Wolfpack Elite Invitational, Night 2: Ilya Kharun Lowers 100 Fly Record to 43.85
Ilya Kharun hasn’t missed a beat going from Olympic medals back to college competition. That includes driving his time in the 100 fly to ever more rarefied depths.
Kharun chipped another tenth off his record Friday night at the Wolfpack Elite GAC Invitational, lowering his Arizona State record to 43.85 seconds.
All the action:
Women’s 200 medley relay
Arizona State’s relays have been on fire, and a trip East didn’t dim that. The Sun Devils went 1:35.78 with Miriam Sheehan, Iza Adame, Julia Ullmann and Caroline Bentz. Bentz brought it home in 21.27, while Ullmann was even with NC State butterflier Leah Shackley in 23.01. It is an NCAA A cut.
NC State was near three tenths slower than it has been this season. Erika Pelaez, Aubree Brouwer, Shackley and Tyler Driscoll went 1:36.22, Pelaez leading off in 24.10.
Virginia Tech was third.
Men’s 200 medley relay
Arizona State clipped two tenths off its in-season time to go 1:21.63. Lucien Vergnes led off in 21.01, followed by Andy Dobrzanski’s 23.55, 18.89 from Ilya Kharun and 18.18 for Jonny Kulow.
NC State was slower than it had been in the second for second in 1:23.12 with Hudson Williams, Sam Hoover, Luke Miller and Jerry Fox.
Women’s 400 individual medley
Lisa Nystrand used a strong front half to win in 4:09.03. She bested the Arizona State duo of Charli Brown (4:11.52) and Sonia Vaishnani (4:13.87). Kyra Sommerstad of Duke grabbed fourth.
Men’s 400 individual medley
Kyle Ponsler was just sixth in prelims but summoned a stellar night swim to finish first in 3:41.61. He used his backstroke leg to jump to the lead and hold off Arizona State’s Michael Hochwalt, who finished second in 3:42.12. Daniel Diehl of NC State was third in 3:44.64, ahead of Northwestern’s Deigo Nosack.
Women’s 100 butterfly
Leah Shackley finished .01 behind her prelims time to lead the way again in 51.43. She faced a push from Arizona State freshman Julia Ullmann, who took second in 51.65, and NC State teammate Erika Pelaez, third in 51.81. Ullman’s time took down the 2008 school record of Caitlin Andrew.
That troika was a second clear of the rest. Nikki Venema of Northwestern led the pack home in 53.07.
Men’s 100 butterfly
Ilya Kharun clipped another tenth off his program record in the 100 fly, going from 43.95 to 43.85. He had set the pace in prelims at 44.37.
In finals Friday night, he was a clear second ahead of Luke Miller, the NC State swimmer second in 44.86. The NCAA A cut is 44.51. Haakon Naughton of Arizona delivered an outstanding swim to take third in 45.27, .08 ahead of ASU’s Filip Senc-Samardzic. Youssef Ramadan, the 2023 NCAA champion in this event, finished fifth in 45.62, just .02 quicker than he was in prelims.
Men’s 200 freestyle
After three swimmers hit 1:33s in the morning, Kaii Winkler found a way to 1:32 to get to the top step of the podium. The NC State freshman was exactly one second quicker than the morning to win in 1:32.79. Tiago Behar of Arizona State improved from the morning swim by finishing second in 1:33.07. He led three straight Sun Devils in the 1:33s, Jonny Kulow stretching out his stroke to go 1:33.81 and best mate Patrick Sammon by .05 seconds.
Women’s 100 breaststroke
Kaelyn Gridley lowered her college-best time in the 100 breast to 58.59, chipping .15 off her school mark from last season. It was more than enough to get the win, the only sub-minute time in a race that featured six 1:00s. The A cut is 58.01.
The fastest of those was ASU’s Iza Adame in 1:00.37, .06 up on Aubree Brouwer of NC State, who had broken a minute in prelims. Arizona’s Eleni Gewalt and ASU’s Emma Gehlert came home in 1:00.46 and 1:00.55, respectively.
Men’s 100 breaststroke
Carles Coll Marti of Va Tech came close to an A cut, his time of 51.10 easily besting the field. The auto qualifying standard stands at 51.02. The Spanish international was close to that, going out in a very fast 23.89 and back in 27.21.
That was enough to best Andy Dobrzanski of ASU, who took home second in 52.39. He outtouched NC State’s Sam Hoover by .01 for silver, making up four tenths on the final 50.
Women’s 100 backstroke
Leah Shackley was a tenth faster in the morning, but her time of 50.95 at night was enough to best the field handily. She was out in 24.60 and back in 26.35, both the fastest 50s of the race for the NC State freshman.
Her nearest competitor was an in-state foe in Duke’s Ali Pfaff. Pfaff lowered her school record in the event from 51.65 last year to 51.54 off the front of the 400 medley relay Thursday night, then went 51.48 in prelims and 51.50 in finals for silver. Virginia Tech’s Carmen Weiler Sastre was third in 51.94, followed by Caroline Bentz’s Arizona State record of 52.39 for fourth.
Men’s 100 backstroke
Swimming at a meet with his older sister, Army freshman Johnny Crush made it a memorable night. He won the 100 back in 45.08 to – pardon me – crush the school record he set earlier in the season at 46.98. He had dashed it off the front of Thursday’s 400 medley relay by going 45.70 (setting a program record in the medley relay with Kohen Rankin, Daniel Verdolaga and Thomas Hadji).
Second place when to Youssef Ramadan, on the back half of a tough double, in 45.76. He had been 45.19 in prelims. Hudson Williams of NC State went 46.15 to nudge Lucien Vergnes of Arizona State for third by .12 seconds.
Women’s 800 freestyle relay
NC State picked up the win in 7:05.39 via Kennedy Noble, Annabel Crush, Katherine Helms and Erika Pelaez, the anchor going 1:44.15 that was the quickest in the race by 2.5 seconds. Arizona State finished second in 7:09.91.
Men’s 800 freestyle relay
Arizona capped the day with an impressive A cut and a victory in the relay in 6:13.31, nearly 2.5 seconds under the auto standard. Ralph Daleiden Ciuferri, Tomas Lukminas, Lars Kuljus and Miles Bottai were the quartet, Daleiden Ciuferri leaing off in 1:32.17.
NC State finished second, just inside the A standard in 6:18.40 with Daniel Diehl, Chase Mueller, Kyle Ponsler and Aidan Fuller. Arizona State had been in the 6:15s but it’s a squad was DQed.
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