2026 M. NCAA Previews: Baylor Nelson & Texas Aiming for a Perfect 4 IM, Targeting Top Three Sweep

2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships

• Dates: Wednesday, March 25–Saturday, March 28
• Location: McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
• Defending Champions: Texas (1x)
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Men’s 400 Individual Medley — By The Numbers 

• NCAA Record: 3:28.82 – Leon Marchand, ASU (2023)
• Championship Record: 3:28.82 – Leon Marchand, ASU (2023)
• American Record: 3:33.42 – Chase Kalisz, Georgia (2017)
• U.S. Open Record: 3:28.82 – Leon Marchand, ASU (2023)
• Defending Champion: Rex Maurer, Texas – 3:34.00

An event that typically got lost in the middle of the 3rd day of competition, the 400 IM looks to be gaining more attention as it serves as a litmus test for swimmers later on in the meet, helping determine their fates in events like the 200s of stroke, the 500 free, and the 200 IM. While the 200 IM is a straight sprint and stroke weakness can be covered up by speed and underwaters, the 400 IM offers no cover, and every swimmer’s weaknesses are exposed. That said, the inverse must be true, and every strength is highlighted that much more than in the 200.

Last season, Texas’s Rex Maurer was thankful that his strengths happened to be enough to cover for his weaknesses. He jumped out to an early lead in the 400 IM, opening with a sub-49 first 100, before dropping a 53.22 backstroke split to lead the field by over 1.5 seconds, with Ohio State’s Tristan Jankovics his closest competition at 1:43.44. However, with the turn to the breaststroke, Jankovics clawed back .80 of that lead in the first 50 alone and at the 300-yard mark, he had turned the deficit into a lead of .08. However, Maurer, the fastest American in the 500 free, dropped a hammer of a first 50 free, splitting 24.91 and following it up with a 24.47 to stop the clock in a new personal best of 3:34.00, a time that ranks the Longhorn as the 5th fastest ever.

“Best Song Ever”

Rex Maurer courtesy Texas Athletics

Maurer continued his strong season into the summer, where he set a new PB in the event at Summer Nationals, going 4:09.65 to place 3rd and become the 24th fastest in the event of all time. This season, his 2nd at Texas and 3rd in the NCAA, Maurer has not been lighting it up as much, going 4:08.46 in the 500 (4:04.45 at mid-season in 2025), and in this event, his season best rests at 3:36.74 from his 2nd place at SECs (he was 3:35.61 at SECs last season and was 3:34.19 at mid-season). However, this could be a sign of his training, as he is now in his 2nd year under Bob Bowman, and despite not being strong in these events, he did set a new PB in the 200 fly at SECs.

However, his 3:36.74 seed time does ranks him just 6th in the psych sheet, and while it’s highly unlikely that he will miss the final, there are two other Texas Longhorns, who are under the same training schedule and program as Maurer seeded ahead of him, so if we assume Maurer has time to drop then so do top-seeded Baylor Nelson and 4th seeded Cooper Lucas. Both Nelson and Lucas would love to hear the Texas fight song as they climb to the top of the podium, and I am sure it would be all the sweeter if the Longhorns occupied the top three spots, but Nelson, a senior, and Lucas, a sophomore, will be fighting to ensure they are on the highest step.

Nelson, a transfer from Texas A&M last summer, has a long history with this event. Freshman year with the Aggies, he placed 10th at NCAAs, setting a new PB of 3:38.11. A year later, he cut half a second off that time to finish 3rd overall with a time of 3:37.46. Last year, he slipped a little, still making the A-final, but finishing 7th with a time of 3:39.84. However, now in his last campaign, things seem to be righting themselves for Nelson. After making the move from College Station to Austin, Nelson set a new PB in the long course version of the event, before resetting it en route to a bronze medal at the World University Games.

In yards, like Maurer last year, Nelson had a phenomenal mid-season. At the Texas Hall of Fame Invitational, he set new PBs in the 200 IM, 200 breast, and, more importantly, significantly in this event. In prelims, he went 3:37.15, a personal best, before blasting a 3:34.83 in finals, a time that made him the 7th fastest performer of all time.  He added a little at SECs, but was still fast enough to win the event and title with his 3:35.75, .99 ahead of Maurer and nearly five seconds ahead of the third member of this Texas 400 IM triumvirate.

