Arizona State Sets NCAA Record in the Men’s 400 Freestyle Relay
As it was stomping its way through Big 12 opposition this weekend, Arizona State was by turns flirting with history.
Its 200 medley relay was within .04 seconds of the American record set by Indiana last year, close enough to wonder if the ink had dried on Ilya Kharun’s switch of nationalities back to the United States. The 400 medley set a conference record. The 200 free put a good scare into Tennessee’s NCAA record of last year, only Remi Fabiani’s Luxembourg heritage sparing an American record from being blown out of the water by more than a second.
Saturday, borrowed relay record time came due.
The 400 freestyle relay of Kharun, Adam Chaney, Fabiani and Jonny Kulow went 2:41.15, cleaving .15 seconds off the NCAA record set by Tennessee at NCAAs last year.
The highlight is a dead-on 40.00 by Fabiani on the third leg and a 40.08 on the anchor by Kulow. Kharun went 40.86 off the front, just two tenths off the conference record Fabiani set earlier in the session in winning the 100 free in 40.67. (Kulow had owned that mark at 40.83 from last year).
The splits from the Sun Devils on Saturday night in wrapping up a title:
Event 44 Men 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
==================================================================================
NCAA D1: ! 2:42.30 3/29/2025 Tennessee
Caribe, Taylor, Blackman, Crooks
American: $ 2:44.31 3/24/2018 North Carolina State
Held, Ress, Molacek, Stewart
US Open: & 2:42.30 3/29/2025 Tennessee
Caribe, Taylor, Blackman, Crooks
Big 12: * 2:43.22 3/29/2025 Arizona State University
Kharun, Sammon, Palmer, Kulow
Meet: # 2:44.03 3/1/2025 Arizona State University
I Kharun, P Sammon, T Palmer, J Kulow
School Seed Finals Points
==================================================================================
1 ASU 2:45.94 2:42.15! 64
1) Kharun, Ilya JR 2) r:0.36 Chaney, Adam GS
3) r:0.20 Fabiani, Remi GS 4) r:-0.01 Kulow, Jonny SR
r:+0.64 9.42 19.65 (19.65)
30.48 (30.48) 40.86 (40.86)
49.65 (8.79) 1:00.00 (19.14)
1:11.08 (30.22) 1:22.07 (41.21)
1:30.65 (8.58) 1:40.82 (18.75)
1:51.59 (29.52) 2:02.07 (40.00)
2:10.52 (8.45) 2:20.72 (18.65)
2:31.45 (29.38) 2:42.15 (40.08)
And the splits from Tennessee last year:
1 Tennessee 2:42.41 2:42.30N 40
1) Caribe, Guilherme JR 2) r:0.23 Taylor, Lamar 5Y
3) r:0.14 Blackman, Nikoli SO 4) r:0.21 Crooks, Jordan SR
r:+0.58 19.28 40.57 (40.57)
59.68 (19.11) 1:21.59 (41.02)
1:40.95 (19.36) 2:02.94 (41.35)
2:21.29 (18.35) 2:42.30 (39.36)
Arizona State’s own history is instructive here. The Sun Devils set the NCAA Championships record in 2024 with the team of Leon Marchand, Jack Dolan, Patrick Sammon and Kulow, to punctuate the school’s first national title. That team went 2:43.40. Two years – and one four-time Olympic gold medalist – later, the Sun Devils are not just faster but by more than a second.
AN NCAA RECORD TO END THE MEET!
Jonny Kulow brings home the 400 free relay (2:42.15) title to cap off the week!!
💻: ESPN+ #ForksUp /// #O2V /// @TheSunDevils pic.twitter.com/VHsR5lSkwY
— Sun Devil Swim/Dive (@ASUSwimDive) March 1, 2026
