2026 Men’s NCAA Division I Championship: Day 1 Early Heats Live Recap

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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Day 1 Prelims Heat Sheets

Good morning, SwimFans. Dawn brings a new day, and this day is the first day of competition at the 2026 Men’s Division I NCAA Championships. If you haven’t been paying attention, this year’s NCAAs are going to look a little different from those in the past. What was a 3 and half day meet has now expanded to a full four days, with the mile moving from the last day to take center stage this morning.

With the final heat still slated to swim in the evening, this morning will see the first three heats of the 1650, in what is sure to still be an exciting session. The fastest swimmer this morning is one of the rising stars on the US’s International roster, as Cal first-year Ryan Erisman makes his debut. A two-time bronze medalist at the World University Games, Erisman set a new PB of 14:37.58 at ACCs. Flanking him are a pair of swimmers who were on the podium last year, so it won’t be a cake walk for Cal Golden Bear.

Seeded 10th and 11th overall are Kentucky’s Carson Hick and Yale’s Noah Millard. Hick, a junior, finished 6th last year, going from an entry time of 14:43.70 to 14:30.35, while Millard went from 14:33.47 to 14:28.43 to finish 4th overall. Don’t sleep on fellow first-years Luke Ellis and Sean Green from Indiana and Georgia, both of whom, like Erisman, are making their NCAA debuts.

After the mile and a 10-minute break, the early heats of the 200 medley and 800 free relays will take to the water. This is a change from last year, when all of the heats of this relay swam in finals on the first day.

The women’s meet had several teams that were seeded outside of the top 8 produce times that collect those valuable A-final points, so Georgia and California should take heart, as they are this morning’s top seeds. Georgia, entered with a time of 1:22.18, is the 9th seed overall in the 200 Medley, but will be without the services of Luca Urlando, and will be hoping to retain a spot amongst the top 16, especially as NC State lurks dangerously as the 15th seed. The Wolfpack were DQed at ACCs, but put up a fast enough time earlier in the year to qualify the relay. They finished last year in 6th place and would like nothing more than to start their NCAA campaign off with a big win in the early heat, so be on the lookout for Quintin McCarty to get the team out to a fast start.

California won the 800 free relay last year, but graduated all of the legs from their NCAA record-setting relay. The Bears have rebuilt and have a strong squad this year, entering as the 9th seeds with a time of 6:09.53. Ryan Erisman figures to play a role in this event as well and should be able to manage the double as there is a 45-minute break between the relays. Flanking Cal are a pair of teams resplendent in Orange as the Princeton Tigers and Virginia Cavaliers occupy lanes 5 and 3. Princeton set a school and IVY League record last month, going 6:09.80, and hopes that star Mitchell Schott can help the Tigers drop that time even lower. The Cavaliers finished 4th at ACCs, going 6:10.07, but with their stars, Max Williamson and Thomas Heilman, slower than their bests, UVA, like California, could be looking at a major jump up in the leaderboard, should they put things together.

Men’s 1650 Freestyle – Early Heats

• NCAA Record: 14:12.08 — Bobby Finke, Florida (2020)
• Championship Record: 14:12.52 — Bobby Finke, Florida (2021)
• American Record: 14:12.08 — Bobby Finke, Florida (2020)
• U.S. Open Record: 14:12.08 — Bobby Finke, Florida (2020)
• Defending Champion: Zalan Sarkany, Indiana — 14:21.59
• 2025 8th/16th Place Times: 14:31.08/14:43.50

Top 8:

1. Gio Linscheer (FLOR) – 14:34.18
2. Liam Custer (STAN) – 14:37.28
3. Carson Hick (UK) – 14:39.66
4. Ryan Erisman (CAL) – 14:41.55
5. Leonardo Alcantara (BAMA) – 14:44.27
6. Sean Green (UGA) – 14:46.60
7. Eric Brown (FLOR) – 14:46.61
8. Noah Millard (YALE) – 14:47.47

The 3rd alternate from the psych sheet, Jacob Pishko of LSU, made the most of his late entry into the meet as he took the 200 out in 1:42.66, opening a 2 and half second lead on the field, and by the 500, Pishko had extended the lead to nearly half a pool length as he made the 500 turn in  4:22.79. The LSU senior was added to the meet when Duncan Henderson of Arizona scratched out. Pishko set a PB at SECs, going 14:52.88, and was 4:25.02 at the 500 in the race. He remained under his PB pace as he flipped at the 1000 in 8:55.60, but was paying for his early speed as he was 8:55.95 at SECS. Pishko would hold onto win the heat in 14:55.04, six seconds ahead of BYU’s Tanner Nelson, but falling short of his PB of 14:52.88.

