Leon Marchand‘s individual NCAA finale came in yet another event he entered already holding the NCAA record, and it led Arizona State to the pinnacle.
Marchand broke his own NCAA record in the 200 breaststroke in 1:46.35 and celebrated a little bit. Then when his team clinched the championship, he celebrated a lot.
“It’s amazing,” Marchand said. “When I talked to the coaches about coming, the team was (unranked) and they told me it was possible. I really trusted them from the beginning, and we did it. I am really proud of all the coaches and all my teammates.”
It was Marchand that turned the Sun Devils into title contenders.
“I am incredibly grateful for all of those who believed when there was nothing to believe in. Through it all, everyone kept growing and the program kept growing,” Arizona State coach Bob Bowman said. “When Leon came is when it took off. He made it happen. It gave everyone the example of what real excellence was and raised the level that everybody was doing, and attracted other people who could help us win this thing.”
Being a part of the team will be something Marchand takes back home to France and into his future.
“I have learned a lot. I think it will help me in my life, not just swimming, the way we worked really hard,” Marchand said.
Marchand’s record from last year’s NCAAs was 1:46.91, giving him a half second drop this year.
Marchand was out in 24.02 to take an early lead over Cal’s Liam Bell (24.18).
At the 100, Marchand was at 50.78 and about a half a body length ahead of Bell, who won the 100 breaststroke on Friday.
Marchand was in control at 1:18.16 at the 150 and got to the wall in 1:46.35 to break his own NCAA record.
“I didn’t feel really fast during the race but I tried really hard to do my turns well and go for it from the very beginning – 1:46 is really good. I am really happy with it,” he said.
Penn junior Matthew Fallon had the top seed from the morning’s prelims, the only swimmer to break 1:50. He ended up second in finals with a strong back half, surging past the field to finish in 1:48.48.
Virginia Tech’s Carles Coll Marti was third in 1:49.99, followed by Bell (1:50.15), Schlicht (1:50.67), Virginia’s Noah Nichols (1:50.69), Indiana’s Jassen Yep (1:51.51) and Brown’s Jack Kelly (1:53.27).
Event 18 Men 200 Yard Breaststroke
=========================================================================
NCAA: N 1:46.91 3/25/2023 Leon Marchand, ASU
Meet: M 1:46.91 3/25/2023 Leon Marchand, ASU
American: A 1:47.91 3/25/2017 Will Licon, Texas
U. S. Open: O 1:46.91 3/25/2023 Leon Marchand, ASU
Pool: P 1:47.91 3/25/2017 Will Licon, Texas
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== Championship Final ===
1 Marchand, Leon JR ASU 1:50.76 1:46.35N 20
r:+0.62 24.02 50.78 (26.76)
1:18.16 (27.38) 1:46.35 (28.19)
2 Fallon, Matthew JR Penn 1:49.36 1:48.48 17
r:+0.63 24.97 52.60 (27.63)
1:20.05 (27.45) 1:48.48 (28.43)
3 Coll Marti, Carles SR VT 1:51.28 1:49.99 16
r:+0.63 24.70 52.78 (28.08)
1:20.82 (28.04) 1:49.99 (29.17)
4 Bell, Liam 5Y California 1:50.78 1:50.15 15
r:+0.62 24.18 51.95 (27.77)
1:19.44 (27.49) 1:50.15 (30.71)
5 Schlicht, David SR ASU 1:50.57 1:50.67 14
r:+0.65 24.81 52.68 (27.87)
1:21.20 (28.52) 1:50.67 (29.47)
6 Nichols, Noah SR Virginia 1:51.22 1:50.69 13
r:+0.64 24.96 53.22 (28.26)
1:21.64 (28.42) 1:50.69 (29.05)
7 Yep, Jassen SR Indiana 1:51.15 1:51.51 12
r:+0.58 25.02 53.35 (28.33)
1:22.01 (28.66) 1:51.51 (29.50)
8 Kelly, Jack JR Brown 1:51.65 1:53.27 11
r:+0.75 25.44 54.25 (28.81)
1:23.33 (29.08) 1:53.27 (29.94)
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Bustos, Arsenio JR NC State 1:52.24 1:50.49 9
r:+0.63 24.49 52.16 (27.67)
1:20.91 (28.75) 1:50.49 (29.58)
10 Sanchez, Alex SR TAMU 1:52.17 1:51.32 7
r:+0.68 25.28 53.98 (28.70)
1:22.72 (28.74) 1:51.32 (28.60)
11 Pouch, AJ 5Y VT 1:51.69 1:52.01 6
r:+0.66 25.30 53.12 (27.82)
1:22.04 (28.92) 1:52.01 (29.97)
12 Reich, Max SR Indiana 1:51.71 1:52.28 5
r:+0.70 25.31 53.88 (28.57)
1:23.07 (29.19) 1:52.28 (29.21)
13 Martter, Cale SO ASU 1:52.46 1:52.42 4
r:+0.65 25.43 53.87 (28.44)
1:22.88 (29.01) 1:52.42 (29.54)
14 Foster, Jake 5Y Texas 1:51.81 1:52.55 3
r:+0.67 24.79 53.03 (28.24)
1:22.32 (29.29) 1:52.55 (30.23)
15 Savickas, Aleksas SO Florida 1:52.62 1:52.74 2
r:+0.68 24.95 53.32 (28.37)
1:22.51 (29.19) 1:52.74 (30.23)
16 Benzing, Brian SR Towson 1:52.71 1:53.26 1
r:+0.65 25.22 53.55 (28.33)
1:22.78 (29.23) 1:53.26 (30.48)
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 18
1. Arizona St 456.5 2. California 360.5
3. Florida 344 4. Indiana 283
5. NC State 259 6. Tennessee 179
7. Texas 175 8. Virginia Tech 146
9. Stanford 144 10. Notre Dame 110
11. Georgia 106 12. Auburn 88
13. Louisville 80 14. Ohio St 79
15. Texas A&M 77 16. Michigan 68.5
17. Virginia 66.5 18. Smu 54
19. Alabama 50 20. Minnesota 40
21. Florida St 34 22. Southern California 24
23. Miami (Fl) 21 24. Missouri 19
24. Arizona 19 26. Towson 18
27. Penn 17 28. Wisconsin 16
29. Pittsburgh 15 30. Lsu 11
30. Brown 11 32. UNC 9
33. Penn St 8 34. Brigham Young 7
35. Utah 6 36. Purdue 5
37. GW 3 38. Northwestern 1
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