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 Live Stream Live Results Live Recaps Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 Finals: Day 1 | Day 2At the halfway point of the 2026 NCAA championships we have already had three individual NCAA records as well as one on the 200 free relay from ASU tonight, and the finals have given us no end of fast swimming. With only one final for each event, however, there are more swims than ever which may not be on your radar.
Yale’s Nick Finch set a new school and Ivy League record of 44.19 in the 100 fly, just missing out on the ‘A’ final as he placed 9th in prelims for the second year in a row. He dropped 0.15 seconds from the time he swam at the Ivy League championships last month, and was 0.38 seconds faster than he was at NCAAs last year.
While he was not swimming any backstroke events, Georgia’s Ruard van Renen still showed his talent with a 44.78 in the 100 fly and an 18.63 split on the 200 free relay. He was the fastest leg for a Georgia team that lost Luca Urlando to injury last week, and his three points in the 100 fly are a welcome boost for a team that will struggle to score too many individually.
Julian Koch has been on fire for a surging Pitt squad this year, and led off the 800 free relay in a new school record of 18.95 on day 1. That form carried over today, where he set two more school records in the 50 free and 100 fly. The first came leading off Pitt’s 200 free relay in 18.65, as the team dropped half a second from ACCs, while he dipped under 44 seconds in the 100 fly for the first time in prelims this morning in 43.85. Having only broken 45 seconds for the first time at ACCs, he could be due some big long course performances at the European Championships for Germany this summer.
Josh Staples, who swam the 500 free and 1650 free at this meet last year, is going with a 400 IM/200 breast/200 IM lineup this year, and set yet another new PB in the 400 IM in 3:36.58 to place joint-3rd in prelims. That hacked a second off his own Northwestern school record, and sets him up to be a serious contender in the 200 IM. He had never swum the 400 IM in yards prior to this season.
Jackson Millard and Guy Brooks were both just outside the top eight in the 400 IM and 200 free, respectively, this morning, but set new best times as they scored 15 points between them. Millard was 9th in the 400 IM in a new best and school record of 3:38.17, taking nearly a second of the 3:39.11 he swam at the Ohio State Invitational at midseason. Brooks dropped 0.43 seconds to go 1:31.48 in the 200 free, placing 11th and moving up to #2 on the Louisville rankings, 0.03 seconds ahead of 2013 NCAA champion Joao De Lucca and just 0.06 seconds behind Murilo Sartori‘s school record.
Charlie Hutchison and Cale Martter both set new bests in the 400 IM as they dipped under 3:40 for the first time in their senior seasons. For British athlete and European U23 medalist Hutchison, this is his first season in the NCAA, and the Florida swimmer dropped 2.56 seconds to place 12th in 3:39.09. Georgia swimmer Martter, who transferred from ASU last summer, sliced 0.38 seconds off his time from SECs to go 3:39.95 and score three points in 14th.
William Carrico of UNCW, a conference champion who qualified in this event thanks to the 3:42.15 he swam at the CAA championships last month, lowered that time by over a second to place 20th in 3:40.89. That is yet another school record for Carrico, and continues his impressive record of setting a PB at every event he has swum at a championship meet through the first three years of college. Dylan Felt of Davidson, another conference champion, dropped a best time of 1:32.94 in the 200 free to lower his previous best of 1:32.96 from last season, and take half a second off the 1:33.46 he swam at the A10 championships in February.
Francis Brennan (SMU) and Jere Hribar (LSU) set new school records in 1:31.94 and 1:31.30 respectively. Brennan’s swim was the Canadian freshman’s first time under 1:32, while Hribar has dropped a second and a half in the 200 free this year, proving that the shift up a distance from Jack Alexy and Jordan Crooks in recent years could be one followed by other sprinters in the NCAA. While not a sprinter himself, Indiana’s Aaron Shackell lowered the best he set on the 800 free leadoff last night by a hundredth of a second, clocking 1:31.76 to finish 17th.
Alexei Avakov came into NCAAs with a best time of 51.34 in yards to rank outside the points, but with a long course best of 59.45 he looked severely underrated. He proved that was indeed the case in prelims as he swam 50.89 to move through in 7th, before dropping another 0.31 seconds to place 6th in the final in 50.58. Matvei Namakonov of Delaware became the mid-major breaststroker of this year when he dropped a massive personal best of 50.49 this morning, a new CUSA conference record and what appears to be the fastest mid-major swim ever ahead of Brian Benzing‘s 50.59 from 2024.
The 100 breast has been a happy hunting ground in recent years for mid-major swimmers, and a pair of conference champions set new best times today. Indianapolis’ Logan Kelly dropped 0.32 seconds to place 11th in prelims in 51.24 and lock in 6 points, while Kiefer Roemer of Mississippi State dropped 0.41 seconds to clock 52.15 for 29th overall, moving up from 39th on the psych sheets.
We saw a number of freshmen throw down solid relay splits on the 200 free relay today: Princeton’s Jaka Tarara was 18.98, Navy’s Preston Kessler was 19.00, Auburn’s Luke Bedsole was 18.78, and Virginia’s Noah Powers was 19.03. A pair of international first years were in the 18.9s for Kentucky as they guaranteed themselves some points by placing 16th – Lysander Osman was 18.94 on the second leg and Falemana Tuufui backed up his 17.91 anchor on the 200 medley relay yesterday with a school-record 18.90 on the leadoff.
Hubert Kos was a more well-known swimmer who had a blazing split on the 200 free relay, as he clocked 18.22 as Texas clocked a new school record in 1:14.40.
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