2025 Men’s NCAA Championships, Day 1 Relays Preview: Which Barriers Will We See Broken?

2025 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships

• March 26-29, 2025
• Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center, Federal Way, Washington
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• SwimSwam Pick’Em Contest
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Psych Sheet
• Day 1 Heat Sheets

Alright everyone–it’s the first night of the 2025 Men’s Division I NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.

It’s a short session tonight with only two events: timed finals of the 200 medley and 800 freestyle relay. There will be a 45-minute break between those two relays, providing a rest period for swimmers competing in both events.

In the 200 medley relay, Tennessee enters the meet as the top-seeded team. All of the top three seeds come from the SEC Championships, meaning a rematch will ensue in tonight’s final heat. At SECs, Florida led for most of the race, helped significantly by Julian Smith’s blistering 22.15 breaststroke split, which was the fastest split in history. Will Modglin got Texas off to a strong start, giving them the lead with a 20.34 backstroke split. Florida’s Jonny Marshall went 20.61 to put them in 2nd, while Lamar Taylor from Tennessee clocked a 20.76.

Nobody was able to keep up with Smith’s 22.15 split, but Kevin Houseman went 22.87 for Tennessee and Nate Germonprez went 22.59 for Texas.

Tennessee’s Gui Caribe went 19.17 on the fly leg for Tennessee, bringing them up closer to Texas, who had Hubert Kos split 19.74, and putting them just over six-tenths back of Florida’s Scotty Buff who went 19.40.

Jordan Crooks had an absolutely monster free leg for the Vols, splitting 17.42 to earn Tennessee the gold. This time was over half a second faster than anyone else in the field, with Chris Guiliano having the next fastest split at 18.08 for Texas, who finished 3rd. Florida’s Ed Fullum-Huot brought the Gators home in 18.50 which was enough to hold of Texas for 2nd.

While Tennessee is the favorite based on their seed time (1:20.22), Florida is the biggest question mark. The Gators are the defending NCAA champions and hold the fastest-ever time from their win last year (1:20.15), but they chose not to utilize Josh Liendo at the SEC Championships and still clocked 1:20.66.

Liendo swam the fly on their record-breaking relay last year, but they could use him on either fly or free this year, given the improvement Scotty Buff has made in the 50 fly. Substituting in Liendo for Fullum-Huot on free would put them into the sub-1:20 range, making them the clear favorites. However, that would likely mean taking him off the 800 free relay, where they are actually seeded 1st. They could also put Liendo on fly and place freshman Alex Painter on free, who split 18.18 on the 200 free relay at the SEC Championships. Buff could also be thrown on the free leg instead of fly, as he’s split 18.36, but that would only make sense if Florida wants Painter fresh for the 800 free relay. Another option is to leave Buff on fly and put Painter on free, but leaving Liendo off would likely make the race a lot closer, although it would bring them a few tenths closer to Tennessee’s seed time, essentially making it even on paper. Regardless, there are plenty of options for the Gators in this race.

California can never be counted out, and they come in seeded 6th with a time of 1:21.54. They could very well move up into the top three, as they are known to save their best performances for this meet each year.

Also lingering in the air–will we see a sub-20 backstroke lead-off this year after being so close the last three seasons? It almost seemed certain after 2022 that it would happen the following year, but three years later, the times have remained fairly stagnant.

Back in 2022, the fireworks first started in the second-to-last heat at NCAAs, where Cal’s Bjoern Seeliger led off with a 20.08, and NC State’s Kacper Stokowski led off with a 20.16, the two fastest times of all time at that point. In the final heat, Florida’s Adam Chaney led off with a 20.19, which was the third-fastest time of all time at that point. Nobody got any closer in 2023, but in 2024, NC State’s Aiden Hayes clocked a 20.07 to surpass Seeliger’s previous fastest mark.

Stokowski and Chaney have both since graduated, and never improved upon those performances, while Seeliger is back this year for his final NCAAs. Hayes is still at NC State, but hasn’t competed this year. In January, NC State Head Coach Braden Holloway shared that Hayes fractured his wrist and will not return this semester. The “timetable is TBD,” Holloway said, “but [Hayes] is out for a while.”

