Ilya Kharun, Torri Huske Impressive in First Session of ASU-Stanford-Cal Tri-Meet
Thanks to conference realignment, the annual January Pac-12 showdowns between Arizona State and Bay Area schools Cal and Stanford are no more, but the three top-flight programs are all meeting this week in Tempe, Ariz., with a Thursday evening session followed by a Friday matinee. During the first session, ASU’s men and Stanford’s women were the top teams, with Olympic medalists atop those respective squads leading the way.
The defending-national-champion Arizona State men have seen major upheaval since the departure of former head coach Bob Bowman and promotion of Herbie Behm to the top spot, but they still have elite performers, particularly in the sprint events, and those swimmers led the Sun Devils to big leads after the first session. ASU leads Cal 127-78, and the lead over Stanford is 136-69. Between the Bay Area rivals, Cal leads 112-93.
The team of Lucien Vergnes, Andy Dobrzanski, Ilya Kharun and Jonny Kulow began the meet with a time of 1:21.83 in the 200 medley relay.Kharun, the Olympic bronze medalist in both butterfly events this year, split 19.12 on that leg while Kulow came home in 18.35 for the freestyle leg, even quicker than the 18.51 of Cal’s Jack Alexy.
Vergnes took first in the 100 backstroke in 45.32 before Kharun swam a time of 1:39.60 to win the 200 fly over Stanford’s Andrei Minakov (1:40.86), while Cal’s Dare Rose was almost five seconds back in fourth place. Dobrzanski was the winner of the 100 breaststroke (51.92) while Michael Hochwalt won the 400 IM (3:45.33).
The Sun Devils capped off a dominant meet with a three-second win in the 400 free relay, courtesy of Kharun, Sammon, Filip Senc-Samardzic and Kulow, who supplied a 41.08 anchor leg on the way to a time of 2:46.68.
Cal’s Gabriel Jett swam a monster 200 free, winning in 1:32.21 to beat the Sun Devils’ Patrick Sammon (1:33.30) by more than a second while Alexy touched out Kulow to win the 100 free by two hundredths, 41.87 to 41.89, with Sammon not far back in 42.00. Cal’s Joshua Thai won 3-meter diving (343.80).
Stanford’s Liam Custer topped the 1000 free in 8:49.08, edging ASU’s Daniel Matheson (8:49.26) in a furious finish by less than two tenths. Jack Ryan led the way in 1-meter diving (358.30).
On the women’s side, Stanford owns a 126-78 lead over Cal and a 139-65 advantage against the home team. The Golden Bears are up 144-61 on ASU after the first day.
The biggest name competing was a swimmer returning to college swimming after winning three gold medals and two silvers at the Paris Olympics. Stanford junior Torri Huske took the win in the 100 free in the tri-meet, touching out Cal’s Mary-Ambre Moluh by five hundredths, 47.84 to 47.89. Huske then swam even faster as she led off a winning Stanford team in the 400 free relay, clocking 47.62. Annika Parkhe, Kayla Wilson and Lillie Nordmann capped off the effort with a time of 3:14.11.
Stanford’s Aurora Roghair took first in the 1000 free in 9:28.61, and Wilson topped the 200 free by a half-second in 1:44.81. Caroline Bricker took first in the 200 fly in 1:54.02, with teammates Lucy Bell and Nordmann making it a 1-2-3 sweep for the Cardinal. Later on, Bricker doubled up with a win in the 400 IM (4:08.42), and Bell again took second.
The Cardinal’s Lucy Thomas was the only swimmer to break 1:00 in the 100 breast (59.53). In diving, Stanford’s Laura Burch finished first on 1-meter (288.10) while Maria Papworth topped 3-meter (285.30).
Cal’s women earned a win in the 200 medley relay, with Isabelle Stadden, Lea Polonsky, Mia Kragh and Mary-Ambre Moluh clocking 1:35.28. Stadden, a fifth-year swimmer who has been an NCAA finalist in both backstroke events each of the previous four seasons, clocked 51.33 to win the 100-yard event in Tempe.