2025 Men’s NCAA Champs: Day 4 Prelims Preview – Marshall & Lasco Seek to Topple Kos in 2 Back

by Mark Wild 24

March 29th, 2025 ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, College, Ivy League, SEC

2025 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships

Day 4 Prelims Heat Sheet

The 4th and final day of the 2025 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships is dawning, well, at least for those on the West Coast. There are five events on offer this morning, so teams will be looking to make the best of every opportunity as it is their last chance to get themselves into the points.

The morning session kicks off with the 200 backstroke (remember, the 1650 doesn’t occur until the afternoon), where Texas’s Hubert Kos will be looking for his 3rd NCAA title. The winner of the 200 IM and the 100 back, the Hungarian Olympian, has a chance for the sweep as he is the top seed, entered with a 1:35.72. However, things will be far from easy for him. He won his two events by a combined .09, and both Destin Lasco (2nd – 200 IM) and Jonny Marshall (2nd – 100 BK) will be looking for revenge. Lasco, who beat Kos for this title last year, is the 6th seed, while Marshall, a sophomore from Florida, joins Kos with a seed time under 1:36, having gone 1:35.85 earlier this season.

If the 200 back is a revenge tour, then the 100 free is a rubber match, as Jordan Crooks and Josh Liendo go head to head. Each has climbed to the top of the podium this week, with Crooks winning the 50 free and Liendo the 100 fly. Crooks beat Liendo in the 50 and holds the advantage here in the 100, but Liendo is the defending champion.  The pair entered with seeds of 40.26 and 40.45 and led the field by nearly half a second, but things got tight behind them as there were a further three swimmers who entered with sub-41 times, as Jack Alexy, Gui Caribe, and Jonny Kulow will like to spoil the Crooks/Liendo stranglehold at the top.

The 200 breaststroke, much like the stroke itself, is a bit of an outlier as, on paper, Matt Fallon is the clear favorite. The UPenn swimmer leads the field by almost a full second and is the highest-placed returner, having finished runner-up to Leon Marchand last year. Don’t start writing the obituaries for the field, however, as last year’s 3rd, 7th, and 8th place finishers all return as well and have been much faster. Carles Coll Marti of Virginia Tech leads the way in challenging Fallon. Coll Marti was seeded last season with a 1:51.28, but this year enters as the #2 seed with a 1:49.62. Fallon’s Ivy League rival Jack Kelly, too, finds himself under the 1:50 barrier as he is the #3 seed at 1:49.80.

The final swimming event of the morning sees recently minted NCAA record holder in the event, Luca Urlando, chasing after his first NCAA individual title. Urlando, who placed 2nd back in 2022, his last NCAA meet before this year, is entered with a seed time of 1:37.17, .9 clear of the next fastest competitor. While that is a large margin, like in the 200 BR, it would be wise to wait to hand out the prizes as ASU sophomore and Olympic bronze medalist and Short Course Worlds Gold medalist Ilya Kharun is the #2 seed. Kharun got the better of Urlando in the 100 fly, taking the silver by .06 and was .32 faster on the relay, so he has beaten the Bulldog twice already, but Urlando saw his 100 back NCAA record blown apart yesterday and is unlikely to want to see this one go too.

The mile is scheduled to kick off at 4 pm local with all but the final heat swimming (the top 8 will swim at night). David Johnston and Lucas Henveaux lead the way in the last heat, but we will discuss them more in the finals preview. The #9 seed and fastest swimmer in the earlier session in NC State, Lance Norris, who is entered with a 14:38.69. As the event is a timed final, Norris will be looking to post a time that bumps a few swimmers down the podium when the dust settles. His main competition in the morning is ASU’s Daniel Matheson, but keep your eyes on Florida’s Gio Lincsheer. The Gator will be swimming in heat 4 lane 1 but was the runner-up last year, having gone 14:36.01.

