Big 12 Championships, Day 2 Prelims: Ilya Kharun’s 18.47 Leads Arizona State’s 50 Free Domination
After a pair of relay wins in Tuesday’s opening night, Arizona State is in a strong position on the first full day of the 2026 Big 12 Championships. The efforts in Greensboro may be as much about claiming a second straight crown as in positioning themselves for NCAAs next month.
They’re off to a quick start, including Ilya Kharun’s time of 18.47 to claim the top seed in the 50 freestyle in prelims on Tuesday. ASU has each of the top six places in that event
Big 12 Championship Team Scores
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 6 1. Arizona State University 180 2. University of Utah 168 3. University of Arizona 166 4. Texas Christian University 162 5. Brigham Young University 148 6. University of Cincinnati 144 7. West Virginia University 142
Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 5 1. University of Arizona 172 2. Arizona State University 168 3. University of Cincinnati 158 4. University of Utah 150 4. Texas Christian University 150 6. University of Kansas 148 7. Brigham Young University 136 8. Iowa State University 122 9. West Virginia University 120 10. University of Houston 106
All the action from the first day of prelims:
Women’s 500 freestyle
There’s a bit of a surprise as the top seed for finals. It’s not reigning champion Alexa Reyna, who was third in prelims at 4:45.88. It’s not her Arizona State teammate Deniz Ertan, who entered as the top seed and is second in 4:45.64.
No, it’s Gabi Dyer, the Kansas sophomore who entered as the sixth seed but dropped more than a second in prelims to go 4:45.52. Dyer finished 21st in this event last year as a freshman.
Arizona State also pushed Grace Lindberg into the A final in fifth. TCU’s Avery Dillon was fourth in 4:46.91. Arizona has only Elise Clift in the A final in sixth.
Men’s 500 freestyle
Perhaps the least dominant of the Arizona State events still sees the Sun Devils with the top seed and the sixth-best time from prelims. Freshman Noah Madudu dropped more than five seconds from his seed time to leap from eighth entering the meet to the middle lane of the final in 4:15.41.
He’ll be joined by ASU teammate Reece Grady in fifth. That somewhat cushions the blow of top seed Mattia Mauri, an Arizona State freshman, crashing from the top seed to 10th, his time of 4:21.93 more than five seconds slower than his seed time.
Five A finalists return from last year. Arizona’s Joel Nace was seeded 12th but dropped nearly four seconds to the second seed in 4:17.61. Teammate Peck Barnham secured the eighth and final spot in finals.
Utah has three in the A final, led by Nick Chirafisi in third. Jones Lambert was sixth, Nolan Arnholt seventh. BYU’s Tanner Nelson finished fourth.
Women’s 200 individual medley
Arizona State entered with the top two seeds on the pysch sheet. It finished prelims with four of the top six finishers, five A finalists and six in the top 11.
Jordan Greber led the way with a time of 1:58.28 for the top seed. She was sixth tenths up on Houston’s Alexia Duncan for that honor. Greber was 10th in this event as a freshman last year.
Then came the rest of the Sun Devils. Julia Ullmann, taking a flier on the 200 IM without a seed time, went 1:58.91 for third. Sonia Vaishnani, the third seed, sits fourth at 1:58.98. Last year’s runner-up Zoe Summar was sixth in 1:59.80. Ella Guilfoil was eighth.
Arizona has Paige Armstrong in fifth in 1:59.66. Houston’s Evelyn Entrekin was seventh, the final swimmer under two minutes.
Men’s 200 individual medley
Jordan Tiffany led the way for Arizona State with a time of 1:43.99, with teammate Lucien Vergnes second in 1:44.85. JT Ewing, the second seed entering, slipped into the A final in seventh in 1:45.49, 2.5 seconds behind his seed time.
There’s going to be a wild swim-off, with three swimmers tied for eighth in 1:45.70. That group includes Michel Hochwalt of ASU, last year’s runner-up.
Utah’s Evan VanBrocklin was third, his time of 1:44.92 .05 up on teammate Finn Winkler.
Women’s 50 freestyle
Arizona’s sprint squad showed out by taking times one, three and five. Riley Botton defended her top seed by going 21.90, just .01 over Albane Cachot of ASU. Julia Wozniak was third in 22.17, with Patricija Kondraskaite fifth in 22.28.
ASU has three A finalists, with Shane Golland seventh and Miriam Sheehan eighth. Joining them in the A final are Erin Palmer of Utah in fourth and Molly Cullen of TCU in sixth.
Men’s 50 freestyle
1-2-3-4-5-6-8. That’s the finish for Arizona State in prelims of the 50 free.
Ilya Kharun led the way in 18.47. Adam Chaney followed in 18.84, .03 up on a tie between Jonny Kulow and Remi Fabiani. Tolu Young went 18.96. Tommy Palmer is at 19.01. Pity for Quin Seider, whose 19.22 was a tenth behind Arizona’s Duncan Henderson in throwing the Tucson block for seventh.
Arizona settled for seventh, ninth, 11th, 12th, 13th and two guys tied for 14th. That leaves TCU’s Peter Horton as literally the lone non-Arizonan in the A or B final.
