2025 NCAA Men’s Champs: Day 1 Relay Analysis – Kharun Lowers Record in 50 fly, Smith drops .01

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)
• Start Times: Prelims: 10 AM ׀ Finals: 6 PM (Pacific Daylight Time)
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• Eligible Relays
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  • Prelims:
  • Finals: Day 1

Men’s 200 Medley Relay

• NCAA Record: 1:20.15 — Florida (Chaney, Smith, Liendo, McDuff) (2024)
• Championship Record: 1:20.15 — Florida (Chaney, Smith, Liendo, McDuff) (2024)
• American Record: 1:20.98 — NC State (Hayes, Hoover, Miller, McCarty) (2024)
• U.S. Open Record: 1:20.15 — Florida (Chaney, Smith, Liendo, McDuff) (2024)
• 2024 Champion: Florida (Chaney, Smith, Liendo, McDuff) — 1:20.15

Top 8:

1. Texas (Modglin, Germonprez, Kos, Guiliano) – 1:20.28
2. Tennessee (Taylor, Houseman, Caribe, Crooks) – 1:20.50
3. California (Seeliger, Okadome, Rose, Alexy) – 1:20.76
4. Arizona State (Vergnes, Dobrzanski, Kharun, Kulow) – 1:20.87
5. Indiana (Barr, Benzing, Brooks, King) – 1:20.92 (American Record)
6. NC State (McCarty, Hoover, Miller, Fox) – 1:21.16
7. Florida State (Herbet, Baravelli, Arkhangelskiy, Bork) – 1:21.60
8. Georgia (Urlando, Pitshugin, Van Renen, Bidois) – 1:22.01

Backstroke

While not replicating his teammate’s 20.07 from last season, Quintin McCarty pounced on the opening leg of the 200 Medley, swimming the fastest time of the field, going 20.24. Texas’s Will Modglin did exactly what he needed to do, outsplitting his rival Seeliger of Cal, Marshall of Florida, and Taylor of Tennessee by over .20 to give the Longhorns the edge they needed. FSU’s Mason Herbert had the t-5th fastest time (20.59) but sits 28th in the 100 back, so could be in for some serious time drops.

Breaststroke

Julian Smith has done it again. His split of 22.14 undercut his former fastest split by .01 as he was 22.15 earlier this year. The time pulled the Gators back into contention as Smith easily gained over half a second on all of his competitors. Brian Benzing, who was at Townson last year but now represents Indiana, had the 2nd fastest split, going 22.65. Cal, who saw Liam Bell graduate last year, will be buoyed by Yamato Okadome‘s 22.77, which ranked as the 3rd fastest, especially as he is just the 8th seed in the 100.

Butterfly

Whereas Smith just got under his old mark of 22.15, ASU’s Ilya Kharun smashed his old fastest 50 fly split of 18.89, going 18.78. Before Kharun dove in, ASU was well off the podium, but Kharun easily gained ground on the competition. Like ASU, Tennessee’s opening two legs were ranked in the double digits above, but Gui Caribe‘s 19.05 pulled the Volunteers back into the race. The split easily surpasses his former best of 19.17 and appears to be the 6th fastest of all time.

Freestyle

Jordan Crooks going 17.67 would be a very noteworthy split, especially as it was the fastest in the field, but it seems a little lackluster as he has already been 17.42 and 17.66 this season, the latter coming at a dual meet. However, the split was still extremely vital to Tennessee as it pulled them ahead of California, Indiana, NC State, and FSU and secured the Volunteers as the runner-ups. Jonny Kulow and Chris Guiliano joined Crooks with sub-18 performances. Each had already been under the mark, with the pair going 17.94 last season, but their performances tonight show that each may have something special to show tomorrow in the 50.

Men’s 800 Freestyle Relay

• NCAA Record: 6:02.26 — Cal (Jett, Lasco, Alexy, Hanson) (2024)
• Championship Record: 6:02.26 — Cal (Jett, Lasco, Alexy, Hanson) (2024)
• American Record: 6:03.24 — Texas (Hobson, Maurer, Guiliano, Carrozza) (2025)
• U.S. Open Record: 6:02.26 — Cal (Jett, Lasco, Alexy, Hanson) (2024)
• 2024 Champion: Cal (Jett, Lasco, Alexy, Hanson) — 6:02.26

Top 8:

1. California (Alexy, Jett, Lasco, Henveaux) – 5:59.75 (NCAA Record)
2. Texas (Hobson, Guiliano, Maurer, Carrozza) – 6:00.08 (American Record)
3. Georgia (Koski, Urlando, Magahey, Branzell) – 6:06.02
4. Alabama (Hawke, Alves, Hagar, Dragoja) – 6:06.59
5. Stanford (Minakov, McFadden, Polonsky, Dupont) – 6:06.69
6. Indiana (McDonald, Miroslaw, Van Westering, Frankel) – 6:06.76
7. NC State (Winkler, Diehl, Miller, Hoover) – 6:06.95
8. Florida (Painter, Smith, Mitchell, Lindholm) – 6:06.96

Lead-off

The only sub-1:30 time in the field belonged to Texas’s Luke Hobson. Opening up in 1:28.90, the second fastest swim ever, trailing only his 1:28.81, Hobson did what Texas needed him to, staking the Longhorn to an over-second lead on their competition. Cal’s Jack Alexy, who took the silver last year in the individual 200, going 1:29.75, wasn’t far off that time as he opened Cal’s relay defense in 1:30.02. Alexy, last year was the 3rd leg on the relay and had a flying start of 1:30.50, so despite the gap to Texas, the Cal Bears were in a good place. Georgia’s Tomas Koski and Alabama’s Charlie Hawke joined Alexy under 1:31, but each has been faster this season already.

Flying Starts

I used Phil Jackson’s quote of “The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” last year to describe Cal coming together to take the win in an NCAA record. This year, I think Michael Jordan’s “Winners win…” seems apt.

Cal had the two fastest flying legs, with Destin Lasco and Gabe Jett going nearly identical 1:29.10 and 1:29.16s. Both splits rank as the 2nd and 3rd fastest of all time, with only Leon Marchand’s 1:28.42 from 2023 ranked higher. Jett led off last year in 1:30.32, but a relay start shouldn’t take account for the more than a second differential so swapping Jett and Alexy had massive bonuses. Lasco, who was 1:29.60 last year, dropped half a second and had some of the best underwater in the field.

Texas was right with Cal at the end, with their anchor Coby Carrozza out splitting Cal’s Lucas Henveaux 1:31.14 to 1:31.47, but Cal’s differential over the middle two legs was just too much to overcome. Julian Smith, fresh off the fastest breaststroke split ever, had the 4th fastest flying leg in the field, going 1:29.92. However, it should be noted that at SECs, he was 1:29.67.