Ilya Kharun, Albane Cachot Dominate as Arizona State Sun Devils Sweep SMU Classic
The Arizona State Sun Devils put on an impressive performance this weekend in Dallas at SMU Classic, wrapping up wins in the men’s and women’s competition. Led by Ilya Kharun, the men scored 324 points to comfortably defeat Virginia Tech (256), Southern Methodist (234), Missouri (259) and Arizona (183). For the women’s competition, ASU had 369 points to surpass Arkansas (310), SMU (271), Missouri (246), Virginia Tech (238) and Arizona (228).
The Sun Devil men produced a time of 3:01.93 for a dominant performance in the 400 medley relay. Nathan Muratory and Oliver Munn handled the opening legs before Kharun blasted a 43.37 butterfly split and Quin Seider came home in 41.36. Kharun turned his attention to the 50 freestyle and produced a winning time of 18.72. Later on, he swam a time of 44.39 in the 100 fly.
The second day of the meet opened with Muratory, Munn, Kharun and Tolu Young winning the 200 medley relay in 1:22.39, Kharun returning to speed quickly with his 19.10 butterfly split. He produced a time of 1:40.75 to win the 200 fly, about three seconds behind his winning time of 1:37.66 from last season’s NCAA Championships. To conclude the meet, Kharun led off his team’s 200 free relay in 18.60, and he was joined by Filip Senc-Samardzic, Seider and Young in the winning effort. Young came home in 18.48 as the team recorded a time of 1:15.44.
Seider had ASU’s first individual win Friday, clocking a time of 1:33.26 in the 200 freestyle, and he later split 1:31.78 anchoring the Sun Devils’ 800 free relay. Filip Senc-Samardzic, JT Ewing and Mattia Mauri joined Seider on that squad, which finished in 6:15.91.
JT Ewing grabbed the win in the 400 IM in 3:45.21, using a sizzling 24.86 closing split to run down SMU’s Andy Baklanov (3:45.42). Ewing later picked up the win in the 200 IM at 1:45.79. Muratory topped the 100 backstroke (46.12) as well as the 200-yard race (1:39.77), and Munn finished first in the 100 breaststroke (52.35).
Virginia Tech’s Eli Martin was the winner of the 200 breast, finishing in 1:53.14 as he came from behind to beat Munn (1:53.59). Brendan Whitfield, who opened his meet with a 41.68 anchor split on Virginia Tech’s 400 medley relay, won the individual 100 free in 41.93. SMU’s Francis Brennan won the 500 free in 4:18.54, and in diving, Luke Sitz topped 1-meter (358.35) and 3-meter (427.25).
The women’s meet saw ASU’s team of Miriam Sheehan, Lucie Vasquez, Julia Ullmann and Albane Cachot top the 400 medley relay in 3:30.25. Cachot was her team’s top performer in Dallas, winning the 50 free in 21.70. Later in the session, she led off ASU’s 800 free relay in a quick 1:43.68 before giving way to Grace Lindberg, Alexa Reyna and Alyssa Albertyn, the team going on to win in dominant fashion in 7:04.70.
Day two began with the team of Sheehan, Vasquez, Ullmann and Cachot combining to win the 200 medley relay in 1:37.09, but this one was a close contest with Arkansas, not decided until the finish after the Razorbacks’ Harriet Rogers finished in 21.44 on the freestyle leg. Cachot returned to post a time of 47.12 for the top spot in the 100 free. Cachot then led her team to a 200 free relay win, combining with Jordan Greber, Sheehan and Albertyn on the way to a time of 1:28.78.
Ullmann paced the field in the 100 fly (52.15), and Sheehan was victorious in the 100 back (51.79) before Vasquez touched first in the 100 breast (1:00.35). Lindberg finished well clear of the field in the 400 IM, going 4:11.27 to win by 3.73 seconds. Albertyn followed with an easy win in the 200 free (1:44.95). Reyna was the winner of the 500 free (4:46.88), and Albertyn also placed first in the 200 back (1:54.68) before Greber concluded individual racing with a 200 IM triumph (1:58.78).
Arkansas picked up a victory in the 200 breast from Ellen Garritson (2:12.22) while SMU’s Dori Hathazi had her team’s lone triumph in the 200 fly (1:56.26). Arizona’s Maria-Jose Sanchez won 3-meter diving (310.00) as well as the 1-meter event (277.45).
