2026 Men’s NCAA Division I Championships: Day 2 Prelims Preview ...Middle East

By Sam Blacker on SwimSwam

2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships

DAY 2 PRELIMS HEAT SHEETS

DAY 2 EVENT LINEUP:

Day 2 of the 2026 NCAA championships will be the first where the new finals format comes into effect for the men. Only the top eight swimmers will make it through to the ‘A’ final this evening, while the finishers in places 9-16 this morning will be scored on their prelims swims.

We kick off with the 100 fly, in which Josh Liendo is looking to make history as only the second swimmer to crack 43 seconds. He came agonizingly close at SECs in 43.06, matching his PB from NCAAs last year, and even a slight drop should see him join Caeleb Dressel in the 42s. Liendo is the two-time defending champion in the event, having taken the crown in 2024 (43.07) and 2025 (43.06). Ilya Kharun is the #2 seed in 43.38 and had another huge split tonight on the 200 medley relay, so may be the rabbit for Liendo to chase down. He was 2nd at 2025 NCAAs in 43.43, and split 18.70 on the 200 medley relay tonight.

With no Luca Urlando at the meet after his scratch, the only other swimmers under 44 seconds are Michigan’s Tyler Ray and Tennessee’s Gui Caribe. Ray has been in great form this year, including splitting 19.06 tonight on the 200 medley relay, and set a Big Ten record of 43.83 to take the conference title last month after placing 7th at NCAAs last year. Caribe dipped under 44 seconds for the first time to take silver behind Liendo at SECs, while Scotty Buff is another to watch after he matched Ray’s 200 medley relay split tonight.

Thomas Heilman is the only other swimmer in the field who has been 43-point before, and enters as the #7 seed with his season best of 44.16. There are 23 swimmers faster than last year’s 16th-place time of 44.94, so expect a fierce battle for the points.

The 400 IM sees Rex Maurer, the defending champion, down in 6th on the psych sheets with the 3:36.74 he swam for 2nd at SECs. The man who beat him there, Baylor Nelson, is the fastest entrant in 3:34.83, five seconds faster than he went to place 7th at 2025 NCAAs. Just 0.07 seconds behind him is Indiana Freshman Josh Bey, who dropped eight second to win Big Tens in a new conference record and become the fastest freshman ever in the event.

Lorne Wigginton is the #3 seed in 3:35.21, and had the 3rd-fastest split in the field in the 800 free relay tonight. His 1:30.63 was 0.67 seconds faster than at Big Tens, where he swam his 400 IM best, so there could be further drops in store for him

In total five of the top eight seeds come from the Big Ten, with Bey and Wigginton joined by Ohio State’s Tristan Jankovics (3:36.69), Northwestern’s Josh Staples (3:37.62), and Wisconsin’s Dominik Mark Torok (3:38.53).  Jankovics (2nd) and Torok (5th) were both ‘A’ finalists last season, while Staples has shifted to IM from distance free and had not swum the event before November 2025.

The men’s 200 free looks like one of the toughest events to call in terms of both the overall winner and the swimmers who will make it through to tonight’s final. Tennessee freshman Koby Bujak-Upton leads the psych sheets in 1:30.77 and is joined under 1:31 by Kaii Winkler (1:30.92), who was just 36th at NCAAs last year in 1:33.56. Bujak-Upton ripped a time of 1:29.79 to lead off the 800 free relay tonight, becoming the first freshman under 1:30, and was joined in setting a new PB by Maximus Williamson. The Virginia freshman dropped 0.03 seconds from his best to go 1:30.43 and position himself as a title contender, slicing a second off his season best of 1:31.45.

Henry McFadden (1:31.05) was the only swimmer under 1:30 on a flying split as he anchored Stanford to silver in 1:29.72, and has shown he has the racing nous to get his hand to the wall first. Kaii Winkler was a little off his ACC time, but Mitchell Schott and Aaron Shackell may be finals contenders after their relay swims tonight.

The 100 breast has only one entrant under 50 seconds, with Nate Germonprez leading the psych sheets by half a second in 49.71. He was 49.92 to win SECs last month and placed 3rd at NCAAs in 2025, but is the top returning swimmer. Koen de Groot, Yamato Okadome, and Campbell McKean are all seeded between 50.22 and 50.37 behind him, with Okadome swimming the #4 50 breast split ever on Cal’s 200 medley relay tonight in 22.35, just ahead of Germonprez’s 22.39. Kohen Rankin, who split 22.67, is the #6 seed in 50.76.

The 200 free relay will round off the morning, with the fastest heat saved for the finals session tonight. Indiana are the #9 seed in 1:15.36 and will swim in lane four in the last heat this morning, and will be next to #11 seed Texas (1:15.64). They finished 4th and 3rd respectively in the medley relay tonight.

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