Seed 200 Back 100 Free 200 Breast 200 Fly 1650 Free
1
Hubert Kos (TEX) – 1:35.72
Jordan Crooks (TENN) – 40.26
Matthew Fallon (PENN) – 1:48.85 Gianluca Urlando (UGA) – 1:37.17
David Johnston (TEX) – 14:26.00
2
Jonathon Marshall (FLOR) – 1:35.85
Joshua Liendo (FLOR) – 40.45
Carles Coll Marti (VT) – 1:49.62 Ilya Kharun (ASU) – 1:38.07
Lucas Henveaux (CAL) – 14:29.74
3
Owen McDonald (IU) – 1:37.15
John Alexy (CAL) – 40.82
John Kelly (BROWN) – 1:49.80 Krzysztof Chmielewski (USC) – 1:38.99
Rex Maurer (TEX) – 14:30.47
4
Gabriel Jett (CAL) – 1:37.19
Guilherme Caribe (TENN) – 40.85
Joshua Matheny (IU) – 1:49.83 Andrei Minakov (STAN) – 1:39.03
Levi Sandidge (UK) – 14:30.61
5
William Modglin (TEX) – 1:37.84
Jonathan Kulow (ASU) – 40.97
Jassen Yep (IU) – 1:49.93 Martin Espernberger (TENN) – 1:39.34
Kenneth Lloyd (NCST) – 14:31.64
6
Destin Lasco (CAL) – 1:38.21
Christopher Guiliano (TEX) – 41.13
Aleksas Savickas (FLOR) – 1:50.02 Oludare Rose (CAL) – 1:39.47
Noah Millard (YALE) – 14:33.47
7
David King (UVA) – 1:38.36
Remi Fabiani (CBU) – 41.23
Yamato Okadome (CAL) – 1:50.19 Colin Geer (MICH) – 1:39.58
Liam Custer (STAN) – 14:36.44
8
Michel Arkhangelskiy (FSU) – 1:38.50
Jere Hribar (LSU) – 41.25
Denis Petrashov (LOU) – 1:50.35 Jacob Magahey (UGA) – 1:39.91
Zalan Sarkany (IU) – 14:37.49
9
Oleksandr Zheltiakov (NCST) – 1:38.78
Julian Smith (FLOR) – 41.34
Nathaniel Germonprez (TEX) – 1:50.55 Sebastian Lunak (UNC) – 1:40.12
Lance Norris (NCST) – 14:38.69
10
Pietro Ubertalli (CORN) – 1:38.99
Connor Foote (TAMU) – 41.38
Jacob Eccleston (LOU) – 1:51.03 Bjoern Kammann (TENN) – 1:40.18
Daniel Matheson (ASU) – 14:43.46
11
Kai Van Westering (IU) – 1:39.24
Patrick Sammon (ASU)/Kaii Winkler (NCST) – 41.39
Will Scholtz (TEX) – 1:51.04 Logan Robinson (FSU) – 1:40.34
Carson Hick (UK) – 14:43.70
12
Miroslav Knedla (IU) – 1:39.26
Charles Rivers (CAL) – 1:51.23 Frank Applebaum (CAL) – 1:40.39
Mert Kilavuz (GT) – 14:44.90
13
Nathaniel Stoffle (AUB)/Kyle Peck (TEX) – 1:39.36
Alexander Painter (FLOR) – 41.41
Benjamin Delmar (UNC) – 1:51.29 Mitchell Schott (PRIN) – 1:40.42
Mason Mathias (AUB) – 14:45.11
14
Quintin McCarty (NCST) – 41.45
Caspar Corbeau (IU) – 1:51.65 Danny Schmidt (AUB) – 1:40.43
Jackson Huckabay (TEX) – 14:45.18
15
Cornelius Jahn (OSU) – 1:39.50
Tomas Navikonis (OSU) – 41.55
Toby Barnett (IU) – 1:51.73 Jacob Johnson (MINN) – 1:40.47
Giovanni Linscheer (FLOR) – 14:45.25
16
Aaron Sequeira (STAN) – 1:39.54
Tomas Lukminas (ARIZ) – 41.56
Alexander Sanchez (TAMU) – 1:51.87 David Schmitt (HARV) – 1:40.52
Leonardo Alcantara (BAMA) – 14:45.45

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chickenlamp
2 days ago

I don’t see Julian Smith on the 100 free heat sheets in Meet Mobile. Presumably he scratched to swim 5 relays again. Probably not the smartest move from a points perspective, but maybe he wants his last swim of his college career (maybe last swim ever?) to be on the relay rather than in a B-final

Joe
2 days ago

I’m thinking of what Cal would have to do to win. Something like 3/1 in the back and 1/1 in all the other events, but I’m not even sure that gets it done.

barelyaswammer
2 days ago

I owe Kos an apology. I slept on the Olympic champ a bit. I knew he had a shot at both the 200 IM and 100 back titles, but didn’t think he would win both before the meet. He looks sharp and he’s got the mamba mentality. Lasco and Marshall are always a threat, but I’ve definitely got him as my favorite.

Swimfanjacoby
2 days ago

Not a chance lasco beats kos marshall is the only one with a chance after the 100 back kos looks to be in the best form of any scy backstroker ever, and marshall is about the same, lasco can go a 1:36 full second pb and I still think he will lose, kos and marshall are 1-2

jeff
Reply to  Swimfanjacoby
2 days ago

A full second PB would be 1:34.3

Swimfanjacoby
Reply to  jeff
2 days ago

For lasco?

Swimfanjacoby
Reply to  Mark Wild
2 days ago

Yes ik i meant season best and i kinda forgot about that 1:35.3 tbh, but i still think he is not really in contention, at least i would have him as more of an underdog compared to marshall and kos

Swimfanjacoby
Reply to  jeff
2 days ago

Sorry i meant sb

Sparkle
Reply to  Swimfanjacoby
2 days ago

He went 4 seconds faster than his SB in the finals of the 2 IM, his SB doesn’t mean much when he’s only tapering for one meet in the season

Swimfanjacoby
Reply to  Sparkle
2 days ago

Yeah bears all taper beautifully for end of season, but I still would take marshall and kos over him

Sparkle
Reply to  Swimfanjacoby
2 days ago

Kos is swimming very well so I would give the edge to him, but Lasco has been right on his PBs in the 100 back and 2 IM at this meet, it’s going to take a NCAA record to win

Last edited 2 days ago by Sparkle
Swimfanjacoby
Reply to  jeff
1 day ago

Still wouldn’t have won

Devan
2 days ago

Considering the shape Kos is in, I don’t see it happening

Swimfanjacoby
2 days ago

I like lasco but aint no way he is touching kos, his ncaa record in the 100 back was wildly unexpected to me only marshall might have a chance, his ceiling is probably higher than kos’ but he is still only a sophomore so its not fully realized yet

This Guy
2 days ago

What event(s) does Rex Maurer potentially have the best shot at making a run at a 2028 spot for the US?

PaliSwims
Reply to  This Guy
2 days ago

4Free. Kid is pretty solid over 4 minutes, has front end speed and can build from there. He’s got the right coach for it too.

This Guy
Reply to  PaliSwims
2 days ago

Could potentially make a push to make the 800 fr relay, maybe 5th or 6th

moonlight
Reply to  This Guy
2 days ago

800 free seems a good candidate. 400 IM, since Carson foster is the only real competition at this point.

Timekeeper
2 days ago

After Hobsons Split last night he could easily go from 0 points to A final 100 free