NCAA Men’s Championships: Ilya Kharun Unleashes 17.76 Split to Vault Arizona State to 200 Free Relay Title, NCAA Record
Florida struck first in the fastest heat of the men’s 200 free relay thanks to Josh Liendo and Alex Painter, with Liendo recording the country’s fastest 50 free time at 18.27. But perhaps no lead would have been safe at that point when Ilya Kharun dove into the pool for Arizona State. The double Olympic medalist in butterfly erased the gap in a hurry, an opening lap of 8.37 followed by a 9.39 coming home.
And for the second consecutive night, no one had a chance of catching Jonny Kulow on the end. The Sun Devils senior has been a stalwart finishing out relays in his four years with the program. One night after his anchor split was instrumental in Arizona State’s narrow win in the 200 medley relay, Kulow came through again to finish out the win and NCAA record.
Remi Fabiani led off for ASU in 18.59, and Adam Chaney provided an 18.12 split before the team’s stars went 17s on the back end, 17.76 for Kharun and 17.99 for Kulow. That added up to a time of 1:12.46, taking down the NCAA and U.S. Open records of 1:12.80 set by Tennessee last February.
“We’ve talked about it a lot through the whole season, always focused on relays,” Kulow said. “I feel like relays is a big part of our culture. I think we kind of forget about the records and just know it’s all about racing and who’s the best team that day.”
While Kharun and Kulow have both spent their entire college careers at Arizona State, Fabiani and Chaney are both completing their lone season with the Sun Devils after arriving as graduate transfers, Chaney from Florida and Fabiani from Cal-Baptist. Chaney called the duo the “missing pieces” while Fabiani described his experience at Arizona State as “pretty life-changing.”
“I came from CBU, where I wasn’t by myself but I was the only one chasing NCAAs and having a B-final last year in the 100 free,” Fabiani said. “It’s been pretty eye-opening for me to be able to train with these guys and be able to compete with them, too. Obviously, I get to beat them sometimes, but sometimes they beat me. Just being able to compete with them has been a huge change.”
The veterans realized right away that their team could have special potential. Seven months of highly competitive practices instilled a special bond, evident from the moment these Sun Devils marched out behind the blocks.
“Honestly, it’s like assembling the Avengers. The first day, when Remi dusted me on a 50 dive, I was like, ‘Alright, this is crazy.’ That’s his only time he’s done that. It was literally just all the pieces of the puzzle together,” Kulow said.
“It’s nice not going against them like in practice. It’s nice having them actually on your team, and it’s nice seeing everybody else get the short end of their stick when we’re racing. It’s literally just trust, absolute trust in what they’re going to do. I know Remi’s going to get it done, I know Chaney’s going to spam his (underwaters), I know Ilya’s going to do his thing. Literally not a doubt. Not a single doubt.”
Florida finished second in 1:13.30 with Scotty Buff and Devin Dilger handling the last two legs after Liendo and Painter. Third went to the NC State team of Quintin McCarty, Drew Salls, Jerry Fox and Kai Winkler in 1:13.73, with all three Wolfpack swimmers recording splits between 18.32 and 18.54.
Texas swam the fastest time in the morning heats at 1:14.40, and that was enough to put the Longhorns in a tie with Tennessee for fourth place. Garrett Gould, Rafael Fente-Damers, Hubert Kos and Kyle Peck swam for Texas, and the Vols’ roster included Nikoli Blackman, Gui Caribe, Pedro Samsone and Koby Bujak-Upton. Caribe’s slit of 17.86 was second-quickest overall. One other swimmer went sub-18, LSU’s Jere Hribar (17.95).
A strong showing in this relay helped Texas hang onto the lead at the end of the night with 215.5 points. Florida is just behind with 205, with the relay-winning Sun Devils (133.5), Indiana (132.5) and Cal (124) rounding out the top five. NC State (122), Michigan (115) and Tennessee (107) are also in contention.
