ASU continues excellence in Olympic sports as wrestling, swim and dive win Pac-12 titles

Arizona State had a big weekend in its ongoing swan song in the Pac-12 Conference as both the men's swim and dive and wrestling programs won conference titles in the Pacific Northwest.

Wrestling and men's swim and dive have been a stronghold at the same time for ASU in recent years. Swim and dive became the first non-California school to become Pac-12 champions last season. Wrestling won its fourth title in the past five seasons and the sixth under head coach Zeke Jones.

On Saturday, ASU men's swim and dive repeated as Pac-12 champions at Washington. The Sun Devils delivered yet another dominant performance with 11 school and three NCAA records shattered across 16 wins.

The winning continued on Sunday when wrestling won its 24th Pac-12 Championship title at Oregon State's Gill Coliseum. The Sun Devils won both the first conference tournament in 1963 and the last. 

Neither program won by a small margin either. Swim and dive won by an outstanding margin of victory of over 303 points over Stanford with 1,036 total points. Their total points marked the second-highest in conference history since California in 1995. Wrestling scored 137.5 team points against runner-up Little Rock (114.5). 

The teams were highlighted by strong individual performances as well, including junior Léon Marchand winning Pac-12 Swimmer of the Meet for the third year in a row. Marchand won his ninth individual event in the 200 breast, clocking in a time of 1:48.60. He also set an NCAA record in the 500 free and the 400 individual medley.

Wrestling finished with five individual champions for ASU, including Jacori Teemer (157) and Cohlton Schultz (285) who became the sixth and seventh wrestlers in conference history to win four conference championship titles. 

Once wrestling got the final session underway, it was evident there was something special going on. ASU won four of the first five bouts of the final session, courtesy of Richard Figueroa (125), Jesse Vasquez (141), Kyle Parco (149) and Teemer.

ASU delivered a special performance with its swim team as Jack Dolan, Marchand, Ilya Kharun, and Jonny Kulow set an NCAA record in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:20.55. Sophomore Hubert Kós won the 200 back at 1:35.69, the fastest time ever. Kós won three individual events, including the 100 back and 200 IM.

Both programs will have a busy month ahead of the NCAA Championships. Wrestling will travel to Kansas City from March 21-23 with more than half of their starting roster qualified. Swim will head to Indianapolis March 27-30.

All four Sun Devil men's divers will compete at the NCAA Zone E qualifier in Flagstaff from March 11-13.