No. 3/14 Sun Devil Swim and Dive Resumes Season Against Rice and GCU

TEMPE – No. 3/14 Sun Devil Swim and Dive returns to Mona Plummer Aquatic Center for the first time this calendar year. The No. 14 women's team will duel the Rice Owls this Friday at 2 p.m. MST. Then the following day both teams will duel cross-town rival GCU at 12 p.m. MST. Admission is free for both.

There will be no live-stream. Fans are encouraged to follow along with the action with live results via the Meet Mobile app and on the team's Twitter/X account, @ASUSwimDive and on Instagram @sundevilswimdive. 

LAST TIME OUT:
The then-No. 2 Sun Devil men won the NC State GAC invite for the third consecutive year, and the then-No. 13 Sun Devil women claimed a second-place finish. Moreover, the team won the combined team championship by 9.5 points.

Ilya Kharun shined by sweeping both butterfly events, setting a new 100 fly school record in 43.85 and winning the 200 fly in 1:39.00. The sophomore also helped set the Sun Devils win the 200 free relay (1:13.93), the 200 medley relay where he swam an 18.89 50 fly leg and accounted for 91 points. 

Caroline Bentz set several school records in Greensboro, scoring 78 points for the maroon and gold and breaking school records in the 200 back (1:52.10), 100 back (52:39) and the 100 free (48.16) as a lead off leg on the 400 free relay. 

Jonny Kulow won the 50 free with his fastest time of the season at 18.78, the only swimmer to clock a sub-19 at the invite. The junior also won the 100 free by swimming a sub-41 time of 40.97. He played a vital role and helped the Sun Devils win the 200, 400 medley relays and the 200 free relay. 

Alexa Reyna collected a win in the 1650 free at 16:00.40 and also won the 500 free in a season-best 4:41.32. Julia Ullmann broke the 200 fly record in Greensboro with a time of 51.65.

Diver Lane Stallworth wins his second Big 12 Diver of the Week honor after winning the platform diving competition with 335.80 points and finishing second in the 3m diving scoring 377.70 points. In the 1m diving, he was third with 334.40 points.

The complete results from Greensboro can be found here.

OPPONENT OUTLOOK:
Rice Owls: (1-2)
The Lady Owls have squared off in three duals this season with their lone victory coming over Tulane on Nov. 1. Their two other results came against North Texas and SMU, before competing in the Phil Hansel Invite hosted by Houston where the women's team got second place. 

In the first meet of the season the women's team got second place in a tri-meet against Houston and Arkansas. It marks the second meeting between the Sun Devils and the Lady Owls, the first coming in 2006 where ASU came out victorious, 109-96.

Last season, the Owls had multiple swimmers compete at the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2006.

Grand Canyon:
The Lopes are coming off victories over Ottawa (AZ) and Arizona Christian on Dec. 7th and performed well at the Purdue invite on Nov. 21-23, where the men's team earned a first-place finish and the women finished third, respectively at the meet.

The team fell narrowly to Air Force in November before defeating both Ottawa (AZ) and Arizona Christian in October. 

It marks the second time the Sun Devils will swim against the Lopes, with the first coming in the Arizona Quad-meet on Oct. 12, where the maroon & gold defeated the Lopes both on the men's and women's side.

BIG AWARD WINNERS:
Sun Devil Swim and Dive have won 17 Big 12 weekly awards since the season began from eight different athletes, including sweeping the swimming awards three times since the season began on Oct. 4.

Ilya Kharun earned his fourth weekly conference honor after his performance at the NC State Invite. Bentz earned her fifth weekly conference honor after pacing the Sun Devils to a second place finish in Greensboro, breaking numerous school records.

In addition, Stallworth earned his second weekly diver of the week honor in Greensboro.  A complete list of Big 12 award winners can be found below.

2024-25 Big 12 Weekly Award Winners:
Men's swimming:
Nov. 27: Ilya Kharun (Swimmer of the Week)
Nov. 13: Ilya Kharun (Swimmer of the Week), Lucien Vergnes (Newcomer of the Week)
Oct. 30: Ilya Kharun (Swimmer of the Week), Lucien Vergnes (Newcomer of the Week)
Oct: 16: Tolu Young (Men's Newcomer of the week)
Oct. 9: Ilya Kharun (Men's Swimmer of the Week), Tommy Palmer (Men's Newcomer of the week)

Men's Diving:
Nov. 27: Lane Stallworth (Diver of the Week)
Oct. 30: Lane Stallworth (Co-Diver of the Week)

Women's Swimming:
Nov. 27: Caroline Bentz (Swimmer of the Week)
Nov. 13: Caroline Bentz (Swimmer of the Week), Julia Ullmann (Newcomer of the Week)
Oct 30: Deniz Ertan (Swimmer of the Week), Caroline Bentz (Newcomer of the Week)
Oct. 9: Caroline Bentz (Women's Swimmer & Newcomer of the Week)

IN THE RANKINGS
The Sun Devils remain ranked in both the men and women's CSCAA December polls. The men check in at No. 3 in the country, down a spot from their No. 2 ranking in November and the women moved down a spot to No. 14. Both are the only teams to represent the Big 12 heading into the Spring.

Sun Devils at Short Course World Championships:
Four Sun Devils performed at the World Aquatics Short Course World Championships taking place in Budapest, Hungary on Dec. 10-15. Ilya Kharun represented Canada, Daniel Matheson represented the United States, Deniz Ertan represented Turkey and freshman Tolu Young for Fiji.

Kharun won three medals total, highlighted by becoming a world champion in the 200m butterfly and setting a Canadian Record of 1:48.24. He also won silver in the 50 fly (20.80) and secured a bronze medal in the 4x100 mixed medley relay swimming a 48.27 100m fly.

Young broke two national records for Fiji, swimming a 21.70 50m free and a 23.11 50 fly. Matheson appeared in seven events in Budapest and Ertan had two top-25 finishes in the 500 free and the 800 free.

RETURNING OLYMPIANS:
The Sun Devils return five total Olympians who have competed in the Olympics. Deniz Ertan and Miriam Sheehan both competed in Tokyo in 2021. Tiago Behar, freshman Tolu Young and Ilya Kharun all swam for their respective countries in 2024 in Paris.

Kharun, representing Canada, garnered two bronze medals in Paris, coming in the 200m and the 100m fly after coming off a freshman year where he claimed the 200y fly individual title at NCAA Championships. Similar to his teammate Matheson, he'll also be competing in Budapest at the short-course world championships. Kharun currently holds the school record in the 100 fly (43.95) and 200 fly (1:37.93).

How to Follow:
Follow the meet on Meet mobile and on the team's social media accounts on Twitter/X @ASUSwimDive and on Instagram @sundevilswimdive.