By Sharon Robb
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., March 31, 2024—When Bob Bowman was hired as head coach of Arizona State’s swim program in 2015, he talked about how one day they would compete for a national championship.
They told him he wasn’t serious but Bowman, his staff and swimmers “stayed with it and believed.”
That day arrived on Saturday when Arizona State won its first NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championship at IU Natatorium.
“I’m incredibly grateful for all the people who believed when there was nothing to believe in except me telling them that maybe one day we can do it,” Bowman said. “There was a lot of mistakes made and a lot of good times and a lot of sad times and frustration. Through it all, everybody kept growing, and the program kept growing, we kept bringing in better people and when he (Leon Marchand) came in, it took off.
“He’s the guy that made it happen. It gave everybody the example of what real excellence is at the top level, raised the level of everything everybody was doing and then attracted everything that could help us win this championship.”
Runners-up to California last year, the Sun Devils left little doubt about who had the nation’s top collegiate program this year. The Sun Devils won the team title with 523.5 points. California, which had won each of the last two national championships, was second with 444.5 followed by the Florida Gators (378 points).
Saturday’s finish marks the 11th third-place finish in Florida’s program history, with the last being in 2022. The last time both the men’s and women’s program finished in the top-three was 37 years ago in 1987. The women’s team finished third at their NCAA Championships last week after scoring 364 points. No other swimming and diving program in the country had both teams finish in the top five at this year’s NCAA’s.
Last season, ASU won the Pac 12 Championships beating Cal and finished with the best NCAA finish in program history as runner-up. Before that the Sun Devils had never finished better than sixth (in 2022) at NCAAs. ASU cut its swimming program 16 years ago only to be saved at the last minute.
There is a South Florida connection on the ASU staff. Former Florida Gold Coast and Coral Springs swimmer Austin Pillado is an assistant coach enjoying his first year on staff after two years as an assistant at Penn State. “Austin is one of the top young coaches in the country and has proven recruiting skills,” Bowman said after hiring him. “He brings a unique vibe to the team and will be a huge asset for ASU moving forward.”
With 17 talented swimmers and divers, the Sun Devils were led by superstar junior French Olympian Leon Marchand, who broke his own NCAA record to win the 500-yard freestyle in 4:02.31. He broke his own record by nearly four seconds.
He also repeated as champion in the 400-yard individual medley in a pool record 3:32.12. It was a one-two finish for Arizona State with David Schlicht coming in three seconds later. Marchand now has eight individual NCAA titles.
“They were like, ‘It’s possible. If we build the team, we can do it in a few years,'” Marchand said. “I really trusted them from the beginning, and now we did it. Really happy, really proud of all the coaches and all my teammates.”
Arizona State freshman Ilya Kharun pulled away in the final 50 yards to win the 200 butterfly in 1:38.26. Also on Saturday Zalan Sarkany won the 1,650 freestyle.
ASU, buoyed by Marchand, also won its first relay title in the program’s history with an American and NCAA record time of 2:57.32 in the 400 medley relay. Hubert Kos, Ilya Kharun and Jonny Kulow were part of the record-breaking relay. Florida had its medley relay disqualified when anchor swimmer Macguire McDuff left 5/100ths before Josh Liendo had touched the wall at the end of his leg.
Some of the meet’s other highlights:
Cal fifth-year senior Liam Bell broke the American, U.S. Open, NCAA and pool record winning the 100-yard breaststroke in 49.53. The previous (2018) record was 49.69 held by Ian Finnerty.
Two other swimmers repeated as champions. Luke Hobson of Texas defended his title in the 200 freestyle with an NCAA-record time of 1:28.81. Brendan Burns of Indiana won the 100 backstroke for the second straight year, this time by just 0.03 seconds over Kacper Stokowski.
After finishing runner-up last year, Canadian and Florida sophomore Josh Liendo crushed the field to win the 100-yard butterfly in 43.07. He is the first Gator to win the event since 2018, and fourth in program history. Liendo also won the 50-yard freestyle in 18.07, only the second Gator to win the title.
“I was just in my own lane and doing my own thing,” Liendo said. “I want to get it done for the guys. It’s a really tough meet and I wanted to keep the momentum going.”
Liendo, Adam Chaney, Julian Smith and Macguire McDuff put together the second-fastest time ever in the 200-yard freestyle to win with a time of 1:13.49. It was Florida’s third consecutive year winning the event.
Cal senior Destin Lasco became an NCAA champion and American record holder in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:37.91, breaking his own record. Lasco also won his third consecutive 200 backstroke title with another American and NCAA record time of 1:35.37. The ASU duo of sophomores Hubert Kos (1:35.90) and Owen McDonald (1:36.63) finished second and third.
Indiana repeated in 3-meter diving with a one-two finish with Carson Tyler and Quentin Henninger. Lyle Yost won his second straight NCAA 1-meter diving title, becoming the first Ohio State Buckeye since the 1980’s to win back-to-back national titles.
A total of 270 participants (235 swimmers and 35 divers) competed.
FINAL TEAM RESULTS
- Arizona State 523.5
- California 444.5
- Florida 378
- Indiana 376
- North Carolina State 318
- Tennessee 231
- Texas 189
- Stanford 177
- Virginia Tech 172
- Notre Dame 132
- Florida State 34, 26. University of Miami 21 (divers only).
Sharon Robb can be reached at sha11cats@aol.com
http://www.swim4soflo.com
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