By Madeline Folsom on SwimSwam
It’s that time of the year again. SwimSwam will be previewing the top 12 men’s and women’s teams (and then some) from the 2026 NCAA Championships. Follow along with the College Swimming Preview Channel. Want to read even more? Check out the latest edition of the SwimSwam magazine.
Men’s #5: Tennessee Volunteers
Key Losses: Gui Caribe (39 NCAA Points, 4 NCAA relays), Nick Simons (12 NCAA points), Owen Redfearn (NCAA qualifier), Martin Espernberger (NCAA qualifier)
Key Additions: #14 Whitaker Steward (MO – distance free/IM), #15 Drew Eubanks (OR – breast), HM Miles Blackson Dunbar (CA – free/back), BOTR Brody Chandler (CA – free/fly), Julian Koch (Pitt transfer – free/fly), Vova Gabrysh (McKendree transfer – free/fly/IM), Mantas Kauspedas (Lithuania – back)
GRADING CRITERIA
Over the years, we’ve gone back and forth on how to project points, ranging from largely subjective rankings to more data-based grading criteria based on ‘projected returning points.’ We like being as objective as possible, but we’re going to stick with the approach we’ve adopted post-COVID. The “stars” will rely heavily on what swimmers actually did last year, but we’ll also give credit to returning swimmers or freshmen who have posted times that would have scored last year.
Since we only profile the top 12 teams in this format, our grades are designed with that range in mind. In the grand scheme of college swimming and compared to all other college programs, top 12 NCAA programs would pretty much all grade well across the board. But in the interest of making these previews informative, our grading scale is tough – designed to show the tiers between the good stroke groups, the great ones, and the 2015 Texas fly group types.
5 star (★★★★★) – a rare, elite NCAA group projected to score 25+ points per event 4 star (★★★★) – a very, very good NCAA group projected to score 15-24 points per event 3 star (★★★) – a good NCAA group projected to score 5-14 points per event 2 star (★★) – a solid NCAA group projected to score 1-4 points per event 1 star (★) – an NCAA group that is projected to score no points per event, though that doesn’t mean it’s without potential scorers – they’ll just need to leapfrog some swimmers ahead of them to do itWe’ll grade each event discipline: sprint free (which we define to include all the relay-distance freestyle events, so 50, 100 and 200), distance free, IM, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and diving. Use these grades as a jumping-off point for discussion, rather than a reason to be angry.
Also, keep in mind that we are publishing many of these previews before teams have posted finalized rosters. We’re making our assessments based on the best information we have available at the time of publication. Still, we reserve the right to make changes after publication based on any new information that may emerge regarding rosters. If that does happen, we’ll make certain to note the change.
The final note is that we are not including athletes who graduated last spring after exhausting their college eligibility despite ongoing lawsuits against the NCAA regarding the new “Five-for-Five” rule.
2025-2026 Lookback
The Tennessee men had a phenomenal season in 2026, and matched their 5th place finish from 2025 in their first season without sprint freestyle ace Jordan Crooks.
The team massively outperformed their NCAA psych sheet seeds, bringing in 272 total points at NCAAs, five more than their 2025 score and almost 100 more than their psych sheet projected score of 185.5. This signaled a massive shift for the Tennessee team as they have historically underperformed at NCAAs.
The Vols picked up 53 points in diving, which contributed to their improvement from the projected psych sheet, but they also scored 219 swimming points after they improved from a projected 99.5 individual points to score 114 individual points and from a projected 86 relay points to score 105 relay points. This totaled 33.5 points of improvement from their psych sheet score, the most improvement they have seen from psych to actual since 2018.
They were led by senior Gui Caribe, who brought in 39 points after he finished 2nd in the 50 free, 3rd in the 100 free, and 11th in the 100 fly.
A pair of freshmen in Koby Bujak Upton and Gabe Nunziata also scored more than 20 swimming points. Bujak-Upton brought in 22 points after he finished 2nd in the 200 free and 12th in the 500 free and Nunziata scored 21 points with his 7th place finish in the 200 breast and 9th place finish in the 100 breast.
