By Sam Blacker on SwimSwam
A small change can have a big effect. To use a worn idiom, the flap of a butterfly’s wings in China can set off a hurricane halfway around the world.
The misconception from that is that the act itself is the primary creator of the outcome. In reality, it is a trigger which builds upon forces elsewhere – in essence, not the “how” or the “why”, but more the “when”.
That analogy lends itself nicely to a small change for UNCW swimmer William Carrico. This season, for the third year in a row, he set a best time in every individual event he swam at the Coastal Athletic Association Championships. This year, however, there was a new event on the docket, as he switched from the 500 free to the 200 IM.
That lineup change was made last summer. It was not even one fully intended as a change meant to thrust the 200 IM forward as a main focus. Prioritizing the 400 IM, his best event through his freshman and sophomore seasons, was actually the main rationale behind Carrico’s lineup change.
“We were really just focusing on developing his overall championship lineup…Will’s primary focus is middle distance, and from the beginning of the season we truly believed his 400 IM had strong potential to go under 3:40. With two 500 freestyles and the 400 medley relay the night before [the CAA uses the old NCAA event schedule], asking his body to turn around for that race at full capacity would’ve been a big challenge. Protecting his overall championship lineup was also our main focus.”
Bobby Guntoro, UNCW Head Coach
It was a choice that not only worked out for the CAA Conference Championships, but also at NCAAs. The 500 free and 200 breast both now fall on Day 3, which would have necessitated a choice between the two if he qualified for the championships: a distinct possibility considering his four-second win in the 400 IM in 3:44.81 in 2025. That was over a second quicker than the automatic qualifying time of 3:46.19 for the 2025-26 season, and he was the heavy favorite to win the conference title again in 2026.
He did claim that title, his third in a row, and dropped 2.66 seconds from his school record in clocking 3:42.15 in February. Carrico had been a Junior Nationals qualifier in the 400 IM, clocking 3:58.68 at the 2022 edition, but was not a high school standout in the event – he was an unranked recruit in the SwimSwam rankings for his high school class. A fantastic first season in college did see him drop 12 seconds in the event, though, winning the CAA conference title in 3:47.31 after going 3:46.64 in the heats. In his second year, he dropped another 1.83 seconds to win the event in 3:44.81.
A drop down to the 200 IM was not then a huge leap into the unknown. Despite that fact, Carrico had swum the event only three times through his first two seasons in the NCAA and had a best time of 1:49.71 entering the 2025-26 season. That swim came at the Gamecock invitational in November 2024, a meet where he was also 3:48.42 in the 400 IM.
He had dropped 3.61 seconds in the 400 since then as he headed into the 2025-2026 season. A similar drop in the 200 would culminate in a time of 1:46.10 in the 200 IM, and adjusting the drop for distance, the time would be 1:47.90. Both are a far cry from where he has ended up.
Carrico swam 1:44.69 at midseason, blowing away his former best by five seconds. He had swum 1:47.63 and 1:48.00 earlier in the season, but he now had two events where he was faster than the NCAA automatic qualifying time as he headed into Championship season – two bites at the cherry, so to speak.
That midseason swim was “a pleasant surprise”, according to Guntoro. Midseason had been a test of Carrico’s fitness and his ability to “handle a full championship lineup”. With the graduation of Dylan Citta on breaststroke, as well as all three of UNCW’s 100 free CAA ‘A’ finalists (Mac Russell, Jacob Duracinsky, Shaw Satterfield) in the summer of 2025, there were plenty of relay legs to fill – Carrico would be in line for ten swims over four days at CAAs, combining for 2,000 yards of racing.
“To be honest, seeing a 1:44 [in the 200 IM] was a pleasant surprise. Then, putting together a 1:43 back [a personal best] and 1:56 breast in the same session at the end of the invitational gave us even more confidence – we had done enough aerobic work while still developing his speed.”
“At that point, we knew he was set up to explode at CAA in February.”
Bobby Guntoro
Carrico did exactly that at the conference championships, and needed just one of his bites at that cherry to qualify for his first NCAA Championships. With the CAA Championships following the old NCAA schedule, the 200 IM was Carrico’s first individual event. Clearly in form after dropping best-ever splits of 23.45 in the 50 breast on the 200 medley relay and 1:34.21 in the 200 free on the 800 free relay the night before, he came within a hundredth of his 200 IM PB in prelims before blasting a time of 1:42.09 in the final.
When they sat down at the start of the season, Guntoro and Carrico “didn’t fully know what he could be in the 200 IM”. After a monster PB of 2.60 seconds, they now did, as the junior locked in his qualification for NCAAs at the first time of asking this season. His time held up as the 16th-fastest on the psych sheets, more than quick enough to have qualified for NCAAs under any proposed qualification system. His title-winning time made the CAA the fifth-fastest conference this season, behind the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, and Ivy League.
His speed work, a clear focus when we spoke to coach Guntoro back in November, is paying off in a big way. He was faster on all four legs in the CAA conference final than he was in his midseason swim, but the biggest difference came in breaststroke.
