2024 M. NCAA Previews: Liendo Tracking Down Dressel’s Record Amidst Stacked 100 Fly Lineup

2024 MEN’S NCAA SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 27-30, 2024
• IUPUI Natatorium, Indianapolis, Indiana
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Meet Central
• Official Psych Sheets
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MEN’S 100 FLY

• U.S. Open Record: 42.80 – Caeleb Dressel, Florida (2018)
• American Record: 42.80 – Caeleb Dressel, Florida (2018)
• NCAA Record: 42.80 – Caeleb Dressel, Florida (2018)
• 2023 NCAA Champion: Youssef Ramadan, Virginia Tech – 43.15

He’s not the defending champion. He’s not the winner from the season prior. And he’s not the new freshman on the block who has been delivering some of the fastest swims in history in the 200 fly all season. But, Josh Liendo is the man to beat in the men’s 100 fly at NCAAs.

That might be a controversial statement given he was beaten head-to-head by Youssef Ramadan last year, and Ramadan is back in the field this week with, what feels like again, something to prove. Maybe that’s not the case. Ramadan got the individual title he had been hunting last season by delivering a clutch swim under the lights in Minneapolis, pulling ahead of Liendo on the second 50 in the final as the two swimmers moved to #2 and #3 all-time in the event.

Later in that same session, Liendo put up the fastest 100 fly relay split in history, 42.91, to lead Florida to the national title and a new NCAA Record.

A similar trend occurred last month at the SEC Championships.

Liendo repeated as the conference champion in the 100 fly, delivering sub-44 swims in both prelims (43.89) and the final (43.98), but was then significantly faster on the relay, dropping a 42.77 leg to overtake himself for the fastest split in history.

That relay split at SECs, presumably with full taper still to come, makes it hard to argue against Liendo as the frontrunner in the 100 fly. Couple that with the fact that the 21-year-old sophomore has now been sub-44 four times, one more than Ramadan, and was faster this season at SECs compared to last year.

Liendo’s 100 Fly Swims – First Three Championship Meets

All told, Liendo has produced four of history’s 15 sub-44 swims between the 2023 NCAAs and 2024 SECs, on top of owning the only two sub-43 relay splits.

That 42.77 split also opens the possibility for Liendo to challenge Caeleb Dressel‘s all-time record of 42.80 if he’s able to deliver a similar performance from a flat start, with the few extra tenths lost from no takeover gained with taper.

Even if Liendo is the favorite, there are no shortage of contenders who could easily upend him, led by the past two winners in the event.

THE PAST TWO CHAMPIONS

Youssef Ramadan 2023 (photo: Jack Spitser)

Ramadan’s first NCAA Championship appearance didn’t go quite as planned. The top seed in the 100 fly, the Virginia Tech first-year was disqualified for a false start in the prelims, and even then his recorded time wouldn’t have been enough for the ‘A’ final.

In 2022, he performed in the ‘A’ final, joining the sub-44 club in 43.93, but took a close 3rd.

Last year, he delivered in the biggest way, unleashing the second-fastest swim of all-time to beat Liendo at NCAAs in 43.15.

In his senior season, things have had a bit of a different feel for Ramadan regarding the 100 fly, as he opted not to race the even until the calendar flipped to 2024.

He’s slowly ramped things up, culminating with three 44-point swims in February, including a fourth straight ACC title in 44.06.

That’s essentially on par with his time from last season’s conference meet (43.93), so there’s no reason to think he won’t be on point once again at NCAAs.

Andrei Minakov 2022 (photo: Jack Spitser)

The other former champion in the field is another swimmer who was a bit of an unknown for the first half of the season, Andrei Minakov.

The champion in 2022 and 4th last year, Minakov was initially noncommital about returning to Stanford, and then after he reaffirmed he would be going back to the Cardinal, was still considering an Olympic redshirt before eventually joining the team for the second semester in January.

Like Ramadan, Minakov has broken 44 seconds three times, but they all came in March 2022 when he won the Pac-12 title (43.90) and then delivering back-to-back 43.7s at NCAAs to win the national crown.

The 22-year-old did, however, log the fourth-fastest swim of his career in January, clocking 44.16 at a dual meet against Arizona State.

Earlier this month at Pac-12s, he only raced the prelims of the 100 fly and went 45.31, reportedly sick. There’s still a three-week buffer between that meet and NCAAs, but it’s still not something you want to be dealing with the same month as the biggest meet of the season.

NEW BLOOD

Ilya Kharun has been breaking new ground in his freshman season at Arizona State, doing most of his headline-worthy performances in the 200 fly, where he’s in the hunt to break the U.S. Open and NCAA Record.

Ilya Kharun (photo: Jack Spitser)

In the 100 fly, Kharun is tied for the 5th seed at 44.32, a time he produced to roll to the Pac-12 title three weeks ago. He also went 44.33 at the midseason NCAA Invite, and has seven swims this season 44.88 or better.

That goes without mentioning a pair of sub-44 relay splits under his belt: 43.35 at the NC State Invite, and 43.84 at Pac-12s.

The training at Arizona State has taken him to the next level, and he’s a surefire ‘A’ finalist as someone who doesn’t seem to ever have an ‘off’ swim. Kharun likely doesn’t have the high-end speed to drop a full second from his PB to challenge for the title, but he’ll be in the thick of things to be sure.