The 2nd heat saw Florida’s Eric Brown first to the 200 wall with the Gator flipping in 1:43.96, slower than Pishko’s first 200 of 1:42.66. Brown, a senior remained in the lead, and was 4:25.82, with a second lead over Kentucky’s Dziugas Miskins, the 17th seed, at the 500. Brown started to fade while his SEC rival Leonardo Alcantara started to accelerate and it was the Crimson Tide swimmer who touched first at the 1000 wall, splitting 8:55.55, surpassing Pishko’s time from the heat before.

Employing a strong build from start to finish Alcantara, expanded what was a lead of 1.05 at the 1000 over Brown to a gap of over three seconds at the 1300.  The native of Brazil, owns a PB of 14:45.45 from the 2025 SEC Championships chopped over a secnd off that time as he went 14:44.27 to win the heat and set the time to beat. Behind him Florida’s Eric Brown touched in a season best of 14:46.61, 2.74 seconds ahead of Aiden Hammer of Texas and his 14:49.35

The last heat was a tight affair in the opening lengths. Cal first-year Ryan Erisman opened up in 1:43.90 but was closely tracked by Yale’s Noah Millard to one side , who finished 4th last year,  and with Carson Hick sitting on his hip on the other. However, the lead shifted towards the bottom of the pool at the 500, with Florida’s Gio Linscheer flipping first at the 500 (4:26.48). .43 ahead of lane 2’s Liam Custer and .43 ahead of top seeded Erisman. Linscheer continued to lead extending his advantage to .72 at the 1000, flipping in 8:53.95 with Custer of Stanford at 8:54.67.

The 1000 yard mark saw Linscheer hit another gear as he continued to increase his lead over Custer and Erisman and shut down any chance of being run down as he hit the wall in 14:34.18,  Setting the top time of the morning, Linscheer is guaranteed at least 9th place points and its a big boost to Florida chances in the team race as he entered as the 15th seed. Custer remained in 2nd hitting the wall in 14:37.28, another big move up the leaderboard with the Stanford Cardinal moving from 13th to no worse than 10th. Erisman, the top seed in the heat fell to 4th touching in 14:41.55, 1.89 seconds back of Hick of Kentucky.

Men’s 200 Medley Relay – Early Heats

• NCAA Record: 1:20.03 – Florida (Marshall, de Groot, Buff, Liendo), 2026
• Championship Record: 1:20.15 – Florida (Chaney, Smith, Liendo, McDuff), 2024
• American Record: 1:20.92 – Indiana (Barr, Benzing, Brooks, King), 2025
• U.S. Open Record: 1:20.03 – Florida (Marshall, de Groot, Buff, Liendo), 2026
• Defending Champion: Texas (Modglin, Germonprez, Kos, Guiliano) – 1:20.28
• 2025 8th/16th Place Times: 1:22.01/1:23.59

Top 8:

1. NC State (McCarty, Diehl, Hayes, Salls) – 1:21.23
2. Tennessee (Saravia, Nunziata, Caribe, Blackman) – 1:22.05
3. Louisville (Crush, Conklin, Musso, Sheremet) – 1:22.22
4. Auburn – 1:22.37
5. Virginia Tech – 1:22.43
6. Georgia – 1:22.79
7. Florida State – 1:22.80
8. Alabama – 1:23.07

The 200 Medley relay lived up to their expectations as each heat saw blistering results with teams shedding times left and right. Alabama got things out to an early start in the first heat with junior Tommy Hagar going 20.96 to put the Crimson Tide in front, but Virginia Tech’s Eli Martin and his 23.32 from the other side of the pool on the breaststroke leg pulled the Hokies in the lead and thanks to a 18.33 anchor leg from Brendan Whitfield, they won the heat in 1:22.43, dropping 1.32 seconds from their seed time. Last season, Whitfield was 18.58 on their relay that was DQed for a 15 meter violation. Alabama, dropped nearly a second to place 2nd in the heat with a time of 1:23.07.

Notre Dame finishes 5th in the heat, going 1:23.65. It’s their first swim at NCAAs since 2024, after having been suspended for a year.

— SwimSwam Live (@SwimSwamLive) March 25, 2026

The second heat saw Army get off to a massive lead with their stars Johnny Crush and Kohen Rakin opening in 20.25 and 22.67 respectively, giving their team a lead of 1.21 seconds over Penn State. Army entered with a seed time of 1:22.95 and hit the wall in 1:22.88, a time that would place them second on the leaderboard, however, they would later be disqualified as their anchor leg left the block with a negative reaction time of .06. Taking the heat win in their stead was Yale out of lane 2, dropping .39 from their seed to stop the clock at 1:23.16.

