Ilya Kharun Blasts 18.6 50 Free, 44.0 100 Fly as Arizona State Crushes Bay Area Schools; Torri Huske Leads Stanford
Day two of competition in Tempe, Ariz., between the hosting Sun Devils and their former Pac-12 rivals Cal and Stanford saw the reigning national champions pull even further ahead while Stanford’s women put on a similar show.
And just like on the first day of competition, it was the biggest names for these schools starring, with Ilya Kharun and Torri Huske each grabbing the top spot in two individual events apiece, at times achieving their success outside their primary races.
Team Scores
Kharun began his day with a mark of 18.67 in the 50 free, more than a half-second clear of a field full of elite sprinters, which included Cal’s Jack Alexy (19.24), ASU’s Kulow (19.28) and Cal’s Bjorn Seeliger (19.34).
The Canadian sophomore was back at ivt two events later as he won the 100 butterfly in 44.01, faster than the 44.26 he clocked to the fourth in the event at last year’s NCAA Championships. Kharun was the Olympic bronze medalist in the meters version of this event at the Paris Games, and here, he left in the dust two previous international-medal winners in this event, Stanford’s Andrei Minakov (45.47) and Cal’s Dare Rose (45.73).
The Sun Devil men opened day two with a dominant effort in the 800 freestyle relay, with Patrick Sammon, Filip Senc-Samardzic, Tiago Behar and Jonny Kulow coming in at 6:13.18. Sammon’s leadoff of 1:32.86 tied Minakov for the quickest of the race, and the middle legs built a lead before Kulow held off a strong finish from Stanford’s Henry McFadden (1:32.01).
ASU then finished the day as they started, with the team of Kharun, Tommy Palmer, Sammon and Kulow clocking 1:14.35 in the 200 free relay. Amazingly, Kharun’s third swim of the day brought an even quicker time of 18.62, and Kulow came home in 18.24.
Cal’s Yamato Okadome picked up a win in the 200 breaststroke, touching in 1:53.31 to take down Stanford’s Ron Polonsky (1:53.51) and the man who led for most of the race, ASU’s Andy Dobrzanski (1:54.03).
The Golden Bears made it back-to-back event wins when Keaton Jones won the 200 backstroke in 1:41.68. The Olympic finalist in the long-course version of the event was well behind ASU’s Lucien Vergnes and Cal teammate Ziyad Saleem almost the entire race, but a 25.60 final split helped Jones get to the wall a half-second ahead.
Gabriel Jett scored first place in the 500 free in 4:18.08, but he fell to second in the 200 IM after leading at the halfway point. In that medley race, Stanford’s Ron Polonsky used a sizzling breaststroke leg to pick up the only win of the day for his men’s team in 1:43.76.
Meanwhile, it was another strong day for Huske as she led Stanford’s winning effort. She led off her team’s 800 free relay in 1:44.66, and she crushed the field in the 50 free with a time of 21.71. She won the 200 IM in 1:54.90 to wrap up her day.
The Cardinal won that 800 free relay with Huske, Lillie Nordmann, Aurora Roghair and Kayla Wilson, with Roghair’s 1:43.72 split the quickest of the day overall. The 200 breast saw Lucy Bell post a stellar time of 2:06.32, with teammate Caroline Bricker taking second (2:09.40). That duo also placed 2-3 in the 200 IM to make it a Stanford sweep of the top-three spots. Roghair won the 500 free in 4:40.47, winning by a margin of by 4.45 seconds.
Cal’s Isabelle Stadden completed a sweep of the backstroke events with a dominant time of 1:51.38 in the 200, and she swam the second leg as Cal won the 200 free relay in 1:29.32. Mary-Ambre Moluh, Mckenna Stone and Morgan Brophy also swam on that team. Finally, ASU got on the board with a women’s win as Julia Ullmann topped the 100 fly in 52.05.
Vergnes turned even at the 175 with an American Olympian in the event. The French Breaststroker had NEVER SWUM THE EVENT PREVIOUSLY, yet finished at 1:42.32.
Saleem won the second heat in the event, not racing Keaton Jones and Vergnes directly, who were both in the opening heat.
The Sun Devils are showing that in spite of their personnel losses since last year that their swimmers are still going to be a force in this years conference and national championships!