2024 NCAA Champion Zalan Sarkany Verbally Commits To Transfer To NC State | SwimSwam

By James Sutherland on SwimSwam

Reigning NCAA champion Zalan Sarkany is transferring to NC State for the 2024-25 season, Hungarian media reported Wednesday, ending his two-year run at Arizona State.

Sarkany told SwimSwam that he has made a verbal commitment to transfer but it has not been finalized.

Sarkany’s move to NC State makes him one of two Sun Devil swimmers who didn’t either stay in Tempe under new head coach Herbie Behm, or follow former head coach Bob Bowman to Texas, with Bowman moving on from the NCAA champions at ASU to Texas on April 1.

Sarkany, 20, is coming off a standout sophomore year with the Sun Devils that included winning the men’s NCAA title in the 1650 freestyle and scoring in the 500 free (12th) as the ASU men won their first national title in program history.

According to Hungarian media outlet Magyar Nemzet, Sarkany said Bowman’s move to Texas was a surprise, and he didn’t feel compelled to follow him after doing a good chunk of his training under ASU distance coach Logan Hirka.

Some of ASU’s top swimmers did follow Bowman, including Frenchman Leon Marchand and Hungarian Hubert Kos, while a large number of them opted to stay with Behm in Tempe, including Ilya Kharun and Jonny Kulow.

In addition to Sarkany, the other ASU swimmer to move to a new school that wasn’t Texas was Owen McDonald, who transferred to Indiana (which Sarkany considered).

Once the Sun Devils’ championship squad was broken up, Sarkany knew he wanted to go to a school where distance was more of a focal point in training.

“I experienced a lot of things in Arizona, and I can definitely say that I didn’t feel the efficiency during the long-term training sessions that I did at home with László Szokolai,” Sarkany told Magyar Nemzet. “I definitely wanted to go to a university where long distances are the focus. The best options seemed to be Indiana University and North Carolina State.”

Sarkany said he spoke to NC State distance coach Mark Bernardino and figured the fit was right for him to join the Wolfpack.

“He outlined a very convincing training plan for me, similar to the preparation at home,” Sarkany said of Bernardino.

Sarkany also noted that fellow Hungarian distance freestyler David Betlehem, who he’s currently training with and has been friends with since they were young, will join NC State next season, which is more of a bonus than a primary reason why he’s heading to Raleigh.

“I’m not saying that it influenced my decision, but I’m sure that I’m looking forward to continuing the joint work in America as well,” he said. “David and I have been friends since childhood, and I achieved my best results when we were pulling each other in the water.”

NC State has been building an impressive stable of distance swimmers over the last few years, including Will Gallant and Ross Dant going 1-2 in the 1650 free at the 2023 NCAAs. This past season, Owen Lloyd touched first in the mile at the ACC Championships before he was controversially disqualified, making Dant the official winner, but Lloyd bounced back with a solid 5th-place finish at NCAAs.

Dant has now exhausted his eligibility. Gallant redshirted this season but is expected to return in 2024-25, while Lloyd still has one season of eligibility remaining.

Sarkany joined ASU during the second semester of the 2022-23 NCAA season, making an instant impact on the school record books and winning the 1650 free at the 2023 Pac-12 Championships. He followed up by becoming a First Team All-American in the mile at NCAAs, placing 8th.

This past season, he spent the Fall training in Hungary again, and upon joining the Sun Devils, he was absolutely on fire, obliterating the school record in the 1000 free (8:37.82) in January and then setting best times in the 500 free (4:09.19) and 1650 free (14:23.01) at Pac-12s, winning both titles.

Despite claiming the NCAA title in the 1650 three weeks later, Sarkany was notably slower in all three events he raced relative to Pac-12s, perhaps indicating his training stateside didn’t gel with him as well as the work he did in Europe.

Sarkany leaves ASU as the school record holder in the 1000 free and 1650 free, having taken the 1000 record down by nearly 20 seconds from where it was when he arrived (8:57.64), while he brought the 1650 record down by more than 27 seconds (14:50.70).

The rising junior will have two seasons of eligibility at NC State.

Sarkany is currently training with the Szoklai team in Veszprem, Hungary, in the lead up to the European Aquatics Championships (June 10-23) and ultimately the Olympics. He has already qualified for Paris in the 1500 free, putting up a massive best time of 14:53.19 in December, but aims to push for the Olympic qualifying times in the 400 free (3:46.78), 800 free (7:51.65) and 400 IM (4:12.50) at Euros.

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