Pac-12 Men’s Championships, Day 2 Prelims: Leon Marchand Opts for 500, Grabs 2nd Seed

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Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Pac-12 Men’s Championships, Day 2 Prelims: Leon Marchand Opts for 500, Grabs 2nd Seed

There are no shortage of options for Leon Marchand when it comes to events to swim at a meet like the Pac-12 Men’s Championships. So with an A cut already solidified in the even in which he holds the NCAA record, the 200 individual medley, and his Arizona State team possessing sufficient depth in that event, Marchand made a change in his program Thursday, the first full day of the conference championships at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.

Marchand opted for the 500 freestyle, and he eased through prelims with a time of 4:12.56 that gives him the second seed behind teammate Zalan Sarkany. It’s the only event of three in the morning session in which the Sun Devils did not record a 1-2-3 finish.

Pac-12 Men’s Championships Team Scores

Through Event 5                      
  1. University of Southern Calif      183   2. University of California-Berk     175
  3. University of Arizona             154   4. Arizona State University          150
  5. Stanford University               106   6. University of Utah                 75

500 freestyle

Zalan Sarkany led the way with a time of 4:12.28, a season-best. He’s just .28 ahead of Leon Marchand. That is Sarkany’s best time in the three semesters he’s been in college. Marchand went 4:07.81 last year, a Pac-12 record. Arizona State earned two other A final spots, with Julian Hill fifth and Daniel Matheson seventh.

With many of Cal’s big guns opting for the Pro Swim Series this week, it would seem there’s little impeding Arizona State storming to a title. Cal’s Tyler Kopp finished third in 4:14.96, a massive drop of more than five seconds for him. Rex Maurer of Stanford was fourth, teammate Preston Forst sixth and Henry McFadden eighth.

 Event 6  Men 500 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 4:06.32  2/19/2020 Kieran Smith, Florida
       PAC-12: M 4:07.81  2023      Leon Marchand, ASU
 PAC-12 Champ: P 4:09.49  2021      Trenton Julian, CAL
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Sarkany, Zalan         SO ASU               4:12.45    4:12.28  
                 22.52        47.09 (24.57)
        1:12.36 (25.27)     1:37.89 (25.53)
        2:03.46 (25.57)     2:29.27 (25.81)
        2:55.07 (25.80)     3:20.85 (25.78)
        3:46.74 (25.89)     4:12.28 (25.54)
  2 Marchand, Leon         JR ASU               4:14.34    4:12.56  
                 22.38        48.00 (25.62)
        1:14.03 (26.03)     1:40.09 (26.06)
        2:06.18 (26.09)     2:30.93 (24.75)
        2:56.16 (25.23)     3:21.43 (25.27)
        3:47.00 (25.57)     4:12.56 (25.56)
  3 Kopp, Tyler            SR CAL               4:20.64    4:14.96  
                 23.78        49.23 (25.45)
        1:14.93 (25.70)     1:40.71 (25.78)
        2:06.53 (25.82)     2:32.57 (26.04)
        2:58.27 (25.70)     3:24.02 (25.75)
        3:49.76 (25.74)     4:14.96 (25.20)
  4 Maurer, Rex            FR STAN              4:11.88    4:15.62  
                 22.94        48.15 (25.21)
        1:13.74 (25.59)     1:39.62 (25.88)
        2:05.52 (25.90)     2:31.55 (26.03)
        2:57.66 (26.11)     3:23.87 (26.21)
        3:50.20 (26.33)     4:15.62 (25.42)
  5 Hill, Julian           SR ASU               4:12.37    4:15.79  
                 23.03        48.67 (25.64)
        1:14.57 (25.90)     1:40.80 (26.23)
        2:06.93 (26.13)     2:33.00 (26.07)
        2:58.72 (25.72)     3:24.33 (25.61)
        3:50.10 (25.77)     4:15.79 (25.69)
  6 Forst, Preston         SR STAN              4:17.04    4:16.31  
                 23.64        49.33 (25.69)
        1:15.34 (26.01)     1:41.29 (25.95)
        2:07.18 (25.89)     2:33.19 (26.01)
        2:59.18 (25.99)     3:24.84 (25.66)
        3:50.50 (25.66)     4:16.31 (25.81)
  7 Matheson, Daniel       JR ASU               4:14.91    4:16.40  
                 23.34        48.82 (25.48)
        1:14.70 (25.88)     1:40.65 (25.95)
        2:06.70 (26.05)     2:32.83 (26.13)
        2:58.66 (25.83)     3:24.57 (25.91)
        3:50.57 (26.00)     4:16.40 (25.83)
  8 McFadden, Henry        FR STAN              4:17.52    4:16.61  
                 23.28        48.73 (25.45)
        1:14.77 (26.04)     1:40.99 (26.22)
        2:07.27 (26.28)     2:33.48 (26.21)
        2:59.61 (26.13)     3:25.84 (26.23)
        3:51.70 (25.86)     4:16.61 (24.91)

