2025 NCAA Swammy Awards: Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving

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)
• Live Results
• Final Results
• Live Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

Final Scores

1. Texas – 490
2. California – 471
3. Indiana – 459
4. Florida – 315
5. Tennessee – 266.5
6. Arizona State – 248
7. Georgia – 238.5
8. Stanford – 216
9. NC State – 178
10. Virginia Tech – 107.5
11. Michigan – 98.5
12. Texas A&M – 95.5
13. Alabama – 93
14. Louisville – 84
15. USC – 80
16. Ohio State – 78
17. Purdue – 62
18. Florida State – 54
19. LSU – 47
20. Yale/Kentucky – 30
21. –
22. Wisconsin – 28
23. Miami (FL)/North Carolina – 25 (Tie)
24. –
25. Georgia Tech – 24
26. Brown – 22
27. Penn – 17
28. Minnesota – 16
29. Arizona – 15.5
30. Army/Utah – 15 (Tie)
31. –
32. Virginia/Auburn – 14 (Tie)
33. –
34. Pitt – 13
35. SMU – 12
36. Missouri – 10
37. Cornell – 6
38. Cal Baptist – 4
39. South Carolina – 1

Swimmer of the Year: Hubert Kos, Texas 

Three individual event wins, two NCAA records, and a second team title in as many years—the 2025 NCAA Championships were a phenomenal way for Hubert Kos to cap his junior season. It was the culmination of his career in yards; since Kos teamed up with Bowman in January 2023, he’s reached new heights on the international stage. He upset Ryan Murphy for the 200 backstroke world title in Fukuoka, then claimed Olympic gold in Paris. 

But, even as he ascended to a new level of international swimming, we hadn’t seen that level of success in the yards pool. After peaking at the 2024 Pac-12 Championships—where he set a 200 backstroke NCAA record—Kos didn’t earn an individual title last year, placing second in the 200 back, third in the 200 IM, and fourth in the 100 back. 

Hubert Kos (photo: Jack Spitser)

This year, there was no denying Kos. He exorcised his demons quickly on night two, winning his first individual NCAA title with a lifetime best of 1:37.91, tying Lasco’s performance from last season. 

The next night, he shattered his lifetime best in the 100 backstroke, out-dueling two-time SEC champion Jonny Marshall to the title and a new NCAA record of 43.20. The swim broke the record Luca Urlando set three years ago leading off Georgia’s 400 medley relay, which was perhaps the most surprising still-active NCAA record coming into the weekend. 

After that swim, it seemed everyone knew he had something special in store for the 200 backstroke, which he’s developed into his best event. Kos delivered, torching the year-old NCAA record by over a second with a 1:34.21. It was a stunning swim, though Kos clearly wanted to break 1:34. 

Kos was the only swimmer to win three individual titles at the 2025 Men’s NCAA Championships. In addition to his perfect 60 points, he swam on four Longhorns’ relays. He showcased his range by swimming butterfly on the medley relays—including Texas’ winning 200 medley relay—and throwing down splits on the 200/400 freestyle relay. 

Hubert Kos’ Results 

• 200 IM: 1st, 1:37.91 
• 100 backstroke: 1st, 43.20 NCAA Record 
• 200 backstroke: 1st, 1:34.32 NCAA Record 
• 200 medley relay: 1st, 1:20.28 — 19.33 butterfly split 
• 200 freestyle relay: 6th, 1:14.66 — 18.56 relay split 
• 400 medley relay: 2nd, 2:58.95 — 43.45 butterfly split 
• 400 freestyle relay: 7th, 2:45.12 — 41.35 relay split 

Honorable Mentions: 

