Marchand dominates 400 IM at NCAA swimming championships

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Arizona State’s Leon Marchand crushed his NCAA record in the 400-yard IM on Friday night at the NCAA men’s swimming and diving championships.

Marchand became the first swimmer to go below 3:30 in the history of the event with a time of 3:28.82. Defending champion Hugo Gonzalez of Cal finished second in a season-best 3:34.66.

Cal, looking to defend its team title, sits atop the standings after Day 3 of the four-day competition with 315 points. Arizona State is second with 302 and Texas third at 292.

Youssef Ramadan earned Virginia Tech’s first NCAA individual title in program history with a school-record time of 43.15 in the 100-yard butterfly. Ramadan finished third in the event last season. Stanford’s Andrei Minakov, the defending champion, came in fourth.

Texas sophomore Luke Hobson followed up his win in the 500-yard freestyle with an NCAA title in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:30.43. Hobson has two individual titles in the meet and three overall.

Minnesota’s Max McHugh won his third straight 100-yard breaststroke title with a time of 50.00. His win in 2021 was the first individual title for the Gophers since 1964.

Indiana senior Brendan Burns won the 100-yard backstroke in 43.61 after a runner-up finish last season. He’s the first Indiana champion in the event in 15 years. North Carolina State senior Kacper Stokowski, the defending champion, came in second at 43.86.

Indiana also captured the 3-meter diving title as Andrew Capobianco won his third championship in the event with a score of 522.60.

Florida won the 400-yard medley relay for the second time in school history, joining the 1991 team, with an NCAA record time of 2:58.32. Indiana and Arizona State also broke the previous record.

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