The other freshman poised to do some damage is this event is Scotty Buff, who has been overshadowed a bit in the midst of a stellar first year at Florida that included a new best time of 44.38 at SECs en route to a runner-up finish behind teammate Liendo.

Buff, who was the top-ranked recruit in his junior season of high school, joined the Gators with a PB of 44.87, a swim that at the time ranked #2 in the 17-18 age group (again overshadowed, that time by 15-16 record-breaker Thomas Heilman).

The Ohio native was quiet early in the season, and hadn’t broken 46 seconds until SECs where he logged back-to-back 45.0 and 44.3 swims.

Buff is flying under the radar, but comes in with momentum as he seems to be peaking at the perfect time.

WOLFPACK READY TO ROAR

It’s not the Texas squad from 2015, but NC State has built a formidable fly group that saw three swimmers make the 100 fly ‘A’ final last season.

Aiden Hayes and Kacper Stokowski are back this year, and while Nyls Korstanje has moved on, the Wolfpack have two more men in the hunt for a top-eight slot in Luke Miller and Noah Henderson.

Luke Miller (photo: Jack Spitser)

Miller’s versatile skillset has resulted in him not racing the 100 fly individually at NCAAs as of yet, but that changes this week. He went 44.50 in March 2023 at the UNC Last Chance Meet, and then early this season, ripped a 44.17 swim in November to solidify himself as a bonafide NCAA threat.

The senior was 44.62 for 3rd at ACCs, and also split 44.08 on the medley relay, so he’s rounding back into form for NCAAs.

Hayes, a junior, won the 200 fly national title last season and placed 6th in the 100 fly, recording the two fastest swims of his career with a PB of 44.35 in the final.

He was 2nd at ACCs in 44.41, slightly quicker than he was last year (44.66) when he was also the runner-up to Ramadan.

Stokowski is more of an unknown—he went 44.6 twice in March 2023, once at the UNC Last Chance Meet and then again in the NCAA prelims, making the ‘A’ final. He then punted his swim in the final to rest for the 100 back, and has only raced the 100 fly at ACCs this season, clocking 45.59 from the ‘C’ final.

Henderson is coming off breaking 45 seconds for the first time at ACCs, clocking 44.80. He’ll probably need to drop a bit more to challenge for the ‘A’ final—last year’s cut-off was Stokowski’s 44.65—but he’s within range.

NC State has other potential contenders for a second swim in fifth-year Noah Bowers and junior Arsenio Bustos. Bowers swam a PB of 45.04 at ACCs, while Bustos is ranked last on the psych sheets (46.99) but went 44.89 last season to place 11th at NCAAs.

OTHER CONTENDERS

Indiana’s Tomer Frankel is on the precipice of joining the sub-44 club, having gone 44.04 in last year’s final for 3rd while splitting 43.70 on the Hoosier 400 medley relay.

At Big Tens, he swam his fastest time outside of the 2023 NCAAs in 44.32 (also splitting sub-44 on the relay), and has proven he can perform when it counts, having placed 5th at the 2022 NCAAs in 44.56.

Dare Rose (photo: Jack Spitser)

Michigan’s Gal Cohen Groumi was the runner-up to Frankel at Big Tens in 44.60, right on where he was at the meet last year (44.50) before taking 12th at NCAAs (44.80 in prelims).

And while swimmers like Buff and Frankel might be flying under the radar coming in, perhaps the name everyone should be keeping an eye on but maybe aren’t is Dare Rose, the Cal senior who is coming off a breakout summer that resulted in three World Championship medals including an individual bronze in the 100 fly.

Rose has been more dangerous in the NCAA format in the 200 fly, having only broken 45 seconds three times in the 100. However, he did it for the first time outside of NCAAs at the Minnesota Invite in December (44.98), and went 51.77 in the long course event at the Westmont Pro Swim after sitting out of Pac-12s.

2023-24 NCAA Rankings, Men’s 100 Fly (SCY)

1. Josh Liendo (Florida), 43.89 – 2024 SECs
2. Youssef Ramadan (Virginia Tech), 44.06 – 2024 ACCs
3. Andrei Minakov (Stanford), 44.16 – 2024 Stanford vs ASU
4. Luke Miller (NC State), 44.17 – 2023 NC State vs Duke, Georgia
5. (TIE) Tomer Frankel (Indiana), 44.32 – 2024 Big Tens
6. (TIE) Ilya Kharun (Arizona State), 44.32 – 2024 Pac-12s
7. Scotty Buff (Florida), 44.38 – 2024 SECs
8. Aiden Hayes (NC State), 44.41 – 2024 ACCs
9. Jordan Tiffany (BYU), 44.51 – 2024 Big 12s
10. Gal Cohen Groumi (Michigan), 44.60 – 2024 Big Tens

BYU’s Jordan Tiffany has been a revelation this season and finds himself in prime position to challenge for the ‘A’ final after winning the Big 12 title in a PB of 44.51, while sophomores Connor Foote (Texas A&M), Tyler Ray (Michigan) and Rafael Gu (Stanford), along with Indiana junior Finn Brooks, are also in the hunt for second swims as sub-45 swimmers this season.

SWIMSWAM PICKS

Dark Horse: Jonny Kulow, Arizona State – He might end up scratching it, but Kulow’s rise up the ranks in the sprint free events make him someone to watch in the 100 fly. He blasted a new PB of 45.30 at the NC State Invite in November, which is a staggering improvement compared to where he was at the same meet the year prior (47.01). Kulow is explosive enough that something in the 44s seems well within reach.