The youngest of the group, Cooper Lucas, finished 6th at SECs in 3:40.50, but like Nelson, he set a personal best a mid-season with his prelims time of 3:38.09, bettering his 3:38.18 6th place finish at NCAA from his freshman year. Lucas, now a sophomore, was not content with a .09 drop as he too slashed time from prelims to finals, bringing his PB down to a 3:35.28. He, like his teammates, was slower at SECs, but with it seemingly likely that only a few swimmers were rested at conference for Texas, any of these three swimmers could be at the top of the field.

“18 (ish)”

Texas swimmers weren’t alone in having massive drops over the course of the season, and the biggest threats come from a pair of Big Ten youngsters with Indiana first-year Josh Bey sitting just .07 back of Nelson as the #2 seed and Michigan sophomore Lorne Wigginton coming in as the presumptive bronze medalist with his time of 3:35.28.

Josh Bey (photo: Jack Spitser)

The pair of rivals set those new PBs at last month’s Big Ten Conference Championship, where the Wolverine, Wigginton, set the top time in prelims of 3:36.46, .46 ahead of Bey’s 3:36.92. While each time was a respective PB, the two continued their battle into the finals, not letting either get too far ahead. Wigginton, who represents Canada internationally, was out first opening in 49.25, but then ceded the lead to Ohio State’s Jankovics after the backstroke. Bey, sitting 3rd at 1:44.49, brought his strength in the breaststroke up against the Buckeyes’ and proved to be more than a match, out-splitting Jankovics, 1:00.02 to 1:01.23 to pull into the lead, .56 ahead of Jankovics and 1.12 ahead of Wigginton, who struggled on the breaststroke.

With just a 100 left and around a second splitting the top three, it was anyone’s race, but Bey had enough of a lead to hold off Wigginton and Jankovics to take the win in not only a new personal best but also a new school and conference record, stopping the clock at 3:34.90. Wigginton too, set a new PB and closed what was over a second gap to just .31 as his 24.37 last 50 brought him into the wall at 3:35.21.

While these two young swimmers were going blow for blow at Big Tens, California’s Ryan Erisman was battling with Stanford’s Joshua Zuchowski for the ACC title. Erisman is the 10th seed thanks to his silver medal-winning performance of 3:38.94, and while there are nine other swimmers ahead of him, Erisman has two big things going for him. The first and most obvious being the legendary Cal Taper, and the second is that he has nothing to lose.

Erisman is entered in the 1650 and likely will be on Cal’s 800 free relay, but both swim on Wednesday morning, so he will already have a chance to get any pre-meet jitters out of the way and will have more rest than if he had to swim in the evening. More importantly, he has dropped time every swim this season in the event. The Florida native showed up on Cal’s campus with a PB of 3:46.35 from his 4th place finish at last winter’s Junior Nationals – East. But in his first swim this October, he went 3:44.88. Two months later, he went 3:42.87 and then at ACCs dropped under 3:40 to stop the clock at 3:38.94. A strong distance freestyler, if Erisman can minimize his losses on the breaststroke (1:03.10 at ACCs), then no lead is safe as he split an eye-popping 23.91 on the last 50 coming home in 48.76 to nearly catch Zuchowski.

“Right Now”

While the section above focused on those with youth and time on their side to get things done in this event, this section will cover those who have one last dance to get it done.

Tristan Jankovics (photo: Jack Spitser)

We’ve mentioned Jankovics and Zuchowski, this year’s Big Ten bronze medalist and ACC champion, previously, but will give them their due justice here. Jankovics didn’t compete at NCAAs for his Buckeyes team his freshman year, but showed up big in his sophomore campaign, finishing 8th in the event with a time of 3:40.57, but having been 4th in prelims with a 3:38.49. A year later and a year wiser, the Canadian held back a little in prelims before dropping a new PB of 3:34.98 to finish runner-up to Maurer last year. As covered in the preamble, Jankovics used a strong breaststroke split to pass Maurer, but paid for it on the last leg, and the same occurred at Big Tens this year, being near his best at the 200, slightly off on the 3rd leg, but then closing in 51.62 to stop the clock in 3:36.69. The time, however, was a season best and ranks him as the 5th seed, so the OSU senior is still in good standing to make a run at the title, but with Maurer and Wigginton freestyle and Bey’s breaststroke, the Buckeye may find that his rivals have just too much back-end speed to hold off.

