As the whistles echoed around the humid Mona Plummer Aquatic Center for the first meet of the season on Friday, ASU sealed a pair of dominant victories against UNLV.
The two wins mark the first of head coach Herbie Behm's tenure, with the No. 6 men outscoring the Rebels 217-83 and the No. 21 women 236-64.
The Sun Devils came out hot, breaking a school record in the day's first race. ASU swam a 1:37.05 in the women's 200-yard medley relay, beating the record from 2019.
Senior Iza Adame was the only returner out of the four that broke the record. As for the rest of the relay team, sophomore Miriam Sheehan transferred from NC State, graduate Caroline Bentz came from Virginia Tech, and Julia Ullmann is a freshman.
Senior Charli Brown was quick to praise the newcomers.
"The freshman class this year and the transfers that we have are so strong," Brown said. "As a women's team, we have a really good culture right now that we've built outside of the pool, and I think that's transitioning into the pool."
Brown won the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard freestyle, helping the ASU women's side sweep all races.
READ MORE: Head Coach Herbie Behm swapped swimming for coaching at ASU
Ilya Kharun, who swam for Canada in the Paris Olympics, was nervous about returning for his first meet back with the Sun Devils.
"Well, at first it was a bit rough because I took such a big break," Kharun said. "But, I’m really glad I’m back with this team. I love this team."
The two-time Olympic bronze medal winner wasn’t letting the nerves get to him. He won all four races he participated in including the 200-yard butterfly, which he won by more than six seconds.
Kharun attributes his consistency in many races to Behm and his conditioning outside of practice. While Kharun hopes to help the ASU team, he also hopes to return to the Olympics and compete for more than just bronze.
"Two bronze medals is awesome, but I really want to be up there with Léon," Kharun said.
However, the team and Behm weren't fully satisfied with the performance.
"I think it was a mixed bag of execution, but in general, I thought they raced well," Behm said. "There's still a lot of detailed things we can clean up."
READ MORE: ASU swimming for success as defending national champion
Following the men's NCAA title last season, both the men's and women's teams have a hopeful outlook for the road ahead. With so many big meets along the way, Brown is confident in the team that Herbie and company have put together.
"I definitely think we've built up something that is going to be really gnarly by the end of the season as well," Brown said.
Next up for the Sun Devils is a quad-meet against NAU, GCU and UA on Oct. 12 in Tempe, marking the first time all four Arizona schools will compete against each other.
Edited by Jack Barron, Sophia Braccio and Madeline Schmitke.
Reach the reporter at jkmccar2@asu.edu and follow @jackmccarthyasu on X.
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Jack is a junior studying sports journalism with a minor in business. This is his first semester with The State Press. He has also worked at his high school paper.
