By Sam Blacker 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 Stream Live Results Live Recaps: Prelims: Day 1 Finals: Day 1Top 10 Teams After Night 1
Florida/Indiana — 86/86 — Texas — 72 ASU — 62 NC State — 61 Kentucky — 49 Michigan — 48 Stanford — 46 California — 45 Ohio State — 32With the first day of the 2026 Men’s NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving Championships now concluded, we can take a look at how the new format has shaken up the standings. Moving the mile to the first day should paint a rosier picture for distance-oriented teams like Kentucky, which it certainly does – they sit in 6th in the standings currently, and were as high as 3rd after the 200 medley relay.
Indiana and Florida share the lead with 86 points, 14 ahead of Texas in 3rd. All of Texas’ points came in relays however, with no scoring swimmers in the mile. Indiana had a pair of ‘A’ finalists in the 1650 free, while Florida had three of the top five finishers.
While the standings themselves paint an interesting story, more insightful is looking at how team performed vs their projected scores from the psych sheets. Without further ado, here is the breakdown of just that:
Team Psych Points Points Scored Difference vs Seed Indiana 85 86 +1 Florida 75 86 +11 Texas 72 72 0 ASU 62 62 0 NC State 55 61 +6 Kentucky 48 49 +1 Michigan 45 48 +3 Stanford 40 46 +6 California 66 45 -21 Ohio State 34 32 -2 Virginia 12 30 +18 Auburn 14 22 +8 Tennessee 18 20 +2 Wisconsin 26 18 -8 Princeton 17 14 -3 LSU 30 14 -16 Louisville 12 12 0 Georgia 19 10 -9 Harvard 16 9 -7 Alabama 0 8 +8 USC 0 8 +8 VT 0 8 +8 Pitt 6 6 0 FSU 22 4 -18 SMU 6 1 -5 Yale 6 1 -5While Florida and Indiana sit atop the rankings with 86 points, Florida moved up 11 points from compared a gain of only one for the Hoosiers. Gio Linscheer was a huge part of that, moving from 15th on the psych sheets to 5th overall, a gain of 12 points, making up for a loss of 1 point elsewhere tonight. The Gators did move down in both relays, and depiste the drop on the 200 medley being just one place it was from 1st to 2nd, losing them 6 points. They did perform well in the mile though, going +9 in that event as all three swimmers moved up, and they should be strong in the 500 later in the week. There were some cause for concern from the relays though, as Alex Painter looked well off his 2025 form again.
Indiana moved up in both the relays tonight, gaining 9 points against their projections, but lost 8 points in the mile despite two of their three swimmers performing well. They have looked strong through the first three events, and with all three diving events to come should remain near the top of the standings. Texas are primed to move up tomorrow, having matched their seed exactly tonight.
The biggest winner of the day is a school that has underperformed relatively at NCAAS in recent years. Virginia moved up to 4th in the 800 free relay, having been seeded 11th, resulting in a gain of 18 points. They did not swim the 200 medley relay nor have anyone in the mile, but have top-ten seeds in both the 200 free and 100 fly tomorrow in Maximus Williamson and Thomas Heilman, both of whom swam well today. Williamson led off in a new PB of 1:30.43 marking himself out as one of the favorites for the 200 free title tomorrow. That also marks a new Virginia school record for the freshman, giving him two in a single race. David King was an encouraging 1:31.09 on the second leg, and will be one to watch in the 200 back on the final day.
Three schools scored 8 points having been projected not to score any. USC and Virginia Tech scored their points in separate events – Virginia Tech in the 200 medley relay where they dropped 1.32 seconds, and USC in the 800 free relay where they dropped 0.95 seconds, while Alabama scored six points in the mile thanks to Leonardo Alcantara and two points in the 200 medley relay as they dropped 0.71 seconds. Auburn also moved up by 8 points, thanks to a 1.25 second drop in the 800 free relay where they had three freshman in their quartet. A 0.04 second drop in the 200 medley relay was enough for 12th there, matching their seed, with all of their improvements coming in the 800 free relay.
Kentucky were one point up against their projections, on what was always going to be a big day for them. Of their 52 projected points, 48 were to come from today in the mile and 200 medley relay, and they went +1 to come in 6th in the standings with 49 points. Levi Sandidge moved up one spot in the mile to place in a massive best time of 14:22.26, before the 200 medley relay moved down one place but became first team All-Americans with an 8th-place finish. Carson Hick was 8th in the mile, as the Wildcats scored their points today from just three swims, with Dziugas Miskinis in the mile the only non-scoring one.
The biggest faller was Cal, who had a rough mile as they scored just 8 points against their projected 20. They moved down three places in the 800 free relay from 9th to 12th, losing 8 points there, a dropped one place in the 200 medley. Anchor Martin Wrede missed his turn in that race, costing them around half a second and two places. The Golden Bears scored 21 points fewer than their projection, a stark change from the big gains that we have come to expect.
Another big faller was FSU, who moved down from 10th to 15th in the 200 medley, and missed scoring entirely in the 800 free relay having been seeded for 13th and 8 points. With 74 of their projected 122 psych sheet points coming in relays, they will need to reverse that trend to stand a chance of cracking the top 15 at the end of Saturday. They also went with an interesting lineup choice in the 200 medley relay, swimming 200 specialist Logan Robinson on the free leg. He split 18.86, but will now have to be left off one of the other relays so as not to exceed the maximum of four relay swims. With him being more valuable on all the other relays, especially the 400s where FSU is in the fastest heat, burning one of those four on the 200 medley seems counter-productive.
Other big fallers were; Harvard, who had Will Mulgrew fall from 3rd to 9th; Georgia, whose 200 medley relay fell to 14th from their #9 seed, in part due to the loss of Luca Urlando for the fly leg, and Wisconsin, who moved down from 6th to 9th in the 800 free relay despite dropping 0.15 seconds. LSU dropped 16 points as they added 0.83 seconds to drop from 4th to 10th in the 200 medley relay.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Men’s NCAAs Day 1 Scoring Analysis: Florida And Virginia The Biggest Risers
Hence then, the article about men s ncaas day 1 scoring analysis florida and virginia the biggest risers was published today ( ) and is available on swimswam ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Men’s NCAAs Day 1 Scoring Analysis: Florida And Virginia The Biggest Risers )
Also on site :