Leon Marchand and Charli Brown Light Up ASU’s Intrasquad Pentathlon (Video)

ASU Maroon & Gold Intrasquad

• September 23, 2022
• Mona Plummer Aquatic Center, Tempe AZ
• SCY (25 yards)
• Full Results 
• Full Men’s Penathlon Results
• Full Women’s Pentathlon Results

The Arizona State Sun Devils kicked off their season with a bang at the Maroon & Gold Intrasquad Meet, dropping some serious times for this early in the season.

The meet ran as a pentathlon, with swimmers–including some of ASU’s pro group–suiting up for five events: a 100 of each stroke, then a 100 IM at the end. While there are winners of each event, times from all five races were added up to crown Leon Marchand and Charli Brown as the winners of the Sun Devil Challenge.

Men’s Edition

No surprises here, it was 200 and 400-meter IM world champion Marchand who took the win on the men’s side, blasting to a 3:53.31 overall time. He won every event except the 100 free, which went to  Grant House in 42.19. House was second overall in 3:55.52, the only other swimmer under the 4:00 minute mark. He also finished top three in each event. David Schlicht rounded out the top three with a 4:02.70. Below are Marchand’s times for each event:

• 100 Fly — 45.68
• 100 Back — 46.47
• 100 Breast — 52.00
• 100 Free — 42.53
• 100 IM — 46.63

46.63 is unofficially the second fastest SCY 100 IM in history. Only Shaine Casas has been faster, when he logged 46.33 at a Texas A&M dual meet in December 2020. Before that, the fastest verifiable SCY men’s 100 IM was 47.06 done by Matt Grevers in a race against Michael Phelps and David Nolan in 2016.

In addition to the blistering 100 IM to finish up the meet, the time that really stands out is his 52.00 100 breaststroke. That puts him less than two-tenths away from the ASU school record, which is held by John Heaphy at 51.82. Heaphy, a redshirt junior, clocked 53.76 to finish fifth in the event.

For context, being under 4 minutes for the pentathlon is incredibly fast. Cal runs a similar event with Cal Poly called King and Queen of the Pool, and while we can’t guarantee the same conditions, Hugo Gonzalez won the 2021 edition in 4:05.15. Zheng Quah won with a 4:02.68 in 2019. Texas, Virginia, and Indiana race quadrathlons with 50s of stroke.

Update: ASU Associate Head Coach Herbie Behm has said on Twitter that the whole meet took an hour and fifteen minutes, which gives a better sense of how much rest the athletes got in between races. 

The fact that ASU had not only one but two swimmers under 4 minutes is hugely exciting for a program that’s looking to play spoiler at both the conference and national levels. Though Marchand will likely stick to the IMs and 200s of stroke, the fact that his speed is already there so early in the season is a promising sign.

Watch Marchand close out his 100 IM below:

World Champion doing World Champion things 😮‍💨

Léon Marchand closes out our intrasquad with a 46.63 in the 100 IM 😈 pic.twitter.com/eNh0xkTsXP

— Sun Devil Swim/Dive (@ASUSwimDive) September 23, 2022

Among the pros, Chase Kalisz finished fifth in 4:07.26, while Jay Litherland was 13th with a 4:16.44.

Women’s Edition

The women’s edition of the pentathlon was similarly speedy. Sophomore Charli Brown took the win, ripping a 4:35.53 to win by 3.63 seconds ahead of Lindsay Looney. The gap between second and third was much tighter, as Looney got the better of Ieva Maluka, 4:39.16 to 4:39.77.

Brown won both the 100 back and 100 IM, taking the wins in 53.90 and 55.19, respectively. She won the 100 back by over a second, and picked up most of her time on Looney in the 100 breast. There, Brown clocked 1:02.24 to place second well ahead of Looney who finished eighth in 1:04.81. Below are all of Brown’s times:

• 100 fly — 54.36
• 100 back — 53.90
• 100 breast — 1:02.24
• 100 free — 49.84
• 100 IM — 55.19

Last season, the Australian’s championship meet was the PAC-12 Championships, where her best finish was 12th in the 400 IM.

Looney also won two events, posting 52.80 in the 100 fly and 49.60 in the 100 free to place first. Looney was the Sun Devil women’s best scorer at 2022 NCAAs with seven points. Those are ASU’s only returning points on the women’s side, as they’ve graduated fifth-years Erica Laning and Emma Nordin.

The overall times that the women put up are also some of the fastest pentathlon times we’ve seen. Comparing them again with Cal’s edition of the race, last year Izzy Ivey was crowned Queen of the Pool with a 4:39.91, and Abbey Weitzeil won in 2019 in 4:38.76.

It’s still early in the season, but that’s a huge confidence boost for a women’s team that graduated most of its NCAA points and is looking for the same breakthrough that the men have had. Looney will certainly be an important part of that push, and now it looks like Brown will be as well.

Up next, the Sun Devils start inter-collegiate racing on September 30, when they face the Georgia Bulldogs. The next day on October 1, they have a tri-meet versus Georgia and Missouri.