, and they swept the top four places in the latter.
The highlight of Arizona’s meet came in the 200 freestyle relay, as Lexi Duchsherer, Julia Wozniak, Riley Botton, and Alyssa Schwengel hit an NCAA ‘A’ cut of 1:27.75 to win the event. It’s the Wildcat women’s first relay NCAA ‘A’ cut of the season; they missed on qualifying relays for NCAAs last season, so it’s a significant moment for the program.
Courtesy: Poolside Perspective
Outside of the 200 freestyle relay, backstroke and diving events were highlights for the Arizona women. Paige Armstrong and Kayman Neal earned the two backstroke wins, with Armstrong clocking a lifetime best 52.89. Armstrong swam a lifetime best 1:56.96 in the 200 back, placing second behind Neal’s season-best 1:56.16.
On the boards, Zara Ayazi and Brooke Earley placed first and second on the 1-meter and 3-meter events, rounding out Arizona’s event wins at the meet.
After helping to win the opening 200 medley relay, Adame and Ullmann won their respective 100s of stroke. Adame won the 100 breaststroke in 59.95, winning by almost a second ahead of Arizona’s Eleni Gewalt. Ullmann, a freshman, swam 51.91 to place first in the 100 butterfly. The time was .26 seconds off the lifetime best 51.65 she swam at the Wolfpack Elite Invite.
Other Event Winners:
- 200 breast: Emma Gehlert, ASU — 2:10.47
- 500 free: Alexa Reyna, ASU — 4:44.54
Ilya has been ridiculously consistent in his times this season. Remains to be seen how much he will drop at NCAAs, but his performances in Paris have me hopeful it will at least be more than last year.
I expect 17+ split at NCs or he missed his taper!
Three great races to look forward to at NCAAs: Kharun vs. Urlando in the 200 fly, Kharun vs. Liendo in the 100 fly, and Kharun vs. Crooks on the fly leg of the 200 MR.
Liendo is sweeping the 100 fly and fly leg of the 200 MR. Not only was he 18.9 last year on the 200 MR but people forget he was out 19.1 in the fly leg of the 400 MR. Kharun and Crooks have no chance
Fly leg of 4×100 Medley:
Liendo was :42.56(19.19) with a 0.05 relay take-off;
At the Eddie Reese, Kulow was :42.80(:19.42), with a 0.11 relay take-off.
The differential is 0.24, with 0.06 of that from relay take-off. Down to 0.18. Fun.
Liendo’s swim was at NCAAs. Ilya’s was at a high end dual meet.
I wouldn’t analyze these facts and conclude Kharun has no chance. Ever so slight edge to Liendo, maybe. Where the Back and Breast legs put them will play a huge factor in race conditions when Fly leg comes.
Kharun has twice been faster than Liendo in the Fly of short Medley(:18.89 & :18.90 versus :18.97NCAA).
Khaurn’s weakness is his normal start, which is why he has such crazy relay splits. Not a huge issue in the 200fly, but will put him at a deficient against Liendo in the 100fly, and everybody in the 50 free.
Bro forgot the fastest swimmer in the country in 100 fly
Sammon’s 200 Free PB is actually 1:31.82 from 2023 Pac-12, not his 1:31.85 from Eddie Reese.
He’s been pretty consistent at this range, as he was 1:31.87 at both Pac-12 (Champion) and NCAA in 2024.
The second tier guys at ASU – Palmer, Wadsworth, and Dobrzanski – looking really good. Excited to see them in the championship season.
They’re swimming really well but let’s see how much they drop at ACCs/NCAAs. They obviously swim really well in season but based upon last year, they don’t drop much when rested.
They dropped enough for the objective, didn’t they.
Video on poolside
Swimflation just going nuts at this point. ASU only 3 tenths off what was until recently a legendary 14 year old record in 200 free relay at a low stakes dual meet in February. Oy vey
And the automatic 19.0, 18.0 back half of their medley relay.
“Oy vey.” I don’t know what it means but it sounds cool!! Thanks, Riley!