Junior Nikoli Blackman scored 15 points in the sprint freestyle events; senior Nick Simons brought in 12 points in the 200 back, and freshman Ulises Saravia scored 5 points in the 100 back.
The Vols also had points from two divers with sophomore Bennett Greene racking up 38 points after he finished 3rd in the 1-meter and 8th on both the 3-meter and the platform events. Fellow sophomore diver Thomas Ciprick also scored, bringing in 15 points after he finished 9th on the 3-meter and 11th on the 1-meter.
The Tennessee relays also did very well at NCAAs. They scored points in all five relays with their highest finish coming in the 200 and 400 free relays where they took 4th. They also finished 6th in the 400 medley relay, 9th in the 200 medley relay, and 16th in the 800 free relay.
Sprint Free: ★★★★★
The Tennessee men are coming into the 2026-2027 NCAA season with returning scorers in all three of the sprint freestyle distances.
Nikoli Blackman is their top returning 50 and 100 freestyler after he took 10th in the 50 free (18.77) and 13th in the 100 free (41.45) at the 2026 NCAA Championships. Blackman also scored points in the 200 free, finishing 13th in 1:31.55. This was just off his best of 1:31.41, which would have been 11th.
Koby Bujak-Upton will be the top returning 200 freestyler for the team. He led off Tennessee’s relay on the first night of the meet in 1:29.79, making him the first Tennessee athlete to break 1:30 in the event and the fastest freshman ever.
The following day, he finished 2nd in the event to fellow freshman Maximus Williamson, stopping the clock in 1:30.11. His 1:29 would have won the gold, and if he can get back under this year, he will be a serious threat to the reigning NCAA Champion.
Bujak-Upton also swam the 100 free at NCAAs, but his lifetime best 41.80 came in 22nd overall. If he can drop three tenths this year, he can pick up another NCAA scoring swim.
While Blackman is the top returning sprinter, Tennessee picked up a massive transfer with Pitt’s Julian Koch, who will be entering his 3rd season of eligibility. He finished 4th at the 2026 NCAA Championships in the 100 free (40.43) and finished 15th in the 50 free (18.85). He had a faster 50 free time at the meet, leading off the 200 free relay in 18.65, which would have been 7th overall. Tennessee has developed a few exceptional sprinters in the past, and if Koch can find even a fraction of that success, he is a potential title threat in the 100 free this season.
Tennessee also picked up a few international freshmen in Nigeria’s Abduljabar Adama and Brazil’s Kauã Periera. Both of them have conversions that are slightly outside of scoring ranges, but they could earn individual invites and potentially score points if they handle the transition well.
Distance Free: ★★ ½
Tennessee has been weak in the distance events for the last few years, though they will likely have at least one swimmer in both events at this year’s NCAA Championships.
Koby Bujak-Upton is their top returning 500 freestyler at 4:11.86, which he swam to finish 12th at the NCAA Championships. He was the only swimmer on the team under 4:20 in the event.
They only had one swimmer, Mac Clark, record any swims in the mile last year. Clark swam 15:03.96 at the SEC Championships to finish 16th overall, and will be back this year, though he will need to drop more than 10 seconds to make the 14:52.80 cutline.
Tennessee is bringing in a strong miler, however, in #14 ranked Whitaker Steward. His lifetime best in the mile stands at 14:51.63, a little over a second under the invite time. He still sits a little more than four seconds off the 14:47.47 it took to score last year, but that isn’t a lot of time in a mile, and he could get there this season.
Backstroke: ★★ ½
Tennessee is returning one of their two backstroke scorers from the 2026 NCAA Championships in sophomore Ulises Saravia.
Saravia finished 12th in the 100 back last season, picking up five points for the Vols with his 44.60. His lifetime best is 44.39, which he swam to lead off Tennessee’s 400 medley relay. That would have finished 8th at NCAAs. Saravia also finished 31st in the 200 back with his 1:40.78, which was a four tenth add from the 1:40.39 he swam at SECs which was not under the NCAA invite time.
