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2026 M. NCAA Division I Championship: Day 1 800 Free Relay Analysis – Watch Out For The Freshmen

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2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships

Men’s 800 Freestyle Relay — Final Heat

  • NCAA Record: 5:59.75 – California (Alexy, Jett, Lasco, Henveaux), 2025
  • Championship Record: 5:59.75 – California (Alexy, Jett, Lasco, Henveaux), 2025
  • American Record: 6:00.08 – Texas (Hobson, Guiliano, Maurer, Carrozza), 2025
  • U.S. Open Record: 5:59.75 – California (Alexy, Jett, Lasco, Henveaux), 2025 
  • Defending Champion: California (Alexy, Jett, Lasco, Henveaux) – 5:59.75
  • 2025 8th/16th Place Times: 6:06.96/6:12.82

Top 8:

  1. Texas (Fente-Damers, Taylor, Maurer, Nelson) — 6:05.82
  2. Stanford (Dupont Cabrera, Ekk, Zhao, McFadden) — 6:06.39
  3. Ohio State (Navikonis, Jahn, Vilchez, Jankovics) — 6:06.40
  4. Virginia — 6:06.85
  5. NC State — 6:07.20
  6. Indiana — 6:07.66
  7. Michigan — 6:07.81
  8. Arizona State — 6:08.71

Texas reclaimed the 800 free relay title in 6:05.82, taking the win by half a second over Stanford. Defending champions Cal were all the way down in 12th, as a season of turnover in the 200 free meant that the winning time was six seconds slower than in 2025. 

Stanford and OSU were separated by a single hundredth for silver, as Henry McFadden completed his second takedown job in a month having got the touch at ACCs over NC State by just 0.02 seconds with a similar swim. The Wolfpack placed 5th in 6:07.20, with Virginia placing 4th out of the morning heats after they shattered their school record in 6:06.85.

Half of the teams in the final heat set new school records, with the lead changing hands multiple times before Texas took charge with 100 to go.

Leadoff Legs

We saw only one leadoff leg under 1:31, as Koby Bujak-Upton led off for Tennessee in a new best of 1:29.79, making him the first freshman to break 1:30 and the fastest swimmer in the NCAA this year. That hacked a second off his previous best of 1:30.77, and the #2 and #3 leadoff legs also lowered their bests as they broke 1:31. Both of the top two swimmers, and four of the top ten, are in their first year in the NCAA.

Maximus Williamson shaved 0.03 seconds off the 1:30.46 he swam in February last year, taking 1.02 seconds off his season best of 1:31.45 from ACCs. That came leading off this relay, before he added a second to miss the ‘A’ final individually. Remi Fabiani lowered his best by 0.24 seconds for ASU, going 1:30.99.

Tomas Navikonis and Kaii Winkler were both under 1:31.5, while Aaron Shackell, Oliver Sogaard-Andersen and Julian Koch set best times to break 1:32, as did Antoine Sauve and Francis Brennan just behind them.

Rafael Fente-Damers, who split 1:30.81 at SECs before going 1:31.73 individually, was well off his best in 1:32.72.

Rank Swimmer Team Reaction Time Split
1 Koby Bujak-Upton Tennessee 0.64 1:29.79
2 Maximus Williamson Virginia 0.61 1:30.43
3 Remi Fabiani ASU 0.61 1:30.99
4 Tomas Navikonis OSU 0.66 1:31.36
5 Kaii Winkler NC State 0.67 1:31.47
6 Aaron Shackell Indiana 0.69 1:31.77
7 Oliver Sogaard-Andersen USC 0.60 1:31.85
8 Julian Koch Pittsburgh 0.65 1:31.95
9 Antoine Sauve Michigan 0.66 1:32.03
10 Francis Brennan SMU 0.62 1:32.11
11 Tomas Koski Georgia 0.59 1:32.13
21 Guy Brooks Louisville 0.68 1:32.16
12 Keaton Jones California 0.75 1:32.18
13 Enzo Solitario Wisconsin 0.68 1:32.38
14 Andres Dupont Cabrera Stanford 0.62 1:32.59
15 Alexander Painter Florida 0.61 1:32.60
16 Rafael Fente-Damers Texas 0.60 1:32.72
17 Arthur Balva Princeton 0.59 1:33.13
18 Abdalla Youssef Auburn 0.70 1:33.35
19 Shane Eckler Notre Dame 0.57 1:33.43
20 Gustav Olsson FSU 0.65 1:33.60
22 Jake Wang Yale 0.58 1:34.76

Rolling Splits

Henry McFadden‘s anchor leg was the only one in the field under 1:30, and nearly a second ahead of the next  fastest swimmer. He beat out the 1:29.84 he split at ACCs, and is the only swimmer this season to break 1:30 on a flying start.

Mitchell Schott and Patrick Dinu both rank in the top five after swimming on Princeton’s relay this morning, with Schott just off the 1:30.30. he split at Ivies and Dinu over a second faster than the 1:32.13 he split there. Lorne Wigginton was 0.67 seconds faster than at Big Tens to split 1:30.63, a best-ever split for him and good sign for the 400 IM later this week where he is the #3 seed.

