By Mark Wild 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) SwimSwam Preview Index Psych Sheets Preview Index Live Results Live VideoMen’s 400 Medley Relay — By The Numbers
NCAA Record: 2:55.66 – Florida (Marshall, Smith, Liendo, Painter), 2025 Championship Record: 2:56.10 – Florida (Marshall, Smith, Liendo, Painter), 2025 American Record: 3:00.34 – Texas (Modglin, Germonprez, Gould, Taylor). 2025 U.S. Open Record: 2:55.66 – Florida (Marshall, Smith, Liendo, Painter), 2025 Defending Champion: Florida (Marshall, Smith, Liendo, Painter) – 2:56.10Last season, Florida set the NCAA and U.S. Open record in the 400 Medley at SECS (a feat they accomplished this year in the 200 medley relay), thanks in large part to a 43.91 100 back split from Johnny Marshall and an outlandish 42.12 100 fly split from Josh Liendo. At NCAAs, they were a little slower, going 2:56.10 to break the Meet record.
The preview from last year of the event had a Game Thrones theme and last year the section about Florida was aptly titled “The Gator doesn’t concern himself with the opinions of …” however, this season Florida find themselves in a precarious position as the Gator is being threatened by both the points of the Sun Devil’s tridents and the long horns of the Longhorn.
“Heart of a Champion”
Florida was always going to be in some difficulty this year. Losing the 100 breaststroke NCAA record holder and 2026 Champion Julian Smith is tough, but Florida mitigated it a little by adding in Dutch National record holder Koen de Groot. A strong breaststroker, who placed 7th in the 50 at Worlds this past summer in Singapore, de Groot split a 50.25 at SECs for the Gators, on this relay. It was the 2nd fastest split in the field, but it stands as a far cry from the 48.85 that Smith dropped at NCAAs last season.
Josh Liendo (photo: Jack Spitser)
It’s not all bad news for Florida, as de Groot was 50.22 in the individual event and therefore has room to drop, and as the Dutchman joined Florida in January, he still is acclimating to yards, and with an extra month of training, could join the ranks of the sub-50 flat start 100 breast.
It’s also not bad news as Florida still has the services of Jonny Marshall and Josh Liendo. Marshall finished 2nd in the 100 back last year in a PB of 43.22, but was 43.87 on the meet record-setting relay. This year, he was 44.16 on the relay at SECs, but with over a second to potentially drop and with Liendo, who alone can change the fortunes of the relay, Florida is certainly not out of it. Liendo, like Marshall, didn’t look fully rested at SECs, going 43.06 in the individual 100 fly and splitting 42.80 on the relay. At NCAAs the year previously, he was 42.46, but it wouldn’t be surprising if he was closer to 42 low range as the senior looks to end his storied NCAA career.
Florida’s big question is the anchor leg. Last year, they called upon first-year Alex Painter, with the Brit bringing them home in 40.92. This year, Painter looks to have been replaced by fellow sophomore Devin Dilger, who was 41.28 on the relay at SECs. Painter did go 41.81 at SECs, better than Dilger’s 41.90, so he may get the nod, but his sophomore year campaign is lacking the pop that saw him go 41.41 in the individual event last year at SECS and 40.68 on the NCAA record-setting relay.
Florida was 2:58.49 at SECS, but was over a second back of Texas after the first 200, with Longhorns getting out to a good start with Will Modglin (44.23) on the back and Nate Germonprez (49.02) on breast. Of note, Germonprez’s 49.02 ranks as the 4th fastest 100 breaststroke split behind only Leon Marchand and Julian Smith (x2). With that power at the front, Texas could be building an insurmountable lead, especially if Modglin goes his 43.26 PB from mid-season.
Last year, Modglin and Germonprez handed things off to Hubert Kos, and it looks like things will remain that way. The Hungarian Olympic and World Champion may be the relay’s weak leg, and that’s saying something as he was 43.45 on the relay last year and was 43.77 at SECs. Their freestyler may also be considered a weakness, but Camden Taylor was 40.62 at SECs, the fastest split in the field save Jere Hribar’s 40.15 for LSU. Taylor has big shoes to fill as he is jumping in for Luke Hobson, but the 200 free record holder was 40.64 on the relay, so Taylor has already surpassed that split.