• Jordan Crooks, Tennessee: Senior Jordan Crooks had a splendid sign-off to collegiate swimming. He reclaimed the NCAA title in the 50 freestyle, swimming 17.91, before lowering his lifetime best to 17.82 leading off Tennessee’s winning 200 freestyle relay. That 17.82 was the final 50 freestyle of his college career and it gave him one more sub-18 second swim to add to his record six times breaking the iconic barrier. After a sixth-place finish in the 200 freestyle, Crooks exploded during the prelims of the men’s 100 freestyle. He broke Caeleb Dressel’s 100 freestyle record, swimming a 39.83 and becoming the second man to go sub-40. Crooks added in finals (40.06) and took second to rival Josh Liendo’s own sub-40 second swim (39.99). Crooks threw down the fastest relay split in history (39.36) in the last swim of his college career, anchoring Tennessee to an NCAA record and the team’s second relay title of the meet. 
• Josh Liendo, Florida: Junior Josh Liendo collected another two NCAA titles this season as he continues to inch closer to claiming his first individual NCAA record. After placing second to Crooks in the 50 freestyle, Liendo defended his 100 butterfly title with a 43.06, knocking a hundredth off his lifetime best in the process. The Crooks/Liendo battles have been one of the most compelling NCAA storylines over the last few seasons. While it arguably doesn’t get more poetic than their 100 freestyle tie at the SEC Championships, the 100 freestyle at NCAAs was a fitting end to their college rivalry. After Crooks broke Dressel’s NCAA record in prelims, Liendo struck back by defending his NCAA title by getting under 40 seconds himself (39.99). Liendo has consistently shown he shows up big when it matters most. He remains an integral part of Florida’s relays and helped the team rebound from a difficult DQ on the opening night to win the 400 medley relay (2:56.10), splitting 42.46 on butterfly. His 57 points are tied with Rex Maurer for second in high-point rankings. 

Coach of the Year: Bob Bowman, Texas 

A year ago, fresh off guiding the resurrected Arizona State team to its first NCAA team championship in program history, Bob Bowman traded Tempe for Austin, accepting the Director of Swimming position at Texas despite many thinking it was an April Fools’ joke. 

Bob Bowman (photo: Jack Spitser)

It wasn’t, but even with the influx of swimmers from around the country to Austin, it seemed like a long shot when the season started that Texas would contend for the 2025 NCAA title so soon after a “rebuilding” year. Then, swimmers like Rex Maurer, Nate Germonprez, and Will Modglin popped off at the Texas Hall of Fame Invite. Shortly after, Olympian Chris Guiliano joined the team and the sprint pieces fell into place. 

After winning the SEC Championships in their first year in the conference, Texas rolled into NCAAs as the favorites after swimming fast year-round and dominating the top of the psych sheet. This wasn’t a perfect NCAA Championships—Texas left the door open for Cal to catch them on the final day—but under Bowman’s leadership, the Longhorns had the fewest misses of any of the title-contending teams. Bowman continued Eddie Reese’s mid-distance freestyle legacy as the Longhorns went 1-2 in the 200/500 freestyle, with Luke Hobson lowering his NCAA record in the former (1:28.33). 

The Longhorns stars shone in Federal Way as Kos, Maurer, Hobson, and Guiliano all earned north of 40 individual points. In all, the Longhorns broke three NCAA records and won seven national titles to win the 2025 NCAA team title. With the win, Bowman became the first men’s Division I swimming and diving head coach to win two national titles with two different teams in back-to-back years. 

Honorable Mentions: 

• Matt Kredich, Tennessee: A year after recording the team’s best finish at NCAAs since 2001, Matt Kredich and the Tennessee men upped their game yet again. The team finished fifth, marking the first time in program history that both the women’s and men’s programs have finished in the top 5 at NCAAs. There was plenty of program history made throughout the meet. The sprint program continued to thrive as Crooks, Gui Caribe, Lamar Taylor, and Nikoli Blackman backed up their NCAA record from the SEC Championships by winning the 200 freestyle relay title in 1:12.84, marking the program’s first NCAA relay title since 1996. The same quartet earned a second relay title on the final night of racing, breaking their NCAA record and winning the 400 freestyle relay title in 2:42.30. Crooks and Caribe formed the most powerful sprint duo in the nation, going 1-3 in the 50 free and 2-3 in the 100 free. With Lamar Taylor winning the 100 free ‘B’ final, it marked the first time three Vols scored in that event since the 1990s. It was another historic year for Kredich and the Vols. 
• Brandt Nigro, Army West Point: Speaking of historic years, the Army Black Knights had one of the team’s best seasons in decades. It seemed like they were unstoppable this season, sweeping the Star Meet and then snapping Navy’s decades-old win streak at the Patriot League Championships. A year after sending breaststroker Kohen Rankin to make the team’s first NCAA appearance since 1987, Rankin wasn’t alone on the plane to Federal Way this season. He and Johnny Crush, a huge recruit for Army, made individual events, while the team also qualified its relays. On the first day of the meet, the 200 medley relay placed 15th, scoring Army’s first NCAA points since 1987 and first relay All-American honors since 1966. Later, Crush placed 8th in the 100 backstroke after knocking a hundredth off his lifetime best (44.52) in prelims, scoring 11 more points for the Black Knights as they tied with Utah for 30th.