Tennessee’s top returning 200 backstroker is junior Ben Bricca, who is coming in at 1:40.21, which he swam at the Tennessee Last Chance Invite after SECs. It took a 1:39.53 to earn an invite last year, about a second faster than Bricca’s swim.
The program also picked up a massive backstroke recruit with Lithuania’s Mantas Kauspedas. He is a sprint backstroker whose 50 back time converts to 19.94 and 100 backstroke converts to 44.4. His 100 back conversion sits just inside NCAA scoring range, which was 44.78 at the 2026 Championships, but it is not clear yet how he will transition in his freshman season, so we are attributing ½ a star since he will likely not race the 200 backstroke.
Breaststroke: ★★★
The Tennessee breaststroke group is already very good, and it only got better with the addition of incoming freshman Drew Eubanks.
Sophomore Gabe Nunziata returns after scoring 21 points in the breaststroke events at the 2026 NCAA Championships, finishing 7th in the 200 breast and 9th in the 100 breast. Both his performances at the NCAA Championships were lifetime best times, and he sits just two tenths over the 1:50 barrier in the 200 at 1:50.26.
He will be joined in the breaststroke group by Oregon native Drew Eubanks. The incoming freshman joins the roster having set new lifetime bests in the 100 and 200 breaststroke in March. In the 100 breast, he sits at 52.59, which is a second off the 51.51 cutline and in the 200 breast his best time of 1:53.10 is also a second off the 1:52.29 cutline. He was the fastest 200 breaststroker in the class of 2026, and will be looking to see a similar trajectory to Nunziata, who dropped more than three seconds his freshman year in the 200 breast and more than a second in the 100.
Butterfly: ★★★
Tennessee has a few strong butterflyers, but they are more geared to the 100 fly than the 200 fly.
Julian Koch will be the top swimmer on the team in the 100 fly after he finished 8th at the 2026 NCAAs in 44.28. His prelims swim of 43.85 would have tied for 7th with now graduated Aiden Hayes from NC State.
The Vols will return Lucio Flavio Filho, who was the 2nd fastest 100 butterfly on the team last year with his 45.04 from the SEC Championships. He sat about a tenth over the NCAA cutline in the event, but a tenth drop would potentially see him in NCAA scoring position with Texas’ Kyle Peck taking 16th in 44.95.
The Vols also picked up McKendree transfer Vova Gavrysh, who was the DII NCAA Champion in the 200 fly in 1:42.52 and his lifetime best stands at 1:42.33 from November of 2025. He will need to drop some time if he wants to qualify for NCAAs, however, with the 2026 cutline sitting at 1:40.77.
IM: ★
The Vols did not score any points at the NCAA Championships in the IM events, and they only scored two athletes in the 200 IM and two athletes in the 400 IM at the SEC Championships.
Gabe Nunziata was the fastest 200 IMer on the team last year with the 1:44.28 he swam at the SEC Championships. This was almost two seconds off the invite time of 1:42.69 and the scoring cutoff time of 1:42.39.
Sophomore Jake McCoy was the top 400 IMer last year with the 3:41.97 he swam at the SEC Championships. He was only six tenths off the cutline of 3:41.34, which is well within striking distance this year. He has a bit to go before he gets to the 3:40.28 it took to score at the 2026 NCAA Championships.
Transfer Vova Gavrysh is coming in with a best 200 IM time of 1:44.32 from the 2026 NCAA Championships, which is also a potential NCAA qualifying swim.
Diving: ★★★★
The Tennessee men have one of the top diving programs in the NCAA with junior Bennett Greene qualifying for the ‘A’ final on all three boards. He will only be a junior this year and will lead junior Thomas Ciprick, who scored 15 points on the springboard events and sophomore Frazer Tavener who qualified for the 3-meter event, finishing 19th at his first NCAAs.
Relays: ★★★★½
Note that the grading system doesn’t align perfectly for relays as double points.
