Top-ranked Arizona State men's swim remains one of the school's best kept secrets

The Arizona State men’s swim program has worked and thrived in silence over the last few years.

Head coach Bob Bowman’s labor into the program was starting to see returns last season when the ASU men recorded their highest finish of sixth place at the NCAA Championship in the last 40 years.

And last year’s success turned out to not be a fluke either.

Competing in the Pac-12 has shaped the Sun Devils with the conference producing storied swim programs and housing Olympians. The men’s program retained last year’s core and has climbed up for its first-ever No. 1 ranking in the country.

Not only has Léon Marchand set the collegiate swim scene ablaze with two broken NCAA records, but other areas have significant depth from distance to relays.

“I didn't know I would be at this level right now when I came to ASU,” Marchand said. “We were maybe top-10 when I came here and the team was already climbing a lot of steps. Last year, I think we took maybe nine swimmers to NCAAs and I feel like this year we’re going to bring like twice as more.”

It’s no secret that Marchand is destined for a special swimming career. There was a high standard set when the Olympian joined the program last season and he still exceeded expectations.

As a true freshman, Marchand set an NCAA record in the 200 IM and took the title in the 200 breast at the NCAA Championships. He became ASU’s first individual champion since Attila Czene in 2000.

This season hasn’t been anything short of stunning. Against the reigning national champion California in Tempe, Marchand blazed through his 400 IM race and set the NCAA record at 3:31.84.

“My family was in the stands and we packed the house so that was pretty cool,” Marchand said. “My teammates were all on the deck and we’re a pretty big team. It was very fun to do it here and I was very surprised by the time.”

In addition to the 400 IM, Marchand has the top marks in the 100 breast, 200 breast, 200 fly, 100 IM, and 200 IM.

Marchand’s run at the top is backed by his teammates hitting higher marks this season. Graduate student Grant House leads the nation in the 200 free (1:31.51) and is second in the 100 IM. Redshirt junior Alex Colson ranks second in the 200 fly, while redshirt junior Jack Dolan is within the top five in the 100 back and 50 free events.

The relays have dominated with ASU holding the country’s best 200 free relay time and ranking second in all other relays.

“When you see someone break an NCAA record in a dual meet – which I don’t know if that’s happened in the last 50 years – it gives you an idea of what’s possible if you work really hard,” Bowman said. “They see what he does every day in practice, so it raises their individual expectations.”

Bowman’s expectations of winning a national championship became more pronounced once distance swimmer Zalan Sarkany joined ASU in January. Sarkany, a true freshman from Hungary, broke Scott Brackett's 1000 free record set in 1984 in his first race. He set an even better mark in the same race the next day (8:50.25) and is fifth in the nation.

“Having him here and training has really raised the level of the rest of the group,” Bowman said. “It's going to make that area of our team incredibly strong. I think that's what it's done for us. It's just added a level of excitement about those events, and certainly scored more points."

The Sun Devils have one dual meet remaining with Arizona coming to Tempe on Saturday. The looming start of the Pac-12 Championships has ASU setting its focus on team goals with an eventual bid for the NCAA title.

"We have a team that is very goal-oriented and very process-oriented to achieve those goals," Bowman said. "Everyone is bought into the philosophy we have that the process is more important than the outcome... I think our culture is very strong. And that's why the team is very strong."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: No. 1 Arizona State men's swim is one of the school's best kept secrets