By Terin Frodyma on SwimSwam
2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships
Dates: Wednesday, March 25–Saturday, March 28 Location: McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA Defending Champions: Texas (1x) Championship Central Psych Sheets Live Results Live Video Scored Psych SheetsThe men’s 200 breaststroke will not only see a new winner from the 2025 NCAA Championships, but will also see a very different field competing for that top honor here in 2026. With each of the top five finishers from 2025 now out of the picture, including 2025 Champion Jassen Yep of Indiana, the crown will look to sit atop a new top 200 breaststroker.
Youth Prevails
Unlike in 2025, the 2026 event field leans toward youth, as the top seed, Yamato Okadome of Cal, is only a sophomore. He enters with the top time this season in 1:48.87, a time that won him the ACC title in February, which also marks his fastest ever time in the event. The field that follows is primarily freshman and junior swimmers, with the first senior not appearing on the psych sheet until you look outside of the top 8 with Texas’ Baylor Nelson (1:50.71).
Freshman Luka Mladenovic of Michigan sits behind Texas’ Nate Germonprez (100 breast top seed, #2 200 breast seed in 1:48.94). He comes in with a Big Ten championship in this event and the #3 seed time of 1:49.34, less than half a second off the top seed.
The 6th-8th seeds are also all in their freshman seasons, as Indiana’s Josh Bey (1:50.03), Noah Cakir (1:50.47), and Tennessee’s Gabe Nunziata all currently are inside the top eight of that championship final, and will look to earn their spots in a sure to be tightly contested field.
Each of those names are intriguing for various reasons; for Bey, his story is his rapid ascent into the record books in the 400 IM, with that momentum firmly backing the freshman Hoosier; he could be a big-time player in this race. His teammate Cakir is coming off a 3rd-place performance in this event at the Big Ten Championships, where he swam an entry time of 1:50.47. That swim marked more than a second drop for Cakir, previously swimming 1:51.68 at the Ohio State Invitational in November.
Nunziata’s freshman season in Knoxville saw consistent results up until the SEC Championships; after swimming several 1:53-1:54 200 breaststrokes throughout the season, he exploded for a two-and-a-half-second best time at SECs to finish 2nd in 1:50.59.
Campbell McKean also adds to the Texas depth in this event. The freshman sits 15th on the psych sheet in 1:51.03, but could be in store for a big drop and potentially reach that championship final position.
Tight at the Top
We mentioned the top three seeds of the meet in Okadome, Germonprez, and Mladenovic, the next two behind them, Texas junior Will Scholtz (1:49.59) and North Carolina’s Ben Delmar (1:49.76). Scholtz swam that time at the Texas Hall of Fame Invitational in November, which at the time was a demolition of his former best of 1:51.04 from the 2025 SEC Championships.
He has not yet been back under 1:52 since that performance in November, but could be a contender if a lifetime best is potentially on the horizon.
Germonprez has arguably had the best season of his collegiate career, as reflected in his seedings for these championships. He is already among the favorites to win the 100 breast, as he is the only sub-50-second performer in that event this season, but the 200 breast has also been one of his best events all season.
He just recently set his best time at the SEC Championships in 1:48.94, taking nearly a second off of his previous best of 1:49.71 from last season’s NCAA Championships. His recent improvements and high-speed upside make him an early favorite here as well.
The top 20 entered times are all sitting under 1:52 for the season. Names like Toby Barnett of Indiana (#10 seed, 1:50.75), Mariano Lazzerini of Penn State (#11 seed, 1:50.76), and Daniel Li of Stanford (#12 seed, 1:50.79) all sit in this air-tight grouping on the outside looking in.
Still, they are one good prelim swim from stealing a finals spot. The top 12 are separated by less than two seconds, and the unpredictability of this field could make for some very intriguing prelims swims and storylines to fill the top 8 for finals.
Returning Finalists
We mentioned that this race was very upperclassmen-heavy, as Yep, Matt Fallon. Carles Coll Marti, Denis Petrashov, and Caspar Corbeau made up the top five, all of whom have since graduated. The only returning ‘A’ finalists are top seed Okadome (6th in 2025 in 1:50.23) and Louisville’s Jacob Eccleston (8th in 2025 in 1:50.27).
Coming into the season, if you were to have predicted Eccleston to be in the 200 breast conversation heading into these championships, it would not have been far-fetched. Though in reality, he has a tall hill to climb, he’s entered here with his season best of 1:52.10, the #21 seed on the psych sheet.
Eccleston’s ability is very clear, having been as fast as 1:50.19 in the prelims of these championships last season. But with the depth that this event is showing, a sub-1:50 may be needed for Eccleston to reach another championship final in the 200 breaststroke.
Germonprez finished just outside of the top 8 in this event last season, touching 9th overall in 1:49.71, a time that would have been 5th had he swam in the championship final.
Delmar, Li, and Scholtz were all featured in that same consolation final last season, but they also complete the list of returning finalists this season. With the inclusion of Mladenovic, Bey, Cakir, and Nunziata, the margin for error is now razor-thin if these finalists want a 2nd swim in 2026.
SwimSwam Picks:
Place Swimmer School Season Best Lifetime Best 1 Nate Germonprez Texas 1:48.94 1:48.94 2 Yamato Okadome California 1:48.87 1:48.87 3 Luka Mladenovic Michigan 1:49.34 1:49.34 4 Will Scholtz Texas 1:49.59 1:49.59 5 Ben Delmar UNC 1:49.76 1:49.76 6 Josh Bey Indiana 1:50.03 1:50.03 7 Noah Cakir Indiana 1:50.47 1:50.47 8 Daniel Li Stanford 1:50.79 1:50.79Darkhorse Pick:
Watson Nguyen, Penn – Nguyen enters here as the Ivy League Champion, #20 seed, and Matt Fallon replacement for the Quakers. Just a sophomore, he won the Ivy League title in this race in 1:52.03 and will be making his first NCAA Championships appearance. A top 8 qualification may be a bit out there, but his potential for some points out of prelims is definitely there. He has shown that these championship meets are where he is at his best, and with this being up there among the biggest of his career, we could see another big-time drop in the tank.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2026 M. NCAA Previews: Okadome, Germonprez, Mladenovic Lead Youthful 200 Breast Field
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