Ilya Kharun Leads Arizona State Men to Slight Lead Over NC State; Leah Shackley Shines in Wolfpack Debut
The North Carolina State Wolfpack swim and dive teams are opening their 2024-25 seasons this weekend at home in Raleigh while welcoming elite competition to town: the Arizona State Sun Devils, including the defending national champion men’s team. As one might expect in a showdown of two top programs, the first of two competition days produced fireworks, led by ASU sophomore Ilya Kharun and NC State freshman Leah Shackley.
The men’s meet is extremely competitive heading into Saturday morning’s finale, with ASU up 98 to 88 on the home team. For the women, the Wolfpack own a 126-60 lead.
The Sun Devils set the tone by edging NC State by a half second in the 200 medley relay, going 1:22.40. The team of Lucien Vergnes, Andy Dobrzanski, Kharun and Jonny Kulow swam for ASU, with Kharun splitting 19.31 and Kulow coming home in 18.23 to overtake NC State’s early lead. The team of Quintin McCarty, Sam Hoover, Luke Miller and Drew Salls finished in 1:22.99.
Shortly thereafter, Kharun unleashed a fantastic performance in the 200 butterfly, clocking 1:38.74 to come within a half-second of his winning time from last season’s NCAA Championships (1:38.26). Only nine other men have ever surpassed that time, with only two (Stanford’s Andrei Minakov and Cal’s Dare Rose) still active college swimmers. Kharun, a sophomore who represents Canada internationally, is coming off a breakout Olympic Games in which he won individual bronze medals in both butterfly events.
Dobrzanski had the first win of the day for Arizona State as he clocked 52.26 for the win in the 100 breaststroke while Patrick Sammon swam a time of 1:32.63 in the 200 freestyle to beat NC State’s Kaii Winkler, with the German Olympian coming in second at 1:33.08. Another fiery freestyle showdown went the way of the Sun Devils as McCarty touched out Kulow for first in the splash-and-dash, 18.91 to 18.95. Lane Stallworth topped 3-meter diving (306.53).
Arizona State concluded the day with a monster time of 2:46.58 in the 400 free relay. Kharun led off in 41.56, followed by Sammon splitting 41.29 on the second leg. Following Filip Senc-Samardzic’s solid 42.46 third leg, Kulow finished off with a 41.27 split.
NC State’s Chase Mueller claimed first in the 500 free in 4:15.31, and teammate Hudson Williams finished first in the 100 backstroke (46.40). Daniel Diehl kicked off his season with a 1:43.11 clocking in the 200 IM to take the win. Finally, Hoover and Jerry Fox each recorded sub-42 splits in NC State’s second-place 400 free relay. Those efforts kept NC State within striking distance but unable to bridge the gap on the high-flying ASU men.
The NC State women were led by their dominant freshman class as they opened up a lead on the Sun Devils. Three freshman swam on the meet-opening 200 medley relay, with Erika Pelaez, Shackley and Lily Christianson joined by senior Grace Sheble on the breaststroke leg as they team won in 1:35.94, holding off Arizona State by two tenths.
Shackley went on to have a remarkable day in her first collegiate action, winning the 100 back in 50.40, with veteran teammate Kennedy Noble just behind in 50.82. Shackley’s time was three hundredths quicker than her previous best, the 50.43 from last February that stood as the national high school record. The time would have been good enough for second at last season’s NCAA Championships, behind only NC State star Katharine Berkoff, who has exhausted her college eligibility, and ahead of Cal’s Isabelle Stadden (second in 50.47). Shackley later picked up a second win in the 200 fly (1:55.25).
Pelaez, meanwhile won the 200 free in 1:43.14, her time just off what it took to make the A-final at NCAAs last year. Pelaez obliterated her previous best time of 1:44.91 from last December. Pelaez also anchored NC State’s winnign 400 free relay in 46.76, faster than any Wolfpack swimmer aside from Berkoff recorded all last season. The team of Christianson, Tyler Driscoll, Noble and Pelaez finished in 3:13.10
Also for the Wolfpack, Lisa Nystrand clocked 1:00.40 to win the 100 breast, and Noble won the 200 IM in 1:56.22. In 3-meter diving, NC State’s Ashton Zuburg took the win (288.08). Arizona State’s Deniz Ertan topped the 500 free in 4:40.19, and teammate Caroline Bentz won the 50 free in 21.88.
Please add the winning time in the 4×50 Men’s Medley Relay. NC State’s 2nd place at 1:22.99 would have been #1 in the country coming into today, if ASU hadn’t won. What did they do?