Event 9 Men 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
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NCAA: N 1:12.46 3/26/2026 Arizona St
R Fabiani, A Chaney, I Kharun, J Kulow
Meet: M 1:12.46 3/26/2026 Arizona St
R Fabiani, A Chaney, I Kharun, J Kulow
American: A 1:14.13 3/28/2024 NC State
N Henderson, L Miller, J Fox, Q McCarty
U. S. Open: O 1:12.46 3/26/2026 Arizona St
R Fabiani, A Chaney, I Kharun, J Kulow
Pool: P 1:12.46 3/26/2026 Arizona St
R Fabiani, A Chaney, I Kharun, J Kulow
School Seed Finals Points
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1 ASU 1:12.98 1:12.46N 40
1) *Fabiani, Remi 5Y 2) r:0.18 Chaney, Adam 5Y
3) r:+0.11 *Kharun, Ilya JR 4) r:0.17 Kulow, Jonny SR
r:+0.60 8.85 18.59 (18.59)
26.97 (8.38) 36.71 (18.12)
45.08 (8.37) 54.47 (17.76)
1:02.93 (8.46) 1:12.46 (17.99)
2 Florida 1:14.44 1:13.30 34
1) *Liendo, Josh SR 2) r:0.04 *Painter, Alexander SO
3) r:0.17 Buff, Scotty JR 4) r:0.11 Dilger, Devin SO
r:+0.64 8.83 18.27 (18.27)
26.56 (8.29) 36.39 (18.12)
45.20 (8.81) 54.93 (18.54)
1:03.42 (8.49) 1:13.30 (18.37)
3 NC State 1:14.02 1:13.73 32
1) McCarty, Quintin JR 2) r:0.16 Salls, Drew SR
3) r:0.30 Fox, Jerry JR 4) r:0.16 *Winkler, Kaii SO
r:+0.62 8.83 18.54 (18.54)
26.98 (8.44) 36.86 (18.32)
45.53 (8.67) 55.25 (18.39)
1:04.01 (8.76) 1:13.73 (18.48)
4 Texas 1:15.64 1:14.40 29
1) Gould, Garrett SO 2) r:0.18 *Fente-Damers, fael FR
3) r:0.19 *Kos, Hubert SR 4) r:0.15 Peck, Kyle SO
r:+0.59 9.00 18.92 (18.92)
27.71 (8.79) 37.55 (18.63)
46.16 (8.61) 55.77 (18.22)
1:04.48 (8.71) 1:14.40 (18.63)
4 Tennessee 1:15.27 1:14.40 29
1) *Blackman, Nikoli JR 2) r:0.20 *Caribe, Gui SR
3) r:0.19 Sansone, Pedro SO 4) r:0.36 *Bujak-Upton, Koby FR
r:+0.64 9.13 18.93 (18.93)
27.28 (8.35) 36.79 (17.86)
45.44 (8.65) 55.37 (18.58)
1:04.48 (9.11) 1:14.40 (19.03)
6 California 1:14.81 1:14.63 26
1) *Wrede, Martin FR 2) r:0.09 Battaglini, Lucca SO
3) r:0.19 Petty, Evan 5Y 4) r:0.05 *Puggaard, Casper FR
r:+0.64 9.10 19.16 (19.16)
27.67 (8.51) 37.46 (18.30)
46.13 (8.67) 55.87 (18.41)
1:04.55 (8.68) 1:14.63 (18.76)
7 Michigan 1:15.71 1:14.64 24
1) *Eidam, Ole SO 2) r:0.13 Ray, Tyler SR
3) r:0.09 Geer, Colin JR 4) r:0.20 Wilkening, Jack SR
r:+0.58 9.26 19.32 (19.32)
27.90 (8.58) 37.54 (18.22)
46.48 (8.94) 56.40 (18.86)
1:04.99 (8.59) 1:14.64 (18.24)
8 Louisville 1:14.91 1:14.94 22
1) *Sheremet, Nikita FR 2) r:0.16 Crush, Charlie SR
3) r:0.12 Musso, Aidan SO 4) r:0.17 Graham, Rian SO
r:+0.68 9.00 18.74 (18.74)
27.51 (8.77) 37.50 (18.76)
46.11 (8.61) 56.02 (18.52)
1:04.82 (8.80) 1:14.94 (18.92)
