By Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam
Hello college swimming fans – the first meets of the 2025-26 NCAA season (exhibition, intrasquad, or dual) are in the books. That means that even though we may not have the Division I NCAA time standards for the 2026 Championships, the season is officially underway. On the SwimSwam breakdown this week, SwimSwam’s own Mel Stewart said on the SwimSwam Breakdown that he expected college swimmers “to be hating life right now” because of the grinding nature of practices at this point in the season.
That may be the current mood for many of the college swimmers across the country, but many are still producing head-turning times at these early, temperature check meets. These times likely won’t “mean” much when it comes to projecting how a swimmer will do come the postseason, but getting these racing reps in early is crucial.
International Stars Make Their NCAA Debuts
That’s especially true for those swimmers who are racing yards for the first time. As the NCAA continues to attract international talent, these early season meets provide the chance for these swimmers to experience what it’s actually like to compete–not just train–in the bathtub.
Reigning long-course world champion Ahmed Jaouadi started his yards career off by with an event win as Florida men lost to Indiana. Jaouadi won the 200 freestyle in 1:37.42, touching ahead of Hoosier duo Brandon Fleck (1:38.04) and Cooper McDonald (1:38.10), splitting 22.64/24.55/25.53/24.70 on the way to his first win in his first time racing yards.
Later in the meet, he finished second in the 500 freestyle, coming in behind the defending 1650 freestyle NCAA champion, Zalan Sarkany. Sarkany attacked the race early and touched in 4:21.28 as Jaouadi negative split the race (2:12.38/2:11.05) and clocked 4:23.43.
The Virginia women had a busy offseason, pulling in multiple pieces as they look to keep an iron grip on the NCAA in the post-Walsh era. That effort included bringing in Sara Curtis, Italy’s young sprint star who unlocked a new level this summer and broke a Federica Pellegrini national record.
Curtis was stellar in her NCAA debut despite the fact that it was an exhibition meet. She led off a 200 freestyle relay loaded with Virginia newcomers (more on that later), swimming 21.97 in a tech suit. It’s a significant swim in the Cavaliers’ books; she’s now the 10th fastest woman in Virginia history and ensures that the top 10 are all sub-22 seconds.
In Austin, Eva Okaro–the British women’s up-and-coming sprinter–beat Curtis’ time by nine-hundreths. She swam a 21.86 to win her first individual yards race, which unofficially makes her the fastest woman in the NCAA this season, just ahead of Curtis (21.97) and Alabama’s Cadence Vincent (22.10). Okaro swam 52.46 in the 100 butterfly in her second individual event of the day. She also split a 23.00 50 butterfly and 47.52 100 freestyle.
Hungary’s Nikolett Padar also made an impression, swimming 1:44.03 to win the 200 freestyle and set herself atop the very early NCAA rankings. She followed up with a 48.41 to win the 100 freestyle, and a 4:46.26 for third in the 500 freestyle (reigning NCAA champion Jillian Cox won in 4:38.28). Padar also flexed her sprint speed in the first event of the day, anchoring a 200 medley relay in 22.09.
Current and Former DII Stars Start Strong
Another boost to Virginia this season is DII transfer Bryn Greenwaldt. Greenwaldt won the 50 freestyle at 2025 DII NCAAs, bringing home Augustana University’s first national title in record-setting fashion. The feat was made even more impressive by the fact that she was simultaneously competing at the DII Track and Field National Championships and earned NCAA All-American status in both.
She’s quickly made an impression in Charlottesville, throwing down a speedy and suited 21.13 anchor on the Cavaliers’ 200 freestyle relay during their exhibition meet against the U.S. Naval Academy.
Tampa’s Jacob Hamlin was one of the revelations of the 2024-25 DII season, breaking the distance freestyle DII NCAA records multiple times and going four-for-four at the 2025 DII NCAA Championships (1:33.38/4:14.62/8:47.23/14:51.81).
He stayed at Tampa for the 2025-26 season and got back to his winning ways early this year. He won the 200/500 freestyle at the Florida State Fall Classic against DI opponents (1:36.34/4:24.87). Notably, his winning 500 freestyle time was more than three seconds faster than he went in his first meet last season (a 4:28.32 in late October in a tri-meet against Rollins and Florida). Last season, it took until midseason for Hamlin to go faster than a 4:24.87–looks like those DII records are officially on notice.
Ilya Kharun Once Again On Form Early
It’s no surprise to see Olympic medalist Ilya Kharun swimming fast early. Throughout his decorated career at Arizona State, he’s made it a habit to drop head-turning times all season. Even though this is far from the first time he’s done this, it was still shocking to see just how fast he went at the Sun Devils’ pentathlon and USA vs. International Intrasquad.
Kharun dropped a 44.15 100 butterfly at the pentathlon in early September, which is less than a second off the 43.43 lifetime best he swam for 2nd place at the 2025 NCAA Championships. The time is faster than the 44.52 that it took to qualify for the 2025 NCAA ‘A’ final. That was the opening swim of his pentathlon. His 44.15 fly/45.72 back/54.65 breast/42.53 free/47.16 IM added up to a 3:54.21, less than a second off Leon Marchand’s 3:53.31 record for the meet that he swam in 2022.
Kharun swam 45.00 at an ASU intrasquad to begin last season, signaling the improvements he’s made in the last 12 months. The Sun Devils will once again look to him as a leader; he led the team with 48 individual points at 2025 NCAAs.
Kharun backed up his early season speed at the USA vs. International Intrasquad. He swam 19.84 in a flat start 50 butterfly, then split 18.39 anchoring the International team’s 200 freestyle relay. That is the same time that he swam leading off the Sun Devils’ 200 freestyle relay at the 2025 NCAA Championships.
Courtesy: Poolside Perspective
Quick Hits
The Virginia men’s high-powered recruiting class of 2025 is finally on campus. Maximus Williamson earned three wins, the most of any swimmer at the UVA vs. USNA meet, touching first in the 500 freestyle (4:23.41), 150 butterfly (1:16.33), and 150 backstroke (1:15.94). UNC had an excellent season last year; the team essentially rewrote its record books and the Tar Heel men took 4th at the 2025 ACC Championships. The record breaking continues into the 2025-26 season as senior Louis Dramm broke UNC’s pool record in the 200 IM during the team’s sweep of Queens (NC). Dramm’s 1:43.15 broke the former pool record of 1:43.97 from NC State’s Andreas Vazaios in 2017. It was also almost a second faster than the 1:44.13 he swam to open the 2024-25 season. Two former NCAA champions have gotten new jobs on deck. Emma Sticklen, the three-time 200 butterfly NCAA champion and NCAA record holder, has taken an assistant coaching job at Penn. Meanwhile, four-time NCAA champion Max McHugh has made the transition to the ACC. After spending last season at Colorado College, McHugh has joined Notre Dame as an assistant coach.Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2025-26 NCAA Digest: International Stars Impress Early In Their NCAA Careers
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