Pac-12 Men’s Championships, Day 2 Finals: Leon Marchand Sets NCAA Record in 500 Free

Pac-12 Men’s Championships, Day 2 Finals: Leon Marchand Sets NCAA Record in 500 Free

Leon Marchand is a great many things. You would not suspect that a distance swimmer is among them, not when he arrived at Arizona State and not on the international stage for France.

And yet … no man in NCAA history has covered 500 yards of freestyle faster than Marchand.

Instead of swimming the Night 2 event at the Pac-12 Men’s Championships in which he holds an NCAA record, Marchand simply went out and set another one in the 500 free, going 4:06.18. It kicks off what for all the world looks set to be a rampage by Arizona State at the final Pac-12 Championships.

All the action from the first full night sessions at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.

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

It’s the first full night and the superlatives are running low on Leon Marchand already. He had set the Pac-12 record at 4:07.81 last year, and Thursday’s swim reinforced it. He was the second seed out of the morning in 4:12.56 and was more than six seconds quicker at night. His time of 4:06.18 downs the 4:06.32 that Kieran Smith set pre-pandemic at the 2020 SEC Championships. (You can consider the caveat of if Smith would’ve gone quick at NCAAs, certainly).

By hundreds for Marchand

A quick accounting: He’s now part of the NCAA record-setting 200 medley relay, holds the record in the 400 IM, the 200 IM and the 200 breaststroke. And he’s still got two more NCAAs left in his career.

Teammate Zalan Sarkany, the top seed from prelims, was under the pool record (Trenton Julian of Cal in 2021) to grab silver in 4:09.19. Daniel Matheson was fourth for the Sun Devils, with Julian Hill fifth.

Rex Maruer of Stanford grabbed the bronze medal.

Beyond the record, it was a slow A final. Keaton Jones went 4:13.73 to win the B final, which would’ve slotted him behind Maurer in the A final had he not gone 4:19 in the morning. Krzysztof Chmielewski of USC also missed the top eight and was three seconds faster at night in 4:14.00, which would’ve been fourth.

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 Prelims Finals Points ========================================================================= === A – Final === 1 Marchand, Leon JR ASU 4:12.56 4:06.18N 20 22.04 46.32 (24.28) 1:10.83 (24.51) 1:35.85 (25.02) 2:01.08 (25.23) 2:25.81 (24.73) 2:50.62 (24.81) 3:15.66 (25.04) 3:41.42 (25.76) 4:06.18 (24.76) 2 Sarkany, Zalan SO ASU 4:12.28 4:09.19P 17 22.23 46.75 (24.52) 1:11.64 (24.89) 1:36.94 (25.30) 2:02.13 (25.19) 2:27.51 (25.38) 2:53.22 (25.71) 3:18.78 (25.56) 3:44.34 (25.56) 4:09.19 (24.85) 3 Maurer, Rex FR STAN 4:15.62 4:12.58 16 23.07 48.23 (25.16) 1:13.74 (25.51) 1:39.41 (25.67) 2:05.04 (25.63) 2:30.75 (25.71) 2:56.46 (25.71) 3:22.20 (25.74) 3:47.84 (25.64) 4:12.58 (24.74) 4 Matheson, Daniel JR ASU 4:16.40 4:14.81 15 23.52 48.90 (25.38) 1:14.82 (25.92) 1:40.81 (25.99) 2:06.86 (26.05) 2:32.95 (26.09) 2:58.99 (26.04) 3:24.78 (25.79) 3:50.30 (25.52) 4:14.81 (24.51) 5 Hill, Julian SR ASU 4:15.79 4:15.26 14 22.99 48.38 (25.39) 1:14.26 (25.88) 1:40.14 (25.88) 2:06.49 (26.35) 2:32.89 (26.40) 2:58.85 (25.96) 3:24.65 (25.80) 3:50.41 (25.76) 4:15.26 (24.85) 6 Kopp, Tyler SR CAL 4:14.96 4:15.31 13 23.68 49.22 (25.54) 1:14.84 (25.62) 1:40.63 (25.79) 2:06.66 (26.03) 2:32.77 (26.11) 2:59.10 (26.33) 3:25.30 (26.20) 3:50.78 (25.48) 4:15.31 (24.53) 7 McFadden, Henry FR STAN 4:16.61 4:18.35 12 23.53 48.84 (25.31) 1:14.80 (25.96) 1:41.10 (26.30) 2:07.43 (26.33) 2:33.84 (26.41) 3:00.21 (26.37) 3:26.51 (26.30) 3:52.77 (26.26) 4:18.35 (25.58) 8 Forst, Preston SR STAN 4:16.31 4:20.93 11 23.70 49.36 (25.66) 1:15.37 (26.01) 1:41.73 (26.36) 2:08.02 (26.29) 2:34.36 (26.34) 3:00.83 (26.47) 3:27.57 (26.74) 3:54.54 (26.97) 4:20.93 (26.39) 200 individual medley

