Leon Marchand Earns Third Straight Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year Nod

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Leon Marchand Earns Third Straight Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year Nod

Arizona State star Leon Marchand was named the Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year for the third straight year, the conference revealed Thursday in its postseason men’s swimming awards.

The NCAA champion Sun Devils made a clean sweep on the swimming side of things, with Canadian international Ilya Kharun as the freshman of the year and (now former) head coach Bob Bowman the Coach of the Year.

Stanford had the diver and the diving coach of the year in Jack Ryan and Patrick Jeffrey. Arizona’s Gage DuBois was the top freshman diver.

Men’s Swimmer of the Year: Leon Marchand, Arizona State
Men’s Freshman Swimmer of the Year: Ilya Kharun, Arizona State
Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year: Bob Bowman, Arizona State
Men’s Diver of the Year: Jack Ryan, Stanford
Men’s Freshman Diver of the Year: Gage Dubois, Arizona
Men’s Diving Coach of the Year: Patrick Jeffrey, Stanford

Marchand won the award for the third straight year, the irrepressible Frenchman coming off another record-breaking NCAAs. He won all three of his individual events – the 500 freestyle, 200 breaststroke and 400 individual medley – and led Arizona State to wins in the 400 medley and 400 free relays.

Marchand re-set records in the 500 free and the 200 breast at NCAAs and briefly held the 200 free NCAA record. The relay wins were the first in program history for the Sun Devils, as was the team title.

Pac-12 Swimming News

Kharun capped a stellar freshman season by winning the 200 butterfly at NCAAs. He was part of the Sun Devils’ 200 medley relay NCAA record at Pac-12s. He was on the winning 400 medley relay that was ASU’s first. Kharun also finished 12th in the 50 free and fifth in the 100 fly. He was on relays that finished third in the 200 free and second in the 200 medley.

Bowman led Arizona State to a 9-0-1 record. After last year’s runner-up finish at NCAAs, they leapt to a first national title this year. They also won a Pac-12 title with the second-highest winner margin in conference history. He’s the first coach not named Dave Durden to win the award since 2017. Bowman was hired on Monday to be the new head coach at the University of Texas.

Ryan scored on both springboards at NCAAs, the junior and American national teamer finishing fourth on 1-meter and third on 3-meter. He had swept both springboard events at Pac-12s, including with the top 1-meter score in the country of the regular season. Ryan had been the Freshman Diver of the Year in 2022.

It’s a path that Dubois is looking to follow. The Arizona freshman, who medically redshirted last year, finished second on platform at Pac-12s, third on 1-meter and fifth on 3-meter. The only Arizona diver at NCAAs, he finished sixth on 1-meter, one of just three Pac-12 divers to make a championship final at the national meet.

Jeffrey’s divers scored 68 points at the Pac-12 Championships, with Ryan as the leader. Hunter Hollenbeck also made two championship finals at the conference meet and qualified for NCAAs.

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