Rex Maurer was the only swimmer under 1:31 for Texas in 1:30.76, off the 1:29.91 he swam last year, but they got a 1:31.1 from SEC champion Camden Taylor and a 1:31.20 from 2023 Worlds Team member Baylor Nelson. No other school had three splits under 1:32.

NC State’s Hudson Williams was 1:31.38, 1.62 seconds under his flat start best and 0.64 seconds faster than he split at ACCs. He is better known for his 100, where he is 41.48, and the 100 back, where he is 44.49.

Cal’s Ryan Erisman was just 1:32.63 after swimming 1:31.75 at ACCs, but swam both the 1650 and this relay in this morning’s session. Fellow freshman Ethan Ekk was 1:31.49 for Stanford on the second leg, the 13th-fastest split and the fastest non-McFadden leg for them.

Both Jonny Kulow and Nikita Sheremet doubled up on this race after swimming the 200 medley relay, where they split 17.98 and 18.06 respectively. Kulow fared better in the longer event, splitting 1:31.88, while Sheremet was the slowest in the field at 1:36.23.

Rank Swimmer School Reaction Time Split
1 Henry McFadden Stanford 0.17 1:29.72
2 Mitchell Schott Princeton 0.10 1:30.61
3 Lorne Wigginton Michigan 0.08 1:30.63
4 Rex Maurer Texas 0.45 1:30.76
5 Patrick Dinu Princeton 0.10 1:30.95
6 David King Virginia 0.26 1:31.09
6 Logan Robinson FSU 0.12 1:31.09
8 Camden Taylor Texas 0.33 1:31.14
8 Cornelius Jahn OSU 0.20 1:31.14
10 Baylor Nelson Texas 0.23 1:31.20
11 Yoav Romano Wisconsin 0.08 1:31.22
12 Hudson Williams NC State 0.15 1:31.38
13 Ethan Ekk Stanford 0.20 1:31.49
14 Dylan Smiley Indiana 0.23 1:31.61
15 Owen McDonald Indiana 0.25 1:31.64
15 Daniel Krichevsky Auburn 0.33 1:31.64
17 Tristan Jankovics OSU 0.09 1:31.75
18 Jonny Kulow ASU 0.16 1:31.88
19 Luukas Vainio Wisconsin 0.09 1:31.93
20 Daniel Diehl NC 0.30 1:32.04
21 Thomas Heilman Virginia 0.30 1:32.06
22 Jordi Vilchez OSU 0.37 1:32.15
23 Jerry Fox NC 0.39 1:32.31
24 Filip Senc-Samardzic ASU 0.22 1:32.40
25 Krztof Chmielewski USC 0.25 1:32.48
26 Colin Geer Michigan 0.12 1:32.55
27 Jason Zhao Stanford 0.33 1:32.59
28 Eitan Ben-Shitrit Michigan 0.18 1:32.60
29 Ryan Erisman California 0.39 1:32.63
29 Eduardo Moraes de Oliveira California 0.27 1:32.63
31 Raekwon Noel Indiana 0.30 1:32.64
32 Alan Vergine Pittsburgh 0.20 1:32.65
33 Luke Bedsole Auburn 0.11 1:32.66
34 Noah Millard Yale 0.23 1:32.74
35 Kris Mihaylov Georgia 0.22 1:32.77
36 Gregg Enoch Louisville 0.21 1:32.80
37 Merlin Belmon Pittsburgh 0.18 1:32.99
38 Charlie Hutchison Florida 0.17 1:33.07
39 Sage Sungail SMU 0.31 1:33.09
40 Warner Russ Auburn 0.32 1:33.12
41 Nikoli Blackman Tennessee 0.31 1:33.16
41 Deniel Nankov Yale 0.07 1:33.16
43 Dominik Mark Torok Wisconsin 0.40 1:33.19
44 Jack Aikins Virginia 0.26 1:33.27
45 Jeremy Kelly Notre Dame 0.10 1:33.28
46 Ian Pickles USC 0.29 1:33.32
47 Harold Lockhart SMU 0.28 1:33.39
48 Jack Forrest SMU 0.00 1:33.43
49 Mattia Mauri ASU 0.27 1:33.44
50 Nans Mazellier California 0.01 1:33.47
50 Utku Kurtdere FSU 0.06 1:33.47
52 Sascha Macht Georgia 0.05 1:33.61
53 Aiden Norman Florida 0.32 1:33.63
53 Devin Dilger Florida 0.26 1:33.63
55 Finn Hammer Georgia 0.05 1:33.83
56 Rian Graham Louisville 0.11 1:33.84
57 Velis Makrygiannis USC 0.27 1:33.97
58 Patrick Branon Notre Dame 0.26 1:34.15
59 James Allison Pittsburgh 0.24 1:34.28
60 Gabe Nunziata Tennessee 0.27 1:34.39
61 Parker Lenoce Princeton 0.31 1:34.47
61 Tommy Janton Notre Dame 0.35 1:34.47
63 Andrew Rich FSU 0.16 1:34.72
64 Kacapor Mak Nurkic Yale 0.38 1:34.78
65 Ben Bricca Tennessee 0.44 1:34.95
66 Nikita Sheremet Louisville 0.21 1:36.23

 

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Mike in Dallas
2 months ago

Here comes Texas, .And it is a thing of beauty!

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