Another senior looking for his chance of glory is Stanford’s Zuchowski. The Florida native DFSed the event last year, instead opting to swim the 100 backstroke (they were on the same day under the old format). In fact, he has never swum the 400 IM at NCAAs, instead usually taking on the 200 IM and both backstrokes, but with the schedule change comes new opportunities, and they certainly presented themselves at ACCs, with the Cardinal going from a PB of 3:42.22 to a winning time of 3:38.58. A strong backstroker, as evidenced by scoring last year at NCAAs in the 200 back, Zuchowski likely doesn’t have the speed in the other strokes to be a strong contender for the title, but as the 9th seed, cannot be ignored for his A-final potential.

One place above him, the 8th seed Dominik Torok, has a lot more history with the event. The Wisconsin senior finished 5th at Big Tens this year going 3:38.53, a time that is just a little off his 5th place finish from NCAA’s last year, when the Badger went 3:37.50. A native of Hungary, Torok, has earned a second swim in this event every year, placing 13th in 2023, 9th in 2024, and then 5th last year. With the continual improvement curve, Torok cannot be discounted, especially with his two-second drop in the 200 breaststroke over this year, but without a strong backstroke leg, he may be too far back to make up any meaningful ground.

“History”

Northwestern’s Joshua Staples, a native of Australia, did not swim the event last year at the NCAA Championships, taking on just the 500 free and 1650, but this season has shifted his focus to the IMs and breaststrokes. A move, which has turned heads, as he finished 4th in both IMs at Big Tens, going a new PB of 3:37.62. A month later, he continued his assault on his record board, going 1:00.92 in the 100 long-course breaststroke, finishing 6th at the Westmont Pro Swim Series.

While Staples is looking to write his first history in the event, Michael Hochwalt of ASU and Drew Hitchcock of Georgia are looking to rewrite their history in the event. Hochwalt was the 25th seed last season with his 3:41.40, but struggled going 3:49.01 to finish 34th overall in the event. This season, Hochwalt went a PB of 3:40.02 at Big XII’s but was only 10th in prelims and was forced to swim in the B-final, a luxury that he will not be afforded at NCAAs. While Hochwalt did not have a great prelim swim at NCAAs last year, Georgia’s first-year swimmer Drew Hitchcock successfully navigated his first NCAAs to drop a PB of 3:39.55 to qualify into the B-final as the 11th seed. However, he was DQed in the backstroke leg in the B-final. This year, Hitchcock finished 3rd at SECs behind Nelson and Maurer in a new PB of 3:39.16, and seeded 12th this year, the Bulldog sophomore will be looking to drop more time to make the top 8.

The Verdict

It’s going to be hard to separate Nelson and Maurer. Nelson has the better in-season time and has looked strong all season, whereas Maurer has been off form (as compared to last year), but with the faster personal best, we think Maurer will take the win. The junior is seeded dangerously low in the 200 back, but his entry indicates that the Texas staff thinks he can score in the event, which likely means his backstroke leg in the IM has improved, helping to mitigate his breaststroke weakness. This coupled with Maurer owning the faster PB, we are giving the edge to him, but Nelson could easily have been our pick as well.

After those two, it’s a toss-up. Bey and Jankovics have PBs under 3:35, but the first year got the better of the senior at Big Tens. The only question is, did Bey target Big Tens and therefore not be able to replicate the time at NCAAs? That said, there is nothing to say that he cannot do it again, and with a breaststroke split that fast, he certainly can run down any deficit he may have after the first 200. Fellow first-year Ryan Erisman is the bigger question. He is the 10th seed and will likely need to be in the 3:37 to range to make the final, but with his in-season improvements and the Cal taper, it is certainly possible that he breaks into the A-Final.

SwimSwam Picks:

Dark Horse: Jackson Millard (Louisville) – 3:39.11: A senior from Louisville, Millard will be looking to end his career on a high note after not making NCAAs last year. He finished 23rd his sophomore year in a PB of 3:43.19 and had a PB of 3:42.44 last year, but broke into the sub-3:40 range with a 3:39.11 at mid-season and a 3:39.86 in the prelims of ACCs. Millard was DQed in the finals for a one-handed touch on the breaststroke and will be looking to end his career in this event with his first A-final berth.