Big 12 Championships, Night 1: Arizona State Men Open with 2 Meet Records
The first season of the reconfigured Big 12 Conference belonged to Arizona State. The Sun Devils won both the men’s and women’s titles at the meet, and they’ve positioned themselves as the favorites again this season.
The quest starts Tuesday night at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, where the Sun Devils have a chance to start the meet with a 4-for-4 relay performance. The men’s team is the top seed in both relays, while the women lead by a wide margin in the 800 free but are .04 behind in-state and former Pac-12 rival Arizona in the 200 medley relay.
The conference also announced on Tuesday that it will return to the GAC for the 2027 championships on the same week, the third time and third straight year that the Big 12 Championships have been hosted by a neutral site.
All the action from Night 1:
Women’s 200 medley relay
The University of Arizona, whose only relay win last year came in the 200 freestyle relay, showed its sprint chops from the get-go, defending its top seed with a time of 1:35.54 to open the meet with a win.
The quartet of Lila Lillie (24.21), Eleni Gewalt (26.64), Patricija Kondraskaite (23.40) and Julia Wozniak (21.29) improved their seed time by half second to get the win. It’s also the only NCAA qualification cut of the meet.
Arizona State finished second in 1:36.10, .01 off the automatic time and a provisional cut. Miriam Sheehan, Ginger McMahon, Julia Ullmann and Albane Cachot comprised that team, Cachot bringing it home in 21.30. Cincinnati was third in 1:36.84, four tenths off the provisional standard. Kansas was a distant fourth.
Men’s 200 medley relay
The ASU men were slower than their seed time but still nearly four seconds faster than the field to coast to the victory. Adam Chaney (20.45), Andy Dobrzanski (23.20), Ilya Kharun (18.89) and Tommy Palmer (18.42) led the way in 1:20:96.
That is a meet record, downing the 1:21.16 that Arizona State used to win last year on the way to finished fourth at NCAAs. Arizona State (with Jonny Kulow on the anchor instead of Palmer) set the conference record at 1:20.56 at December’s CSCAA dual meet challenge with a time that is .01 of the school record from the 2024 postseason.
Second was Arizona in 1:24.83, 1.62 seconds slower than their in-season best. Duncan Henderson, Tavner Wisdom, Haakon Naughton and Taylor Luck comprised the squad. TCU edged BYU by a tenth for fourth in 1:25.06.
Women’s team diving
Utah won women’s team diving with a combined score of 312.55 points, just .30 up on TCU. Houston gets a boost after a DQ in the 200 medley relay by finishing third. Arizona was fourth, Arizona State sixth.
Women’s 800 freestyle relay
Arizona State is the 800 free relay champ for the second straight year, though this year’s time is more than three seconds quicker than last year in 7:01.39. The quartet of Jordan Greber (1:47.31), Gerda Szilagyi (1:46.11), Grace Lindberg (1:44.41) and Albane Cachot (1:43.56) went 7:01.39. They carried a seed time of 7:09.03 and had won this race last year in 7:04.24. Only Lindberg, who split 1:47.00 last year, is carried over from that squad.
The time is an NCAA provisional cut, just outside the auto standard of 7:00.86.
Arizona finished second in 7:08.05. The Wildcats had the lead after Kayman Neal’s opening 1:46.18 but couldn’t sustain it.
Cincinnati was third in 7:13.25. Houston followed .15 seconds later, then Kansas in fifth.
Men’s 800 freestyle relay
It’s 2-for-2 for the Sun Devils, in both wins and meet records. The squad of Filip Senc-Samardzic, Jonny Kulow, Quin Seider and Remi Fabiani went 6:08.31 to get the win. It’s five seconds quicker than their seed time and clips .23 seconds off the meet mark from last year, a team that Senc-Samardzic and Seider were part of. ASU remains behind the Big 12 record bequeathed by Texas at 6:03.42 from its penultimate NCAAs within the conference.
Senc-Samardzic led off in 1:32.87. Kulow followed in 1:32.56, then 1:32.00 from Seider, then the hammer of a 1:30.88 from the Cal Baptist transfer Fabiani on the end.
The margin was all from Fabiani. Arizona finished second in 6:12.65. But the Wildcats were close on the first leg thanks to a 1:33.01 from Ralph Daleiden Ciuferri, then led at the halfway point when Tomas Lukminas went 1:31.37. Ben Butler held tight at 1:33.24 on the third leg, but Seider had surged ahead by .19 seconds, and Fabiani pulled away from Orion Henderson by more than four seconds.
Both teams hit NCAA automatic standards. Utah was just outside the provisional cut in 6:17.20 for third place despite three 1:33s. TCU was fourth, edging BYU by .04 seconds and Cincinnati by .07.
Men’s team diving
Utah got the win in men’s team diving with a score 371.95 points. That was well ahead of the 346.85 by TCU. Arizona was third in 339.50, with Arizona State fourth.