Leon Marchand’s presence was deeply missed by Arizona State in the 200 IM.

Nah, just kidding. The Sun Devils swept the podium and added a fifth-place finish for good measure, Hubert Kos earning gold in 1:38.77. He bested teammate Owen McDonald, who had led the way out of prelims, for the win. McDonald secured silver in 1:39.35.

David Schlicht cleaned up the bronze medal in 1:41.68, well clear of Stanford’s Rick Mihm. Cale Martter was fifth for Arizona State.

Of note in the B final was Ron Polonsky, who ripped a time of 1:41.25 that would’ve bene good for bronze. But he was locked out of the A final with a 1:43.98 in prelims.

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 Prelims Finals Points ========================================================================= === A – Final === 1 Kos, Hubert SO ASU 1:41.33 1:38.77 20 20.42 44.53 (24.11) 1:14.15 (29.62) 1:38.77 (24.62) 2 McDonald, Owen SO ASU 1:40.57 1:39.35 17 21.10 45.41 (24.31) 1:15.36 (29.95) 1:39.35 (23.99) 3 Schlicht, David SR ASU 1:42.02 1:41.68 16 22.18 48.10 (25.92) 1:17.02 (28.92) 1:41.68 (24.66) 4 Mihm, Rick SR STAN 1:42.69 1:42.10 15 22.48 48.14 (25.66) 1:17.37 (29.23) 1:42.10 (24.73) 5 Martter, Cale SO ASU 1:43.36 1:42.28 14 22.37 48.55 (26.18) 1:17.35 (28.80) 1:42.28 (24.93) 6 Holmes, Gibson FR STAN 1:43.74 1:43.40 13 22.62 47.91 (25.29) 1:18.06 (30.15) 1:43.40 (25.34) 7 Swift, Sean JR CAL 1:43.88 1:43.74 12 22.80 49.23 (26.43) 1:18.61 (29.38) 1:43.74 (25.13) 8 Maurer, Luke SR STAN 1:43.86 1:45.47 11 22.62 48.66 (26.04) 1:19.64 (30.98) 1:45.47 (25.83) 50 freestyle

Add another accolade for Arizona State, and three more medals. Jack Dolan won the mini ASU match race that was the final of the 50 free by going 18.61 seconds. His time took down the meet record that has stood since 2014 in the hands of Brad Tandy of Arizona (18.80).

Ilya Kharun was a shade slower than in the morning to earn silver in 18.84. Jonny Kulow was the only other one to break 19 seconds in 18.92. Tommy Palmer of Arizona finished fourth.

Arizona State also finished seventh and eighth thanks to Cam Peel and Patrick Sammon, respectively.

Rafael Gu of Stanford won the B final in 19.36, which would’ve been fifth. Stanford took the top three spots in the B final and had Jonathan Tan finish fifth.

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 Prelims Finals Points ========================================================================= === A – Final === 1 Dolan, Jack SR ASU 18.94 18.61P 20 8.98 18.61 (9.63) 2 Kharun, Ilya FR ASU 18.82 18.84 17 9.32 18.84 (9.52) 3 Kulow, Jonny SO ASU 19.17 18.92 16 9.13 18.92 (9.79) 4 Palmer, Tommy SO ARIZ 19.30 19.08 15 9.19 19.08 (9.89) 5 Tan, Jonathan FR STAN 19.35 19.40 14 9.26 19.40 (10.14) 6 Selin, Artem JR USC 19.17 19.41 13 9.26 19.41 (10.15) 7 Peel, Cam SR ASU 19.30 19.43 12 9.22 19.43 (10.21) 8 Sammon, Patrick JR ASU 19.36 19.55 11 9.48 19.55 (10.07)

200 freestyle relay