2023 NC STATE/GAC INVITATIONAL
- November 16-18, 2023
- Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, North Carolina
- Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims Finals
- Prelims start at 9:30AM Eastern, Finals at 5:30 PM Eastern
- Participating teams: #1M/#15W Arizona State, #4M/#7w NC State, #8M/#18W Virginia Tech, Army, #16W Duke
- Meet Results
Arizona State raised the collective hopes of a Leon Marchand rested 500 yard free on Thursday morning at the NC State/GAC Invitational, but the result never came.
Marchand was a declared false start (late scratch) in the event, with ASU head coach Bob Bowman citing an illness.
“He’s been battling an illness for the last week,” Bowman said. “He is here and we are taking it day by day.”
Marchand is still scheduled to swim the 400 IM and 200 breast for the remainder of the meet individually.
Marchand is best known as an IM’er, and the 200 IM is his typical day 1/2 event at championship meets, but his incredible versatility has always left wonder about what he could do fully-rested in some ‘secondary’ events.
His best time in the 500 free is a 4:07.81 from the team’s dual meets gainst Arizona last February. Besides being easily the fastest dual meet time ever, it is also the 6th-best performance in any meet ever. Kieran Smith’s 4:06.82 is the record in that race.
With a lot of speculation that he might go pro after the Paris Olympics, the absence on Thursday could leave that longing forever.
In Marchand’s absence, NC State’s Owen Lloyd qualified 1st in the 500 free in 4:16.52 and Arizona State had the top four qualifiers in the 200 IM, led by Hungarian Hubert Kos in 1:41.56.
will Leon Marchand be in the US open in 2 weeks? I know ledecky probably will be and maybe dressel too
He caught his first L and he’s allergic to losing
I don’t consider a declared fall start due to illness as an L.
He was beaten 10/23/23 in an unscored LCM dual meet against NC State, further unnofficial as it included pros. He was :55.32 LCM 100 Backstroke. He was actually third in the race, behind NC State’s Kacper Stokowski, 2022 NCAA Champion, 2023 Silver at NCAAs, and current #1 ranked in NCAA. Second was Hubert Kos, the current 200 LCM Backstroke World Champion.
As the event/meet was unscored, I would not count that as the end of his post-2022 400 IM NCAA Champs college win streak.
I heard he has a virus he cannot get rid of…. if you know what i mean
One of the side effects of travel at light speed is illness.
Heard a rumor he has mono….👀
If so, better now than in March.
Never a good time to have mono.
I’ve seen mono devastate a young swimmers career. She never recovered from it.
Hoping he is OK and we’ll see him.swim sometime this weekend.
Says who
Great point, who said he has mono?
homeboy could still take the W if sick.
imagine trying to go 15m off every wall in a 500 while sick
Now that’s toughness!