Relay grading system:
5 star (★★★★★) – 31+ points per relay event 4 star (★★★★) – 22-30 relay points per event 3 star (★★★) – 12-21 relay points per event 2 star (★★) – 5-11 relay points per event 1 star (★) – 0-4 relay points per event Relay 2026 NCAA Result (Time) Lineup Losing Potential Adds Season-Best Time 200 FR 4th (1:14.40) Nikoli Blackman, Gui Caribe, Pedro Sansone, Koby Bujak-Upton Gui Caribe Julian Koch 1:14.40 400 FR 4th (2:45.09) Nikoli Blackman, Koby Bujak-Upton, Pedro Sansone, Gui Caribe Gui Caribe Julian Koch 2:45.09 800 FR 16th (6:12.29) Koby Bujak-Upton, Nikoli Blackman, Gabe Nunziata, Ben Bricca None Vova Gavrysh 6:10.31 200 MR 9th (1:22.05) Ulises Saravia, Gabe Nunziata, Lucio Flavio Filho, Gui Caribe Gui Caribe Julian Koch 1:22.05 400 MR 6th (3:00.34) Ulises Saravia, Gabe Nunziata, Lucio Flavio Filho, Gui Caribe Gui Caribe Julian Koch 3:00.34The Tennessee relays look very good for the upcoming season. They scored points in all five relays at the 2026 NCAA Championships, and have made a near one-to-one switch of Gui Caribe for Julian Koch.
The Pitt transfer Koch is not quite as fast as Caribe was, but he will be able to seamlessly transition into the role left open. There is also the potential to switch other athletes around on the relays with newcomers, like Kauspedas, Adama, and Pereira who are all unproven in SCY but have conversions that could make them potential relay athletes.
The 800 freestyle relay will also improve with the addition of Vova Gavrysh, who is coming in at 1:32.40 in the 200 freestyle, which would have been the 2nd fastest split on their relay last year.
Total Stars: 25.5
2026-27 Outlook
The Tennessee men’s team appears to be in very good shape even after graduating one of their top athletes following last season.
The addition of Julian Koch will be massive for the program, and if he can improve at the same rate as other Tennessee sprint freestylers, he will be a title threat in the 100 free. He will also be a big relay contributor and his times will put him near what we saw from Caribe last year.
Their strong sophomore class will create the foundation for the rest of the team to build on. Gabe Nunziata and Koby Bujak-Upton lead the way with their individual NCAA points and will only be looking to improve this year.
They will also get a big boost from their diving program, which is one of the top programs in the NCAA.
Men’s 2026-27 College Preview Index
Rank (2026) Team Sprint Free Distance Free Backstroke Breaststroke Butterfly IM Diving Relays Total Stars 1 Texas Longhorns 2 Florida Gators 3 Indiana Hoosiers 4 Arizona State Sun Devils 5 Tennessee Volunteers ★★★★★ ★★½ ★★½ ★★★ ★★★ ★ ★★★★ ★★★★½ 25.5/40 6 NC State Wolfpack ★★★★½ ★★★½ ★★★ ★ ★ ★★★ ★ ★★★★★ 22/40 7 California Golden Bears ★★ ★★★½ ★★★½ ★★★★ ★★½ ★★★½ ★ ★★★ 23/40 8 Michigan Wolverines ★ ★★ ★ ★ ★★★ ★★★★ ★★ ★★ 16/40 9 Virginia Cavaliers ★★½ ★ ★★★ ★ ★★★★ ★★★★ ★ ★★★½ 19/40 10 Stanford Cardinal ★★★½ ★★★ ★★ ★★½ ★★ ★ ★★★ ★★½ 19.5/40 11 Virginia Tech Hokies ★★★ ★ ★★ ★★ ★ ★ ★ ★★ 13/40 12 Louisville Cardinals ★★★ ★ ★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★★ 16/40Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2026-27 College Swimming Previews: #5 Tennessee Men Pick Up Massive Recruiting Class and Retain Major Points
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