The Longhorn’s SEC winning time of 2:57.64 is over a second faster than their silver medal winning time from the 2025 NCAAs, and if Modglin’s PB time is subbed in, then Texas could be seeded at 2:56.67 and would easily put them into striking range of Florida’s winning time and meet record from last year.
Adam Chaney (photo: Jack Spitser)
ASU, 3rd last year, sits in a similar position. They collected the bronze medal in 2:58.97 last year but entered as this year’s top seed with their Big XII record-setting time of 2:57.48. The Sun Devils will be without Jack Wadsworth and his 45.25 from NCAAs, but as mentioned in the 200 medley article, the addition of Adam Chaney turns things completely around, making a weakness into a strength. Chaney, who was long a mainstay of Florida’s sprint relays, transferred to ASU this past summer, and the move appears to have paid off with Chaney, not only hitting a massive new PB in the 200 back, but also setting a new PB in the 100, breaking his 2 year old PB of 43.99, by leading off the relay in 43.93.
ASU’s two middle legs remain the same, with Andy Dobrzanski and Ilya Kharun holding down the breast and fly legs, respectively. Dobrzanski was 50.78 at NCAAs, but with his new PB of 51.00 from the Big XII West Championship and with a split of 50.36 from the relay, he and Chaney have completely turned things around on the front end. Kharun, the 2025 Worlds bronze medalist and last year’s runner-up in the 100 fly, holds great potential to either catch Texas or hold off Florida. Kharun was 42.83 last year at NCAAs, and better than that by .02 at this year’s Big XII Champs, where he posted a 42.81 flying split. With Remi Fabiani likely getting the nod on anchor (40.67 flat start PB), thanks to his 40.38 flying split, ASU will occupy lane 4 in the final and be the time to beat. Seeded at 2:57.48, the Sun Devils are the ones to beat, but expect it to be close between all three, as each has its own strengths and weaknesses.
“Here Comes the Boom”
After the top three programs, which are all closely seeded together in the 2:57-2:58 range, there is a gap to the next set of schools, but that by no means means that the competition will be any less fierce. Michigan and Indiana sit 4th and 5th and will continue their rivalry, as just .01 separates the Big Ten foes.
Tyler Ray (photo: Jack Spitser)
The two-storied programs went back and forth at their conference championships. Miroslav Knedla opened up 44.88, and while ahead of Michigan’s Jack Wilkening (45.25), he was trailing Northwestern’s Stuart Seymour (44.83). The sophomore, who represents the Czech Republic internationally, handed things over to Alexei Avakov, who split a respectable 50.43, but ceded ground to Michigan’s star breaststroke, Luke Mladenovic, whose 50.17 ranks as one of the fastest 100 breast splits this season. The Wolverines quickly took over the lead as senior Tyler Ray dropped a hammer of a 43.30 fly split, gaining .95 over Indiana, and putting Michigan in the lead by .84.
However, Dylan Smiley, a Hoosier junior, nearly made all of it back as he opened in 19.06 compared to Antoine Sauve‘s 19.72 and ran out of space in the closing fractions of an inch, getting Indiana to the wall in 3:00.16, with Michigan touching in 3:00.15. With so little separating them, like in the 200 medley, any advantage will help tip the odds towards them. Wilkening was 44.90 at NCAAs last year, so has a quarter of a second to drop, and was 44.79 in prelims of the 100 back, so has room to drop the event more, but so does Knedla, who was 44.67 in prelims. One could go back and forth between the two and show where each could drop a few hundredths, but that would be reductive, especially if Michigan opts to sub in Ole Eidam, who was left off this relay but went 42.07 to lead off the 400 free relay for Michigan, a time that could better Sauve’s 41.43 anchor. Sauve owns a PB of 42.16 from the CSCAA Dual Challenge meet against Virginia.
It’s not just those programs, however, that are fighting for 4th place. ACC rivals, California and Florida State, sandwich a hurting Georgia program, which, without Luca Urlando and his 43.15 100 fly split from last year’s NCAAs, will struggle to defend their seed time of 3:00.84. 400 IMer Drew Hitchcock appears to be the next man up, but his 45.30 season best in the 100 fly leaves much to be desired.
