NCAA Men’s Championships: Jassen Yep Caps Career with ‘Crazy’ 200 Breast Title
In the absence of Leon Marchand, someone you might not have expected was going to step into the breach and win the 200 breaststroke at the NCAA Championships. Even Jassen Yep didn’t expect it was going to be him.
The Indiana fifth-year represented the vaunted Indiana breaststroke group by winning in 1:48.30, holding off a late charge by Matt Fallon of Penn.
Yep was .57 seconds ahead of Fallon, who went 1:48.87, Yep’s time making him the third-fastest performer ever. Carles Coll Marti of Virginia Tech was third in 1:48.89. Fallon was the top seed entering the meet, Coll Marti tops after prelims.
“It’s just shock,” a still processing Yep said. “I don’t think anyone expected it. I don’t think even I expected it. I kind of went into it with no expectations, just trying to have a good swim. I’m not planning on coming back in the summer, so just really as a last race, leave it all out there. And so it was just a lot of shock and excitement.”
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Yep vaulted himself into being one of the stories of the meet. A one-time walk-on, he came into the week knowing this would be his last meet. What did the kid who arrived in Bloomington as a 1:57 breaststroke, who went 1:52.39 at NCAAs in 2023 finishing 17th, have to lose?
“I think after Big 10s, I accepted that whatever I did here, I’d be proud of it,” Yep said. “And I was really just swimming for the parents, the fans and my team. I did it this morning. I did tonight. I just closed my eyes on every turn and pullout. I didn’t want to know where anyone was. I really just wanted to swim my own race. And it just got me there in the end.”
Jassen Yep; Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
This event, more than any other, has belonged to Marchand. The French Olympic champion won each of the last three editions, setting the NCAA record at 1:46.35 last year. With a field that would be pleased with 1:48s, Marchand is in a whole different class. Saturday’s finale field included his runner-up in 2023 (Caspar Corbeau) and 2024 (Fallon). Fallon missed the 2023 meet due to injury, while Corbeau, who was fourth in 2021 and sixth in 2022 in his Texas days, redshirted the 2024 season for the Olympics, resulting in a 200 breast bronze medal for the Netherlands.
Fallon Saturday did his usual bit, waiting to close. He was eighth at 100 yards, then third at 150, with just Yep and Coll Marti out front. He closed on Yep, but the gap was too big, the former walk-on holding off the Ivy Leaguer and American Olympian.
Louisville’s Denis Petrashov enlivened an otherwise sedate meet for the Cardinals by finishing fourth in 1:49.37. He was second in the 100 breast. Freshman teammate Jacob Eccleston was seventh.
Corbeau scored points for Indiana in fifth in 1:50.04, ahead of Cal’s Yamato Okadome, up two spots from the morning and one from his pre-meet seed. Brown’s Jack Kelly was eighth for the second straight season.
Texas got a little outside smoke from Nate Germonprez in the B final, going 1:49.71 in Lane 1 to improve from a down morning swim of 1:51.44. The sophomore had entered as the ninth seed.
Aleksas Savickas of Florida went 1:50.34 for 10th overall, with USC’s Chris O’Grady third. Indiana didn’t get the boost it wanted form the B final, with Olympian Josh Matheny dipping from ninth in prelims to 13th overall.
Indiana finished third as a team with 459 points, well ahead of Florida’s 315. The breaststroke group played a big part in that, the Hooisers going 4-6-9-10-11-15 in the 100 and 1-5-14 in the 200, plus fifth in both medley relay.
The group already was deep last year, the culture that Yep was reared in, the one that produced Olympians like Lilly King and Annie Lazor. This year it added Corbeau and his Olympic bronze medal, plus Towson grad transfer and NCAA silver medalist Brian Benzing and got a version of Matheny with added Olympic seasoning.
It only amplified what was already a strength, and Yep recognizes that dynamic as part of why he was able to ascend the top step of the podium on Saturday.
