ASU Men’s Swim and Dive Team Clinches First NCAA Title in Program History

The Arizona State University men’s swim and dive team won the NCAA championship this weekend — for the first time in program history — but that wasn’t all. The Sun Devils broke nine school records and three NCAA records over the course of the four-day competition in Indianapolis.

One victorious showing — the 400 freestyle relay of junior Léon Marchand, graduate student Jack Dolan, junior Patrick Sammon and sophomore Jonny Kulow with a time of 2:43.40 — not only set a new NCAA record but clinched the team win.

“It’s amazing,” Marchand said of winning the team title. “When I called the coaches before coming to the U.S., they were seventh, or unranked, and they were like, ‘It’s possible. If we build the team, we can do it in a few years.’ And I really trusted them from the beginning, and now we did it. So, I’m really happy with it, really proud of the coaches, all my teammates and everything.”

The final team standings had ASU resoundingly in first with 523.5 points, followed by California (444.5), Florida (378), Indiana (376) and North Carolina State (318). In addition, 14 Sun Devils received All-American honors at the meet.

Marchand, expected by many to compete at the Paris Olympics in his home country this summer, was no stranger to setting records at the NCAA championship. On Thursday, he won the 500 freestyle in 4:02:31, breaking the NCAA mark he’d set just a few weeks prior.

“Tonight I had no limits from the very beginning,” he said on Thursday. “I didn’t have a base in my mind — I was just like, ‘Let’s see how far and how fast I can go,’ and it worked pretty well.”

Two days later, Marchand — whom many have compared to swim superstar Michael Phelps — won the title for the 200 breaststroke for the third year in a row; his time of 1:46:35 broke the NCAA record he set at last year’s championships. With that win, he now leads all Sun Devils ever with eight individual titles, breaking the record set by track and field champ Jacquelyn Johnson when she won her seventh national title in 2008.

It was a team effort in Indianapolis, with the following Sun Devils winning national titles:

• 400 freestyle relay: Léon Marchand, Jack Dolan, Patrick Sammon, Jonny Kulow.
• 200 butterfly: Ilya Kharun.
• 200 breaststroke: Marchand.
• 1650 freestyle: Zalan Sarkany (the first Sun Devil to win the national title in this discipline; he finished more than five seconds ahead of the second-place swimmer).
• 400 medley relay: Hubert Kós, Marchand, Kharun, Kulow.
• 400 individual relay: Marchand.
• 500 freestyle: Marchand.

The national title wasn’t the only swim news making headlines.

This weekend’s national title capped off a month of stellar performances for Sun Devil Athletics, as men’s wrestling also celebrated success at the NCAA championships. No. 8 seed 125-pounder Richard Figueroa defeated No. 3 seed Drake Ayala of Iowa by a 7-2 decision in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 23 — ASU’s first individual national title in five years and the 13th in team history — as the Sun Devils placed in the top 6 as a team.

And earlier this school year, the ASU triathlon team won its seventh national title after winning the Women’s Collegiate Triathlon National Championships in November in Tempe, joining a proud tradition of national team titles across a range of sports at ASU, including 25 NCAA championships and 148 national team titles.

Marchand said being on a team like ASU’s has had an impact on him and his swimming.

“I’ve never been very social, but since I came here three years ago, I think that really changed a lot,” he said. “Also, the leadership aspect — I know people are watching me. They also learn from me, and I love giving advice, helping them every day. And we all do that; it’s not just me. That’s how we push together every day in practice.

“It’s been great; I’m learning a lot from it. I think it will help me in my life, not just from swimming — just the way we worked really hard the past three years. Always showing up, always doing the work, always supporting your teammates. Even when it’s really hard sometimes. I’m learning a lot.”

Sun Devil Athletics contributed to this article.