Cal, seeded 6th at 3:00.74, and FSU, seeded at 3:01.08, were the top two programs at ACCs, and the pair of programs was a study in contrasts. California jumped out to an early lead with Evan Petty and Yamato Okadome taking on the first two legs and getting the Bears a lead of nearly two seconds on both FSU and NC State, who were currently sitting in 2nd. From there, however, FSU punched back, and with Michel Arkhangelskiy out splitting Cal’s Caspaer Puggard by over a second, 43.84 to 44.96, Anchor Logan Robinson continued to eat into Cal’s lead, but his 40.76 wasn’t enough to get by Cal’s Martin Wrede.
The Golden Bears finished 4th last year in a mark of 2:59.12, but retain only Okadome, so they will be hard-pressed to repeat so high on the podium. FSU, on the other hand, finished 13th in 3:02.77 last year and has only improved, so they will be looking to continue their impressive improvements and hope to lower their school record for the second time this season.
“Hot in Herre”
The three programs seeded 9th through 11th will all be hoping that Georgia will be unable to defend their seeding, and Tennessee, NC State, and Virginia will be seeking to earn that major boost in points that comes from finishing in the top 8.
Aiden Hayes (photo: Jack Spitser)
NC State finished 9th last year, in an American record of 3:01.34, and would look poised to better that mark, had not Texas done so earlier this year. Quintin McCarty is a strong lead-off, but despite Arsenio Bustos‘s strong job filling in on breaststroke, the Wolfpack just doesn’t have the firepower to keep up with those teams with strong breaststrokers, especially if they lose ground on the fly. Aiden Hayes was 44.69 on the relay at ACCs, but also hit a new PB of 44.07 to win the event, so he could just as easily be 43.69 as he was 44.69. The Volunteers finished 10th last year, going 3:01.40, and while they are seeded .20 faster than last year, it’s a far cry from their 2025 NCAA seed of 2:59.69. Jordan Crooks‘ 39.95 from last year helped salvage that relay, but they will need a more all-around effort to jump into the top 8.
Virginia is an interesting case; on paper, they seem to look strong, but haven’t seemed to be able to put the pieces together yet. Thomas Heilman is one of the best 100 flyers, and Max Williamson is a strong 100 freestyler, but the backstrokers are more geared to the 200 and lack the punchiness needed to help UVA get off to a fast start.
The Verdict
It is a tale of two battles with Texas, Florida, and ASU fighting for the top of the podium and Michigan, Indiana, Cal, FSU, Tennessee, NC State, Virginia, and Georgia battling for 4th-8th. In looking at the top three, it really is a pick’em, and we are divided (and have been told we can’t pick ties), so we are going with Florida as our winners, but only narrowly over Texas.
Florida has a pedigree in the event and we think de Groot has a fair amount more to drop and if Painter gets back into form, then the Gators should be in control of the race but the speed of Modglin and Germonprez is a major cause for concern and if they both achieve what we think they are capable of then no matter how crazy Liendo goes on the fly split, there might just be not enough pool length to catch the Longhorns.
SwimSwam Picks:
Place Team Entry Time Last Season Finish 1 Florida 2:58.49 1st – 2:56.10 2 Texas 2:57.64 2nd – 2:58.95 3 ASU 2:57.48 3rd – 2:58.97 4 Michigan 3:00.15 8th – 3:01.19 5 Indiana 3:00.16 5th – 2:59.73 6 California 3:00.74 4th – 2:59.12 7 NC State 3:01.66 9th – 3:01.34 8 FSU 3:01.20 13th – 3:02.77Dark Horse: Virginia Tech (12th- 3:01.86) – Virginia Tech finished 11th last year in 3:01.81, but lost all but their anchor, Brendan Whitfield, who brought the Hokies home in 40.92. At ACCs, last month, he closed in 40.62, but with a PB of 40.93, the junior could be in the low 40s and keep the team in the running, but he’ll need help from Eli Martin on the breaststroke. The sophomore went a PB of 51.29 in the prelims of the 100 breast at ACCs, and should be able to translate that into a split better than the 50.93 he produced on the relay.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2026 M. NCAA Previews: ASU & Texas Pose Big Dilemma for Florida to Repeat as 400 Med Relay Champs
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