PHOENIX – Last summer, Paris crowds chanted “Lé-on! Lé-on!” in support of French swimmer Léon Marchand, the breakout star of the 2024 Summer Olympics. But long before his Olympic stardom, Marchand was part of Arizona State University’s swimming and diving program’s evolution into a collegiate powerhouse.
Now, even after Marchand and legendary coach Bob Bowman have moved on, ASU men’s and women’s swimming and diving is still making waves due in part to the culture and environment the program has developed.
Five Sun Devils from the 2024-25 roster will represent their countries at the World Aquatics Championships, set for July 26–Aug. 3 in Singapore. In addition, coach Herbie Behm will be there as an assistant for Team USA, alongside several former Sun Devils now swimming professionally.
“If we were a country, we would be a full team,” Behm said. “Our 4×100 freestyle relay could probably win as we have half of the first-seeded USA team. Our top four would pretty likely medal, and if we just took an ASU team, we would be pretty high up in the medal count.”
Dylan Gravley qualified to swim the men’s 5k and 10k open-water races for Team USA. In the pool, Patrick Sammon and Jonny Kulow will compete in the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay. However, Team USA won’t be the only country represented by Sun Devils as Ilya Kharun, a two-time Paris Olympics bronze medalist, will swim the 50-, 100- and 200-meter butterfly for Team Canada, which also selected Filip Senc-Samardzic for its men’s 4×100 freestyle relay team.
These athletes competing at the world championships are the latest milestone for a program that has come a long way. In 2008, ASU cut men’s swimming due to budget constraints, only to reinstate it months later after a grassroots fundraising effort.
In 2015, the university hired Bowman, Michael Phelps’ longtime coach, with a mission to elevate the program. That mission was fulfilled in 2024 when ASU captured its first NCAA men’s team title – a moment Kulow and Senc-Samardzic still call the highlight of their college swimming careers.
The national championship brought a new level of attention from fans, members of the ASU community and others invested in college swimming.
Aaron Hernandez, assistant dean and executive director of the Allan “Bud” Selig Sports Law and Business Program at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, reminisced on what the team’s national title meant for the university.
“One of my favorite moments at ASU happened last year when I saw our men’s swim team win the national championship,” Hernandez said. “ASU’s not used to winning national championships – the last one our school won was in 2017. It was an amazing moment. I had guys in my program who were part of that team. I’d built relationships with the coaches, and to see them achieve their goal here was such a special moment.”
This year, Behm led both the men’s and women’s teams to Big 12 Conference Championships in his first year at the helm. While the men claimed their third straight conference crown – and first as members of the Big 12 – the women won their first title. Though the men didn’t repeat as national champions, they finished in the top 10 for the fourth straight year.
Before turning his attention to preparations for next season, Behm is overseeing training for a dozen current and former Sun Devils as they gear up to compete against the best swimmers in the world. Behm and the Team USA swimmers will go to Thailand for a 10-day training camp to prepare for the competition. Meanwhile, Kharun, Senc-Samardzic and the rest of Team Canada will gather and prepare in Japan.
While Kulow and Senc-Samardzic are excited to spend time with teammates in their pre-meet training camps, they’re most looking forward to competing for a world championship. Both of these athletes qualified in the 4×100 freestyle relay, and they’re eager to see who swims faster if they race in the same heat or final.
“You can call them races in practice,” Senc-Samardzic said. “Usually, I just put on a clinic, but I hope I could go up against Jonny in the relay. He’s cooked, he’s cooked. If we were able to compete against each other at the same time on the same relay, that would be dope.”
Behm, who did not get the chance to compete on a world stage during his swimming career, said the trip to the world championships represents a meaningful experience for him, especially as he will be there alongside many ASU swimmers who have flourished under his development.
“It’s super exciting as it’s something that every swimmer dreams of doing,” Behm said. “It’s super exciting for myself as a coach, but the most meaningful thing is to do that on the same team with Jonny and Patty. Probably what I am most looking forward to is the first day’s 4×100 freestyle relay, which they both qualified for. To have such a huge part of Team USA coming out of ASU is incredible.”
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
