Arizona State Sun Devils dominate Pac-12 Championships with third consecutive 800 free relay win and 200 medley relay NCAA record

The Arizona State Sun Devils impressed on Day 1 of the 2024 Men’s Pac-12 Championships. Competing against five teams, the Sun Devils managed to take first place in 200m medley relay and 800m free relay.

In fact, ASU claimed its third consecutive 800m relay win in championships along with breaking the NCAA record in the 200m medley relay.

The 2024 Men’s Pac-12 Championships is a swimming and diving tournament scheduled to take place from March 6 to 9. This year, the event is taking place at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington. It is witnessing the participation of six strong college teams - Arizona State Sun Devils, California Bears, Stanford Cardinal, USC Trojans, and Arizona Wildcats.

Last year, the Arizona State Sun Devils struck defeated the California Golden Bears by 78.5 points. After the Day 1 results of the Pac-12 Championships, it seems that the ASU swimming team is on an absolute spree to maintain their win from last year.

On Wednesday, ASU's Sun Devils kickstarted their victorious day competing in the 200m medley relay.

With great efforts from team members Jack Dolan, Leon Marchand, Ilya Kharun, and Jonny Kulow, the Arizona State Sun Devils finished the race as winners within 1:20.55s. Not only did they win the race but they also broke the NCAA record topping NC State’s 1:20.67 from 2023.

The second event of the day also saw the Arizona State Sun Devils victorious in the 800m relay race. The team blazed to a stunning victory by clocking 6:06.14 which emerged as their third consecutive win in the race.

In fact, they improved their timing by 0.16s from last year. Moreover, Leon Marchand gave his team a terrific start by clocking a personal best of 1:30.43. His timing was 1:30.77 last year.

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Leon Marchand of Arizona State Sun Devils set the NCAA record in 400m IM

Leon Marchand at Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships: Swimming - Day 5

Arizona State Sun Devil’s Leon Marchand broke the NCAA record in the men’s 400 IM in 2023’s NCAA Championships. The 21-year-old swam 3:31.84 bettering 3:32.88 of 2022’s winner Hugo Gonzales of California Bears.

After the championships, Marchand’s coach, Bob Bowman told Swim Swam that he felt the youngster resembled legendary swimmer Michael Phelps. He said:

"I spoke to Eddie Reese, we texted yesterday, and I was like 'Leon right now, is reminding me of Michael in like 2003.' His fitness level is so high that he could produce really fast times with the high volume of training."