2025 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, June 3 – Saturday, June 7, 2025
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Indiana University Natatorium
- LCM (50 meters)
- World Championship Selection Criteria
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets (Updated 6/02)
- Live Results
- How To Watch (USA Swimming Network)
- Prelims Live Recap:Â Day 1
- Finals Live Recap: Day 1
Katie Ledecky may have stolen the spotlight with her gutsy World Record attempt in the 800 free, falling short with a time (checks notes) four full seconds quicker than the next-fastest swimmer in history. After 12 years at the top of the world, the world still has a fair bit of catching up to do.
There were some other swims that were almost as impressive in their own right this evening. One of those was also in a distance freestyle event from 17-year-old Aiden Hammer. The Texas Commit, who recently reclassified to the Class of 2026, sliced 10 seconds off his 1500 time to finish third in 15:05.13; a result which his future coach Bob Bowman seemed just as pleased as Hammer about.
Chase Maier hacked off even more time than that, dropping from 16:18 to 15:42 out of heat 1. The U.S. Navy commit has had a good year in yards, and will be in line for a drop in the 400 freestyle later in the week.
Simone Manuel didn’t quite make the team individually in the 100 freestyle, agonisingly touching five-hundredths behind Gretchen Walsh, but her 52.83 was her first sub-53 swim since Gwangju 2019 where she won World gold in 52.04. It looks like Bob Bowman‘s training at Texas is suiting her to a T, and she looked strong heading into the 200 tomorrow.
Whilst Claire Weinstein made the team in the 800 with a phenomenal second half of the race, that was actually her second race of the evening. She dived in for the 800 about 20 minutes after taking 8th in the 100 freestyle, going 53.72 to knock three-quarters of a second off her best of 54.45 set just a month ago. Weinstein will also compete in the 10K open water for Team USA this summer – frightening range for a swimmer yet to start college.
Lily King was 54.96 this morning to sneak into the ‘C’ final, and dropped another half second this evening to go 54.42 and finish second. The NC State commit came into Nationals with a best time of 55.14 from last summer, and will be confident of dropping time in her best event, the 50 free, later this week.
Tennessee’s Emily Brown hacked 1.6 seconds from her best time in the 200 fly today, skipping over the 2:10’s entirely. Her previous best was 2:11.25, but she shattered that to win the ‘B’ final in 2:09.68, leading wire-to-wire to swim the seventh-fastest time of the evening.
Austin Carpenter won the ‘D’ final of the 100 free in 49.57 as the Texas commit hacked over a second off his previous best of 50.64 today. He made the grade for World Juniors in what will be his first international meet with Team USA. Hudson William also had a big drop in the 100 free after improvements in yards this season, going from 49.87 to 49.24 over the course of the day to win the ‘C’ final.
Camden Taylor sliced just over a second off his entry time of 49.68 to place third in the ‘B’ final in 48.67. He had only made the ‘B’ final due to scratches from Kieran Smith and Luke Hobson, and made the most of his opportunity tonight.
Henry McFadden dropped his best from 48.59 to 48.15 in the heats, and took off another two tenths in the final to go 47.97. That included a sparkling 24.55 split on the second 50, but left him five hundredths behind Shaine Casas for sixth. However, with his best event, the 200 free, coming tomorrow he could have something to say about the makeup of the team there.
Mitchell Schott set the Ivy league record in the 200 yard fly this season, so perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise for him to have a big swim in long course. However, his 1:55.86 to make the ‘A’ final was a PB by more than a second, as he skipped over the 1:56s entirely. He did then make sure to circle back and swim 1:56.47 in the final to finish 8th, but with two swims well under his old best has had a great first day in Indianapolis.
Weinstein’s finish of the 800 wasn’t just fast, it was Ledecky-like. I believe her last 200 was 2:00.1 with a 28 on the end. It wasn’t just faster than Ledecky’s final 200, it is probably the 2nd fastest final 200 in history, trailing only Ledecky’s Ft. Lauderdale WR swim. (1:59.8)
I would also say Tess Howley’s 200 fly was impressive with her 3rd place finish. She was able to beat Shackell (twice actually because they were in the same prelim heat). Going into the meet, I thought it was going to be a lock between Smith, Shackell, and Derivaux. I didn’t expect Brinkley and Howley to both get in the top 3.
Bricker lol
In a very similar day as McFadden, Grant House dropped from a PB of :48.50 entering the meet to a :48.01, one slot behind McFadden in the final. Much as McFadden, House is thought to be more of a 200 swimmer than 100, and has certainly got to be looking forward to his races at that distance. (200 Free; 200 IM)
What about Aiden Hammer dropping 10 seconds in his 1500m Free to finish 3rd? I wonder how many people picked Aiden to finish 3rd in Swim Swam’s Pick Em contest.
lol I randomly think I did and correctly got Hammer for 3rd 😅
I was just hopeful that some young bloods/newbies would show up behind Finke & Johnston, and that helped me get 8th overall today somehow someway 🫡
also a big swim for carson hick to drop over 8 seconds for 4th — in total hes dropped over 38 seconds since going to kentucky.
What would people say 15:05 LCM is in a 1650?
Anywhere from high 14:30s – 14:45 depending on how LC-adjusted the swimmer is
When Brian Goodell went 15:02 (in 1976) he didn’t break 15 in the 1650!
I’m not sure the goal was to have a great 1650. The 1500 was all that mattered
Did you ask Brian if that was all that mattered. He won 9 SCY NCAA titles for UCLA across 1978, 1979 and 1980. Pretty sure Goodell would agree they mattered to him. Olympic 1500 certainly mattered most; but just as sure 1650 and other SCY titles meant a great deal to him as well.
My guess was 14:45-14:50, but I like your range better! At the very least, it’s light years ahead if his current 15:13
there are a lot more guys under 14;40 (SC) than there are under 15:00 LC
Almost all have only had about 8 weeks of LCM pool setup/training. And there were precious few LCM meets between NCAAs and now; most filled to capacity. End of summer will be a better judge.
Probably top 8 at NCAAs, with a ceiling of 3rd and a floor of 12th.