Quintin McCarty, (pictured above), was the fastest to the 25 wall going 9.93 and was 20.26 at the 50, being passed by Georgia’s Ruard Van Renen who nearly negative split the 50, going 10.07 and 10.13 to hit the wall and give the Bulldogs the lead with his 20.20. Sophomore Elliot Woodburn extended UGA’s lead over NC State to .24, with the Wolfpack calling upon Daniel Diehl to take on the breaststroke duties. Diehl a sophomore entered in the 200 free, 200 IM and 200 back at this meet split 23.35, bettering the 23.62 from Arsen Kozhakhmetov at ACCs.

Diehl’s split kept them close allowing Aiden Hayes and Drew Salls to make a comeback, with the pair splitting 19.49 and 18.13 respectively. NC State’s time of 1:21.23 won the heat by nearly a second and easily stand as the time to beat.  Georgia, the 9th seed, felt the loss of Urlando on the fly as the slipped back through the field to finish 5th in the heat and 6th overall this morning with a time of 1:22.79.

Fastest relay splits of the morning:
BK: 20.20 – Van Renen (UGA)
BR: 22.67 – Rankin (ARMY) [Relay was DQed]
FL: 19.35 – Gui Caribe (TENN)
FR: 18.06 – Sheremet (LOU)

— SwimSwam Live (@SwimSwamLive) March 25, 2026

It took a 1:22.01 to break into the top 8 of scoring last year, and NC State has already done so, but that doesn’t mean that all the teams in the top 8 will be under that mark, but it is very likely that the time it takes to score will be faster as Alabama sits 8th currently at 1:23.07, .52 ahead of what it took to score in 2025. OSU, who currently ranks 14th with their 1:23.42 would have scored last year, meaning that teams up and down the swimming hierarchy are getting faster.

Men’s 800 Free Relay – Early Heats

• 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. Virginia (Williamson, King, Heilman, Aikins) – 6:06.85
2. Princeton (Balva, Schott, Lenoce, Dinu) – 6:09.16
3. Auburn (Youssef, Krichevsky, Russ, Bedsole) – 6:10.77
4. California – 6:10.91
5. USC – 6:11.62
6. Pittsburgh – 6:11.87
7. SMU – 6:12.02
8. Tennessee – 6:12.29

The University of Virginia’s men showed up in this relay. For long the women’s team has, and rightly so, received a lot of attention, but this freshman class for the men’s team has started to change the narrative and the quartet of Max Williamson, David King, Thomas Heilman, and Jack Aikins certainly did that. Seeded 11th with a time of 6:10.17, their school record, the Cavaliers got out to a hot start thanks to Max Williamson‘s opening leg of 1:30.43.

Its wasn’t as hot as start as Tennessee however, who front loaded their relay with their best swimmer Koby Bujack-Upton. The first-year from Australia was dead even with Williamson at the 100 yard mark (42.94) but pulled away from Williamson and the field to hit the wall in 1:29.79. His split not only breaks Jordan Crook’s school record of 1:30.00, but it ranks as the Australian as the 9th fastest performer of all time and the lone swimmer currently int he NCAA to have been under-1:30.

However, the Volunteers lead was short lived as Bujak-Upton turned it over to Nikoli Blackman who split 1:33.16, whereas Williamson turned things over King who split 1:31.09, who in turn handed things over to Heilman and Aikin, with the pair splitting 1:32.06 and 1:33.27 respectively. While Williamson and King were faster today then they were at ACCs the backend pair were responsible for much of the team’s drop with Heilman cutting over a second off his split from last month and Aikins cutting nearly a second off of Hayden Bellotti‘s 1:34.17.

UVA’s time of 6:06.85 not only stands as a new school record, but it stands as the time to beat, guaranteeing the Cavaliers no worse than 9th place and its 18 points, bettering their total of 14 from all of last year. Princeton too has made massive leaps, as their new school and Ivy League record of 6:09.16 gives them at least 14 points, which is 14 points more than then scored last year.

Tennessee’s early lead wasn’t indicative of their final placement as they fell through the field and finished 8th overall with a time of 6:12.29, being overtaken by two programs from the earlier heat as well. In the first year, USC’s Oliver Sogaard-Andersen gave his team an early lead of 1:31.85, .10 ahead of Pittsburgh’s Julian Koch, who brought the school record under 1:32.00 for the first time. Pitt, USC and Georgia were all in a tight battle for the heat win, but USC anchor Ian Pickles had just enough to hold off Pitt’s anchor Alan Vergine with the Trojans touching first in 6:11.62. Pitt, which sits 6th overall and is guaranteed to score points set their second school record of the dau, with the relay’s 6:11.87 rewritting the record book.