Big 12 Championships, Night 1: Arizona State Seeks Repeat Sweep
The first season of the reconfigured Big 12 Conference belonged to Arizona State. The Sun Devils won both the men’s and women’s titles at the meet, and they’ve positioned themselves as the favorites again this season.
The quest starts Tuesday night at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, where the Sun Devils have a chance to start the meet with a 4-for-4 relay performance. The men’s team is the top seed in both relays, while the women lead by a wide margin in the 800 free but are .04 behind in-state and former Pac-12 rival Arizona in the 200 medley relay.
The conference also announced on Tuesday that it will return to the GAC for the 2027 championships on the same week, the third time and third straight year that the Big 12 Championships have been hosted by a neutral site.
All the action from Night 1:
Women’s 200 medley relay
The University of Arizona, whose only relay win last year came in the 200 freestyle relay, showed its sprint chops from the get-go, defending its top seed with a time of 1:35.54 to open the meet with a win.
The quartet of Lila Lillie (24.21), Eleni Gewalt (26.64), Patricija Kondraskaite (23.40) and Julia Wozniak (21.29) improved their seed time by half second to get the win. It’s also the only NCAA qualification cut of the meet.
Arizona State finished second in 1:36.10, .01 off the automatic time and a provisional cut. Miriam Sheehan, Ginger McMahon, Julia Ullmann and Albane Cachot comprised that team, Cachot bringing it home in 21.30. Cincinnati was third in 1:36.84, four tenths off the provisional standard. Kansas was a distant fourth.
Men’s 200 medley relay
The ASU men were slower than their seed time but still nearly four seconds faster than the field to coast to the victory. Adam Chaney (20.45), Andy Dobrzanski (23.20), Ilya Kharun (18.89) and Tommy Palmer (18.42) led the way in 1:20:96.
That is a meet record, downing the 1:21.16 that Arizona State used to win last year on the way to finished fourth at NCAAs. Arizona State (with Jonny Kulow on the anchor instead of Palmer) set the conference record at 1:20.56 at December’s CSCAA dual meet challenge with a time that is .01 of the school record from the 2024 postseason.
Second was Arizona in 1:24.83, 1.62 seconds slower than their in-season best. Duncan Henderson, Tavner Wisdom, Haakon Naughton and Taylor Luck comprised the squad. TCU edged BYU by a tenth for fourth in 1:25.06.
Women’s team diving
Utah won women’s team diving with a combined score of 312.55 points, just .30 up on TCU. Houston gets a boost after a DQ in the 200 medley relay by finishing third. Arizona was fourth, Arizona State sixth.
Women’s 800 freestyle relay
Men’s 800 freestyle relay
Men’s team diving
