Men's Swim Wins 800 Free Relay For First Time in 31 Years on Day 1 of Pac-12 Championships
SEATTLE – A new school record, a meet record and the fastest time in the nation – all in a day's work for the Sun Devil Men's Swim team on Day 1 of the Pac-12 Championships at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.
Grant House, Carter Swift, Julian Hill and Léon Marchand dominated the 800 free relay at 6:07.51, winning the event for the first time since 1991. In doing so, the Sun Devils captured a new school record, a Pac-12 Championship meet record and the fastest time in the nation.
"I'm really excited for our guys!" head coach Bob Bowman said. "The 200 medley got us off to a great start and the 800 free relay was exceptional. Grant led off crushing our team record in the second fastest time this year. We put up the top time nationally so far this year for the relay, which is very exciting for the team and sets us up well for NCAAs.
"We have room for improvement in both races, but tonight we will enjoy the win and get ready for prelims tomorrow."
Two big showings tonight in a pair of relays have the Sun Devils positioned fifth overall, thanks to a couple of diving points received last week by Zachory Lundgren and Thomas Wesche.
TEAM RANKINGS AFTER DAY 1
1. Stanford University 207
2. Utah, University of 183
3. University of Arizona 148
4. Southern California, University 137
5. Arizona State University 105
6. California University,Berkeley 64
The foursome of House, Swift, Hill and Marchand shattered their previous school record of 6:10.86, which they set at the midseason NC State Invite. It's the first Pac-12 Championship title for each of them.
Not to be outdone was another Sun Devil relay group, who kicked things off in the opening race of the four-day meet with a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay. Jack Dolan, John Heaphy, Cody Bybee and House went 1:22.95, good for the second-fastest time in program history.
It's also the ninth fastest time in Division I this season and, along with the 800 free relay, qualified them for the NCAA A standard. The 200 medley foursome now has two of the school's top three times, when they went 1:23.98 at the NC State Invite.
In his split of the 800 free relay, House set a new ASU record and meet record in the 200 free at 1:30.54. Cody Bybee's 50 fly split in the 200 medley relay (19.60) is also tied for the seventh-fastest time ever.
Two relays in and the Sun Devils have made it known they'll contend all week at their first conference championships in two years.
UP NEXT
The Sun Devils will get after it Thursday with preliminaries for the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free, beginning at 12 p.m. MST. The evening finals session for the three events, plus the 200 free relay, will begin at 7 p.m. MST.
Fans can tune into the action each night via the Pac-12 Network or the Pac-12 Now App.