Seeliger has been trending in the opposite direction in this event over the past two years, leading off Cal’s relay in 20.29 in 2022 before clocking 20.39 last year.

50 Back, Top 5 All-Time Performers:

1. 20.07 — Aiden Hayes (2024)
2. 20.08 — Bjoern Seeliger (2022)
3. 20.16 — Kacper Stokowski (2022)
4. 20.19 — Adam Chaney (2022)
5. 20.20 — Ryan Murphy (2016)

Top 8 Seeds:

1. Tennessee — 1:20.22
2. Florida — 1:20.66
3. Texas — 1:20.75
4. Arizona State — 1:21.16
5. Indiana — 1:21.39
6. California — 1:21.54
7. Florida State — 1:21.98
8. North Carolina State — 1:22.06

In the 800 free relay last year, the squad of Gabriel Jett (1:30.32), Destin Lasco (1:29.60), Jack Alexy (1:30.50), and Robin Hanson (1:31.84) stopped the clock at 6:02.26, lowering the previous NCAA record of 6:03.42 by 1.16 seconds. None of those four Golden Bear swimmers graduated after last season, meaning their entire record-setting relay returns for this year’s final.

All four of those swimmers may not even appear in tonight’s relay, though, as Belgian Lucas Henveaux returned to the Cal roster after a year-long hiatus, and he’s posted a 1:32.04 from a flat start so far this season. Henveaux beat Hanson by a full second in the individual event at the ACCs, with Henveaux’s time tying for 3rd while Hanson recorded a 1:33.05 for 11th. However, Hanson time-trialed the event, swimming a 1:31.87, a new personal best, so both swimmers warrant consideration for the relay.

Cal is only seeded 4th at 6:06.66, but just like the 200 medley relay, don’t let that fool you. Alexy has only posted a 1:32.98 this year, and his lifetime best is 1:29.75 from last year’s NCAAs. This alone accounts for more than three seconds that Cal could potentially drop from their seed time. Furthermore, Jett’s season best of 1:32.13 is about two seconds shy of his 1:30.32 career best from last year’s NCAAs. Additionally, Destin Lasco has split sub-1:30 for the past two NCAA meets, with his fastest split of the season being 1:31.38.

The top two seeds come from the SEC Championships: Florida and Texas. There, the Gators led off with freshman Alex Painter (1:31.21), followed by Josh Liendo (1:30.19), Julian Smith (1:29.67), and Jake Mitchell (1:31.43), for a final time of 6:02.50—just a few tenths off Cal’s NCAA record of 6:02.26.

Texas finished in 2nd place with a new American record of 6:03.24. Florida did not set the American record because Liendo represents Canada on the international scene. Luke Hobson led off the relay with a time of 1:30.45, followed by Rex Maurer (1:31.70), Chris Guiliano (1:30.04), and Coby Carrozza (1:31.05).

While we are not discounting Florida, on paper, it seems that California and Texas have the most room to drop time. Hobson’s leadoff split of 1:30.45 from the SECs was well off his best time (and NCAA record) of 1:28.81, and Maurer’s relay split of 1:31.70 was slower than his flat-start best of 1:31.59. 

Like Cal, Texas also has a tough lineup choice to make. Do they stick with proven relay swimmer Carrozza, a 5th-year, who went 1:31.05 (and has split as fast as 1:30.50 in 2023) on the relay, compared to his 1:32.27 individual swim at SECs? Or do they give the spot to sophomore Camden Taylor, who was faster individually with a best time of 1:31.88?

Both Cal and Texas have a shot at breaking 6 minutes, but a near-perfect swim will be required. One thing is for certain: the 800 free relay could potentially be the best battle of the meet. It often seems that way on paper, but many times one team just pulls ahead for a comfortable win. We’ll see in a few short hours how the race actually unfolds.

Top 8 Seeds:

1. Florida — 6:02.50
2. Texas — 6:03.24
3. Georgia — 6:05.43
4. California — 6:06.66
5. Alabama — 6:06.77
6. Arizona State — 6:08.54
7. Stanford — 6:08.70
8. North Carolina State — 6:09.18