200 individual medley

No Marchand, no problem for ASU. Owen McDonald secured the top seed in 1:40.37. He was followed by Hubert Kos in 1:41.33, then David Schlicht in third. Fifth went to Cale Martter.

Stanford had three A finalists, led by Rick Mihm in fourth. Sean Swift got Cal a lane in the final in eighth.

 Event 7  Men 200 Yard IM
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:36.34  3/23/2023 Leon Marchand, Arizona State
       PAC-12: M 1:36.34  2023      Leon Marchand, ASU
 PAC-12 Champ: P 1:37.81  3/2/2023  Leon Marchand, ASU
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 McDonald, Owen         SO ASU               1:41.60    1:40.57  
                 21.59        45.80 (24.21)
        1:16.12 (30.32)     1:40.57 (24.45)
  2 Kos, Hubert            SO ASU               1:39.26    1:41.33  
                 21.24        45.91 (24.67)
        1:16.04 (30.13)     1:41.33 (25.29)
  3 Schlicht, David        SR ASU               1:42.25    1:42.02  
                 21.94        47.93 (25.99)
        1:16.87 (28.94)     1:42.02 (25.15)
  4 Mihm, Rick             SR STAN              1:43.68    1:42.69  
                 22.20        47.31 (25.11)
        1:16.97 (29.66)     1:42.69 (25.72)
  5 Martter, Cale          SO ASU               1:43.62    1:43.36  
                 21.92        48.46 (26.54)
        1:17.81 (29.35)     1:43.36 (25.55)
  6 Holmes, Gibson         FR STAN              1:46.14    1:43.74  
                 22.52        48.22 (25.70)
        1:18.39 (30.17)     1:43.74 (25.35)
  7 Maurer, Luke           SR STAN              1:42.89    1:43.86  
                 22.56        47.96 (25.40)
        1:19.25 (31.29)     1:43.86 (24.61)
  8 Swift, Sean            JR CAL               1:46.97    1:43.88  
                 22.86        49.23 (26.37)
        1:18.61 (29.38)     1:43.88 (25.27)

50 freestyle

Ilya Kharun is in fine form, as an 18.82 50 free showed. He’s at the head for an ASU sweep of the middle three lanes, with Jack Dolan going 18.94 and Jonny Kulow 19.17. The latter is tied with USC’s Artem Selin for third. ASU also pushed Cam Peel (fifth) and Patrick Sammon (eighth) into the A final.

Among those missing out is Stanford’s Andrei Minakov, who went 19.40 for ninth.

 Event 8  Men 50 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 17.63  3/22/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
       PAC-12: M 18.27  2022      Bjorn Seeinger, CAL
 PAC-12 Champ: P 18.80  2014      Brad Tandy, ARIZ
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Kharun, Ilya           FR ASU                 18.93      18.82  
                  9.25         18.82 (9.57)
  2 Dolan, Jack            SR ASU                 18.90      18.94  
                  9.10         18.94 (9.84)
  3 Kulow, Jonny           SO ASU                 19.00      19.17  
                  9.30         19.17 (9.87)
  3 Selin, Artem           JR USC                 19.12      19.17  
                  9.10        19.17 (10.07)
  5 Palmer, Tommy          SO ARIZ                19.29      19.30  
                  9.22        19.30 (10.08)
  5 Peel, Cam              SR ASU                 19.41      19.30  
                  9.12        19.30 (10.18)
  7 Tan, Jonathan          FR STAN                19.20      19.35  
                  9.34        19.35 (10.01)
  8 Sammon, Patrick        JR ASU                 19.79      19.36  
                  9.39         19.36 (9.97)
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