Breakout Swimmer of the Year: Rex Maurer, Texas

Rex Maurer was one of the best recruits in his class coming out of high school. It seemed everything was on track at at midseason of his freshman year but after a disappointing first NCAA Championship appearance where his highest finish was 30th, Maurer transferred to Texas for his sophomore season. 

Rex Maurer, Credit: Jason Wang / Peak Images

He not only quickly got back to his level before the NCAA Championships, he surpassed it. Maurer smashed the 500 freestyle American record at the Texas Hall of Fame Invite (4:04.45) and put up other head-turning times in the 1650 freestyle and 400 IM. 

Maurer rolled into Federal Way a two-time SEC Champion and in a much different space than he arrived for his first NCAA Championships. He put together an incredibly successful four-day meet, backing up his early season speed by out-dueling Hobson, his teammate, and defending champion, in the 500 freestyle for his first NCAA title.

The next day, he earned his second career title in as many days, claiming the 400 IM with a lifetime best of 4:34.00. He added a second-place finish in the 1650 freestyle, swimming a lifetime best of 14:25.22. Maurer earned 57 points at the meet, tied for second with Liendo, as he contributed to Texas’ team title. 

Honorable Mentions: 

• Noah Millard, Yale: Junior Noah Millard hit the ground running in his return to the NCAA after an Olympic redshirt year. After improving his 500 freestyle mid-major record to 4:07.68 at the Ivy League Championships, Millard was more successful at managing the transition from conference to NCAAs than he was in 2023. Though a cutthroat 500 freestyle prelims meant he qualified for the ‘B’ final, Millard responded by dropping time from his prelims swim, winning the consolation final, and scoring Yale’s first NCAA points since 2017. His best swim came on the final day of the meet. Swimming in the fastest 1650 freestyle heat, Millard dropped 5.04 seconds from his lifetime best, breaking the Ivy and mid-major records with a 14:28.43 for 4th place overall. 
• Julian Smith, Florida & Jassen Yep, Indiana: Normally, we don’t combine honorable mentions. But, Julian Smith and Jassen Yep’s NCAA Championship stories are so intertwined as they both finished their swimming careers on high notes. Over four years at Florida, Smith won a coveted spot on Florida’s relays and continued to improve. He became an integral part of multiple NCAA record-setting relays as he consistently dropped time in his individual events. Everything clicked in his individual races this season and after an electric midseason meet, he set an NCAA record 100 breaststroke (49.51) at SECs. Smith got to stand by himself on top of the NCAA podium for the first time last week, winning the 100 breaststroke title in 49.55. He also took sixth in the 200 IM and gave up his final individual event to swim on all five of Florida’s relays. Meanwhile, Yep, who developed from a freshman walk-on to a key leader in Indiana’s breaststroke group, put together the most surprising swim of the meet in his last race, winning the 200 breaststroke title—his first NCAA crown—by becoming the third-fastest performer in history (1:48.30). Smith and Yep both said this was it for them in swimming, so perhaps “breakout” isn’t the correct description for either. Still, the two broke through to another level in the culminating meet of their college careers. As we say goodbye to this era of college swimming, it feels important to recognize the journeys both swimmers went on in their NCAA seasons, as their trajectories could become a thing of the past in college swimming.