ASU men swim to first Pac-12 title
Bowman-led Sun Devils break 8 school records, snap Cal’s league win streak
Besides head coach Bob Bowman, no one else on the Arizona State men’s swimming team knew the labor it would take to get a Pac-12 Championship as well as Grant House.
Since joining the program in 2017, House has seen Bowman’s master plan take shape.
At times, there were some hardships and reminders that the best was still years away. But House never wavered. Now, as a graduate student, House is on the top-ranked team and the first nonCalifornia men’s program to win a Pac-12 title.
“It’s pretty incredible to see the difference of my freshman year and maybe only having 11 or 12 of us at a meet even and then almost getting beat by Utah,” House said. “And then this year to see a class of seven freshman alone holding up the Pac-12 title trophy, it definitely got my tears going on that one.”
ASU broke eight program records and snapped California’s streak of fivestraight Pac-12 titles.
Bringing in program-defining swimmers like Léon Marchand and Zalan Sarkany skyrocketed the program.
Marchand set a new NCAA record in the 200 breast at 1:47.67 and won all three individual races, including the 200 IM and 400 IM. The sophomore was named the Swimmer of the Meet for the second consecutive year.
“We had to build a high-performance culture and that took a lot of time because we had to not only bring in the people who could do that, we had some people filter out as we moved along,” Bowman said. “Each year just got better and better, and once we got Leon last year, our talent level really jumped up. All the pieces are in place.”
As a testament to the program’s growth, Sarkany revitalized the distance swimming portion of the event for ASU. The true freshman set the program record in the 1650 free with a time of 14:41.65 and was the school’s first Pac-12 Champion in the mile since CJ Nuess in 2008.
“Ever since Bob has come here, it’s kind of shaken up the swimming world,” redshirt junior Jack Dolan said. “We built a program over the past few years and we know we are a real contender for the title. I think other teams have taken notice. Obviously, nobody wants to get beat by a team that was cut over 10 years ago.”
This year, what has set ASU apart from other programs is that the swimmers feel as if they don’t have anything to lose. Unlike other NCAA powerhouses, ASU doesn’t feel the immense pressure of a down year.
“Guys at like Cal, Texas, and Florida, they have spots to lose,” House said. “They’ve been up there for four or five years, two decades. It’s their spot to lose and they’ve always had the target and they’re used to it, maybe. That’s something we don’t have to worry about because we’re just climbing the ranks every year and getting better and improving our ability every year.”
That environment has been conducive
to a talent like Marchand.
“One of the main things is that I’m trying to have fun every practice,” Marchand said. “In swimming, it’s kind of hard to enjoy the process sometimes because it’s very hard to at 6 a.m. If you have fun at every practice, it’s easier and with those boys, it’s easier to get going.”
The freedom he feels in the pool is contagious. For House, he’s finally a part of a team that is close to fulfilling the once lofty goals set in place. Through this team, he’s able to find peace.
“I get to swim with Leon and I just know that he just makes it fun every day,” House said. “When I came in, I kind of expected him to be this very Type-A, very straight-forward guy. He is so relaxed and so calm about everything. Even before the races, I continually
find myself gravitating towards him because I’m more that too tense and too focused person too often. Having his energy and his aura around is very comforting.”
The work is not yet finished, but the foundation has already been laid. Bowman’s rigorous training style throughout the season has prepared the team for its biggest task: the NCAA Championships on March 22-25 in Minneapolis.
“The culture with the guys is a little different in the way there’s a belief in each other that we haven’t had in previous years,” Doland said. “We’ve been fighting to make a name for ourselves the last few years, now we have a belief in each other that we actually can compete for an NCAA championship. The coaches believe in us, we believe in each other, so that’s been the main thing.”