By Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam
Understandably, most of the swimming world’s focus this weekend was in Carmel, Indiana with the international talent at the first stop of the 2025 Swimming World Cup. There are still two stops to go, but while short-course meter racing pulls headlines, there is still college swimming happening this month. Let’s check out some of the headlines from across the NCAA that you may have missed while watching the World Cup this weekend.
Moesch and Bottazzo Make History in Gainesville
This summer, rising sophomores Anna Moesch and Anita Bottazzo both broke through in the long-course pool, qualifying to represent the U.S. and Italy, respectively, at their first senior long-course World Championships. Both were on fire in Gainesville as Florida hosted Virginia in another early top-10 match up.
Moesch, a prelims-only swimmer for the American women’s 4×100 and 4×200-meter freestyle relays in Singapore, threw down the fastest 200-yard freestyle October swim in history. She clocked a 1:41.42, improving on the previous October best (a 1:43.14 swum by Erika Pelaez last year) by a whopping 1.72 seconds. Moesch finished fifth in the 200 freestyle at her debut NCAA Championships in March with a then-lifetime best 1:42.39; this time would’ve moved her up to fourth.
At the same meet, Bottazzo launched herself up the all-time list for 100 breaststroke relay splits. She unleashed a 55.95 split, becoming just the third woman to break 56 on a 100 breaststroke split. She ranks fourth on the performance list, trailing only NCAA record holder Lilly King and SEC champion Mona McSharry.
All-Time Relay Splits, Women’s 100 Breaststroke (SCY)
Lilly King (IU), 55.66 – 2019 Lilly King (IU), 55.67 – 2019 Mona McSharry (TENN), 55.94 – 2024 Anita Bottazzo (FLOR), 55.96 – 2025 Lilly King (IU), 56.02 – 2018Bottazzo’s previous fastest 100 breaststroke split was the 57.36 she swam at the 2025 NCAA Championships. Her flat start best is a 57.49, swum last November.
This was Virginia’s first real meet of the season; the two they’ve had up to this point have been exhibition or intrasquad and featured mostly off-distance races, while Florida has already gone head-to-head with Indiana. As expected, the Virginia women ran away with the meet, winning 224-127.
The men’s meet was much closer. The Gators were without Josh Liendo, who made the trip to Carmel for the World Cup stop. However, unlike the Cavaliers, the Gators have a diving team, which helped them win the meet 191.5-159.5.
Often, we spend October college meets searching for takeaways or potential storylines that we can carry through to the postseason. While there is the asterisk of Liendo being absent, it is worth noting that the Virgina men only scored 69 points at this meet last year. Improving by nearly 100 points speaks to the firepower they’ve brought in with their loaded freshman class, and is something to watch as the Virginia men look to announce themselves at NCAAs this year after two consecutive disappointing NCAA Championship appearances.
Julia Dennis Shines At SMU Classic
The SMU Classic was the staple meet for fast October swimming before swimming fast in October became the trendy thing to do in NCAA swimming. The format where every swim counts and the tech suits create an environment that invites fast swimming.
Julia Dennis was not on Louisville’s roster for the meet last season, but she quickly made her presence felt in Dallas this season, breaking three meet records at the meet.
Dennis was one of the major breakouts on the women’s side last year, ripping a 21.08 at the ACC Championships. Her breakout combined with a slew of graduations has made her the star of the Louisville women’s team this year. At this meet, she came right out out of the gate with a 21.54 meet record in the 50 freestyle, taking more than two-tenths off the former record set by Louisville alum Gabi Albiero. This time is faster than Dennis had ever been before the 2025 ACC Championships and well ahead of the 23.51 she opened the 2024-25 season.
On Day 2, Dennis won the 100 freestyle in 47.52, breaking the meet record and the pool record, the latter of which was held by former NCAA champion Mallory Comerford. Later, Dennis split 21.27 on the freestyle anchor leg of the 200 medley relay, combining with Julie Mishler, Caroline Larsen, and Ella Welch for a 1:35.83, destroying the meet and pool records again.
Dennis also helped the Louisville 400 medley relay (3:31.05) and 800 freestyle relay (7:04.74) hit the NCAA Provisional Standards. Louisville swept the SMU Classic. The women won handily while the men came from behind to get the better of Auburn by just nine points, 313-304.
Related: SMU Classic Recaps Day 1 | Day 2There was also a meet record on the men’s side of the meet. LSU junior Hribar logged a 19.21, beating the 12-year-old meet record of 19.28 that Vlad Morozov set in 2013. Second-place finisher Nikita Sheremet, a Louisville freshman, tied Morozov’s old mark. It’s also the fastest Hribar has been at this point in the season across his NCAA career.
More Highlights From Across The Country
Eva Okaro Lights It Up In Texas’ Season Opener
The young British sprint star Eva Okaro is making a quick adjustment to yards. Okaro opened Texas’ meet against Alabama, the first official meet of her NCAA career, with a blistering 20.94 freestyle split on Texas’ opening 200 medley relay. The split is over a half-second faster than what Grace Cooper split on the relay at the 2025 NCAA Championships (21.62).
In her next race she swam a 21.87, which is right on the nation-leading 21.86 she posted at the Longhorns’ intrasquad meet. Then, she swam a 47.48 to win the 100 freestyle ahead of teammate Erin Gemmell (47.79), before splitting 47.39 on the Longhorns’ winning 400 freestyle relay.
Zalan Sarkany Sets Pool Record At USC Invite
Zalan Sarkany’s pool record in the 1650 freestyle highlighted an excellent weekend for the Hoosiers in Los Angeles. The two-time defending NCAA champion in the event, Sarkany swam a 14:29.87 to win at the USC Invite, breaking the USC pool record. It’s a nation-leading time for Sarkany, but most teams haven’t raced at a meet with the 1650 featured so perhaps the more apt comparison would be that after midseason invites last year, it was Rex Maurer who held the nation-leading time with a 14:30.47.
ASU Wins All-Arizona Showdown
Even without Ilya Kharun, Arizona State had no problem sweeping the All-Arizona Invite, with both the women’s and men’s teams winning all but one event on the schedule. Notably, Adam Chaney followed up his 20.20 50 backstroke with a 20.43 this weekend. His fellow SEC champion/Florida transfer Andrew Taylor swam a lifetime best of 9:08.49 in the 1000 freestyle.
Arizona’s Riley Botton prevented the Sun Devil event sweep on the women’s side, taking the 50 freestyle in 22.29. On the men’s side, the Wildcats’ Alex Desangles won the 100 backstroke in 45.89.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2025-26 NCAA Digest: What You Missed While Watching The World Cup
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