Leon Marchand Becomes First NCAA Champ Since Natalie Coughlin To Complete Perfect Season

March 27, 2023

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Shoutout to SwimSwam commenter jeff for inspiring part of this article.

Leon Marchand‘s 2022-23 NCAA season was perfect.

No, Marchand’s season was not just perfect because of the way he dominated his competition to sweep his events at NCAAs, or because of all the records he broke in so many different events. His season was literally perfect because he did not lose a single individual race all season, going 26-for-26 in a time span running from ASU’s first dual meet against Georgia in September 2022 to the NCAA Championships in 2023.

In fact, Marchand becomes the first Division I NCAA champion swimmer since Cal’s Natalie Coughlin to pull off an undefeated individual season, with Coughlin having done so 20 years ago during the 2002-03 season.

Compared to Marchand, Coughlin won more individual races in her perfect season, going 35-for-35 in 13 meets compared to Marchand’s 26-for-26 in 9 meets. In addition, Coughlin also won a greater variety of events, having claimed victories in 11 different events while Marchand won 7.

However, Marchand’s perfect season contained more NCAA-record-breaking swims, as he broke the NCAA record six different times across three different events (200 IM, 400 IM, 200 breast) in addition to clocking the fastest relay splits ever in three other races (50 breast, 100 breast, 200 free). Meanwhile, Coughlin broke the NCAA record three times across three different events (200 free, 200 fly, 100 free), though it’s important to note that she had already been the NCAA record holder in the 100 back, 100 fly, and 200 back at that point in her career.

Note: We only factored finals races in official competition for the purposes of this article.

Leon Marchand‘s Wins, 2022-23 Season:

ASU vs. Georgia vs. Missouri: 200 breast (1:57.67), 200 fly (1:43.21), 2o0 IM (1:44.32)
ASU vs. Wisconsin: 200 back (1:42.82), 100 breast (53.16), 400 IM (3:41.59)
ASU vs. USC: 100 breast (52.75), 200 breast (1:53.34), 200 IM (1:42.55)
NC State Invitational: 200 fly (1:39.57), 200 IM (1:39.28), 400 IM (3:33.65)
ASU vs. Stanford: 100 breast (51.15), 200 IM (1:38.89), 200 breast (1:49.16)
ASU vs. Cal: 100 breast (51.01), 200 breast (1:48.82), 400 IM (3:31.84 – NCAA record)
ASU vs. Arizona: 100 back (44.77), 500 free (4:07.81)
Pac-12 Championships: 200 IM (1:37.81), 400 IM (3:31.57 – NCAA record), 200 Breast (1:47.67 – NCAA record)
NCAA Championships: 200 IM (1:36.34 – NCAA record), 400 IM (3:28.82 – NCAA record), 200 Breast (1:46.91 – NCAA record)

Natalie Coughlin‘s Wins, 2002-03 Season:

Cal vs. Pacific: 1000 free (9:55.25), 100 back (55.41), 100 fly (53.21)
SMU Classic: 100 fly (52.99), 100 back (54.53), 200 back (1:57.38)
Cal vs. Georgia: 100 back (53.62), 100 free (48.06), 100 fly (51.90)
Cal vs. Clemson: 400 IM (4:11.76), 200 back (2:04.48)
Cal vs. Rice: 200 free (1:50.99), 100 back (56.09)
Auburn Invitational: 500 free (4:37.62), 200 free (1:42.65 – NCAA record), 200 fly (1:51.91 – NCAA record)
Cal vs. ASU: 200 free (1:47.88), 100 free (49.29), 200 IM (2:00.62)
Cal vs. Arizona: 200 IM (1:59.03), 200 back (1:57.86),
Cal vs. USC: 200 free (1:47.24), 200 fly (1:56.04), 100 fly (51.88)
Cal vs. UCLA: 100 back (52.22), 100 free (48.65), 100 fly (51.96)
Cal vs. Stanford: 200 free (1:49.26), 200 fly (1:55.03), 100 fly (52.82)
Pac-10 Championships: 50 free (22.05), 100 fly (51.10), 100 free (47.42 – NCAA record)
NCAA Championships: 100 fly (50.62), 100 back (50.92), 200 back (1:53.53)

Prior to the start of midseason invites during the 2022-23 season, we counted a total of 17 swimmers from Division I top 25-ranked programs who were still undefeated individually. That number narrowed down to five after midseasons invites, and when dual meet season wrapped up and conferences started, Marchand and LSU’s Maggie MacNeil were the last ones standing. And although MacNeil stayed undefeated through day one of the NCAA women’s championships when she won the 50 free, she eventually lost to Kate Douglass by 0.05 seconds in the 100 fly to get her streak snapped. In addition, she was also third to Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh in the 100 free.

Marchand and Coughlin’s perfect seasons are remarkable because some of the best NCAA swimmers of this generation were never able to pull off what the two of them did. In total, there have been 17 different swimmers who have gone 3-for-3 at NCAA Championship meets since 2003, and most of them had their perfect seasons ruined by racing “off-events” at dual meets. To be undefeated all year requires a combination of versatility, dominance, and swimming fast all year, which are things that only one-in-a-generation swimmers can exhibit all at once.

List Of Three-For-Three NCAA Championship Swimmers (2003-present) And Their First Loss Of The Season:

2002-03 Natalie Coughlin: None
2004-05 Kristy Coventry: 2nd in the 100 breast at Auburn Invite, December 2004
2005-06 Kara Lynn Joyce: 4th in the 50 free at Georgia Fall Invitational, December 2005
2005-06 Ryan Lochte: 2nd in the 100 back at Dallas Morning News classic, January 2006
2010-11 Katinka Hosszu: 5th in the 100 breast and 7th in the 100 fly at USC Sprint Invite, October 2010
2014-15 Missy Franklin: 3rd in the 100 IM at King/Queen of the pool invite, September 2014
2016-17 Caeleb Dressel: 2nd in the 100 fly and 3rd in the 100 back vs. Georgia, October 2016
2016-17 Katie Ledecky: 3rd in the 200 fly vs. Texas, November 2016
2017-18 Caeleb Dressel: 2nd in the 100 breast at All-Florida Invite, September 2017
2018-19 Beata Nelson: 3rd in the 200 free vs. Purdue and Tennessee, November 2018
2018-19 Andrew Seliskar: 2nd in the 100 fly, 3rd in the 100 breast, 6th in the 100 back at King/Queen of the pool invite, September 2018
2020-21 Ryan Hoffer: 2nd in the 100 fly at Stanford Invitational, November 2020
2020-21 Shaine Casas: 2nd in the 400 IM at Texas First Chance Invitational, October 2020
2021-22 Alex Walsh: 2nd in the 50 breast vs. Cal, October 2021
2021-22 Kate Douglass: 9th in the 200 free, 4th in the 100 breast at Tennessee Invitational, November 2021
2022-23 Kate Douglass: 2nd in the 100 IM, 3rd in the 200 breast, 3rd in the 100 free vs. Texas, November 2022
2022-23 Leon Marchand: None

So with Marchand and Coughlin both completing perfect seasons, the question of who was better is inevitably going to come up. The simple answer is that it’s up for debate. Both swimmers accomplished things in their own remarkable ways, and swim fans across different generations will have varying opinions. In addition, in NCAA swimming when certain meets matter more than others, being undefeated is not the biggest metric to define greatness. The conversation about who is the true NCAA GOAT is something that can be discussed another time, so for now, let’s just take this moment to appreciate how we were treated to two perfect seasons that happened exactly 20 years apart.