Having never split below 30 seconds until the morning heats, Carrico exploded for a split of 28.42 – 1.73 seconds faster than he was on that leg in November. Leading the field by just 0.66 seconds at halfway, he was 2.09 seconds clear heading into the freestyle leg.
Splits Comparison:
November 15, 2023 November 21, 2025 February 26, 2026 February 26, 2026 Pre-Season PB Previous PB Conference Heats Swim Current PB Fly 24.85 23.47 23.88 23.28 Back 26.92 25.39 25.23 25.22 Breast 31.13 30.15 29.51 28.42 Free 26.81 25.68 26.08 25.17 Total 1:49.71 1:44.69 1:44.70 1:42.09Carrico was out even faster in the event at NCAAs, hitting the halfway point in 47.65 (22.70/24.65), just under a second ahead of PB pace. His back-half pace was on a par with his heats swim at the CAA Championships, closing in 29.48/26.20 for a final time of 1:43.33 – his second-fastest ever and with yet another sub-30 breaststroke split.
He did, however, set a best time in the 400 IM, placing 20th in 3:40.89, just 0.61 seconds away from scoring. His breaststroke leg was key in the longer distance too, as he split 1:00.81, the 4th-fastest of anyone in prelims and only behind 200 breast ‘A’ finalists Josh Bey and Ben Delmar, as well as Georgia’s Cale Martter.
Carrico’s development seems to have benefited from a holistic approach. His comments on the coaching staff – “…always making sure you are a priority with academics and athletics, working around your schedule, prioritizing your health” – speak to a team with the correct priorities.
Guntoro credits Brandon Ress, one of two Assistant Coaches alongside Sarah Richards, who works with Carrico about half the time, with the other half split between Guntoro and Richards. Guntoro says that his main focus is designing “William’s overall seasonal progression”, while the day-to-day is entrusted to Ress and Richards.
Guntoro admits he made plenty of mistakes when coaching Carrico early on, but they had a real breakthrough this past summer. In the head coach’s words, it was one that “helped me better understand what matters to him and honestly, when to step in and coach versus when to step back and let him do his thing”.
They agreed on a deliberate shift in focus heading into the 2025-2026 season. The summer of 2025 was to be entirely focused on building his aerobic base – no racing. Carrico had swum at the 2024 Olympic Trials, placing 46th in the 200 breast (2:15.61) and 37th in the 400 IM (4:24.75), but between the 2025 CAA Championships at the end of February and a dual meet with Georgia in mid-September, the only time that he dived into a pool was for training.
“It was a tough summer mentally,” Guntoro recounts, “no racing, just work – but in the end it paid off.”
The Road To NCAAs
Having qualified for the NCAA championships with his conference titles in the 200 IM and 400 IM at the CAA Championships, Carrico’s short course season was to finish four weeks later than in his previous two years with UNCW. It had not been a given that that would be the case, but it was a rewarding end to a tough season.
Carrico credits his coaches and training partner with helping him “lighten up the mood, and keeping me focused on my goals”. The mentality for the meet was to show just what he could achieve.
“We knew that if you have a lane in the pool, no matter what heat or seed you are, you have a chance to do something special. So that was the mindset we took going into NCAAs.”
William Carrico
With his two top-25 finishes in Atlanta, that mindset paid off. A new program and CAA record in the 400 IM of 3:40.89 placed 20th on day 2, before he finished 24th in the 200 IM in 1:43.33.
Combining his fastest four 50 splits from his 200 IM swims this season adds up to 1:41.24 – a time which would have placed 9th at NCAAs. His NCAA swim clearly looked like he was pushing the front end and paid for that slightly on the second half – not an unusual outcome when still learning how to swim and pace an event. With another year of racing the 200 IM under his belt, a scoring time at NCAAs next spring is a real possibility, as is a top-16 swim in the 400 IM.
For a swimmer who had never been to NCAAs 12 months ago, the new automatic qualifying times for conference champions created a concrete path to qualify (although not one Carrico ended up requiring). However, the system itself proved second as motivation. Showing that they deserved to be on the national stage was a primary motive.
“We weren’t going in to go certain times or break conference records, we were going in to prove to ourselves and others that we can achieve more than people thought of us.”
William Carrico
“All the conversations around automatic qualifiers became a major source of motivation for our group. It pushed us to prove ourselves that we’re capable of competing on the national stage.”
Bobby Guntoro
It would take a miser to withhold praise for how the program has succeeded this season in the face of that. UNCW had three qualifiers for NCAAs this year – Cameron Snowden (100 fly, 38th), Joseph Busic (200 fly, 33rd) and Carrico – and they are, without a doubt, a success story for the new iteration of the NCAA.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: UNCW’s William Carrico Had A Project For This Season – And It Has Proved An NCAA Knockout
Hence then, the article about uncw s william carrico had a project for this season and it has proved an ncaa knockout 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 ( UNCW’s William Carrico Had A Project For This Season – And It Has Proved An NCAA Knockout )
Also on site :