“I think Caspar and Brian, they kind of come from different swimming backgrounds, and we do a lot of volume, and I think Casper and Brian are not used to that as much,” he said. “So having their input and letting Ray (Looze) kind of move some things around and change some things around, and having Josh come back as an Olympian, it’s great just to know you’re racing the best every day. And they just added to the size of the group, obviously, but also the atmosphere every day joking around. They kind of fit right in. And it was awesome to get to train with all of them.”
Event 18 Men 200 Yard Breaststroke
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NCAA: N 1:46.35 3/30/2024 Leon Marchand, ASU
Meet: M 1:46.35 3/30/2024 Leon Marchand, ASU
American: A 1:47.91 3/25/2017 Will Licon, Texas
U. S. Open: O 1:46.35 3/30/2024 Leon Marchand, ASU
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== Championship Final ===
1 Yep, Jassen 5Y Indiana 1:49.39 1:48.30 20
r:+0.60 24.59 52.00 (27.41)
1:19.91 (27.91) 1:48.30 (28.39)
2 Fallon, Matthew SR Penn 1:49.85 1:48.87 17
r:+0.65 25.02 52.74 (27.72)
1:20.63 (27.89) 1:48.87 (28.24)
3 Coll Marti, Carles 5Y VT 1:49.23 1:48.89 16
r:+0.60 24.08 51.72 (27.64)
1:20.00 (28.28) 1:48.89 (28.89)
4 Petrashov, Denis 5Y Louisville 1:50.23 1:49.37 15
r:+0.68 24.35 52.30 (27.95)
1:20.66 (28.36) 1:49.37 (28.71)
5 Corbeau, Caspar 5Y Indiana 1:50.07 1:50.04 14
r:+0.69 24.43 52.16 (27.73)
1:21.04 (28.88) 1:50.04 (29.00)
6 Okadome, Yamato FR California 1:50.35 1:50.23 13
r:+0.61 24.58 52.72 (28.14)
1:21.07 (28.35) 1:50.23 (29.16)
7 Eccleston, Jacob FR Louisville 1:50.19 1:50.27 12
r:+0.65 24.65 52.44 (27.79)
1:20.87 (28.43) 1:50.27 (29.40)
8 Kelly, Jack SR Brown 1:50.09 1:50.77 11
r:+0.69 24.39 52.45 (28.06)
1:21.19 (28.74) 1:50.77 (29.58)
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Germonprez, Nate SO Texas 1:51.44 1:49.71 9
r:+0.68 24.07 51.57 (27.50)
1:20.04 (28.47) 1:49.71 (29.67)
10 Savickas, Aleksas JR Florida 1:50.84 1:50.34 7
r:+0.67 24.59 51.96 (27.37)
1:20.70 (28.74) 1:50.34 (29.64)
11 O'Grady, Chris SR USC 1:51.35 1:50.48 6
r:+0.68 24.54 52.07 (27.53)
1:20.50 (28.43) 1:50.48 (29.98)
12 Polonsky, Ron SR Stanford 1:51.39 1:50.95 5
r:+0.68 24.68 53.02 (28.34)
1:21.43 (28.41) 1:50.95 (29.52)
13 Delmar, Ben SO UNC 1:50.51 1:50.96 4
r:+0.67 25.19 53.50 (28.31)
1:22.20 (28.70) 1:50.96 (28.76)
14 Matheny, Josh SR Indiana 1:50.41 1:51.61 3
r:+0.66 24.89 53.16 (28.27)
1:22.19 (29.03) 1:51.61 (29.42)
15 Li, Daniel FR Stanford 1:51.83 1:51.86 2
r:+0.66 25.58 54.03 (28.45)
1:22.68 (28.65) 1:51.86 (29.18)
16 Scholtz, Will SO Texas 1:51.30 1:52.56 1
r:+0.72 24.93 53.16 (28.23)
1:22.55 (29.39) 1:52.56 (30.01)
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