2026 Men’s NCAA Division I Championship: Day 1 Finals Preview and Relay Line-Ups

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)
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Psych Sheets
• Preview Index
• Live Stream
• Live Results
• Live Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 1
  • Finals:

Day 1 Finals Heat Sheets

After the excitement of the morning session, the evening session of the first day of the 2026 Men’s NCAA Championships is bound to be as exciting, and in looking at the Heat Sheet and relay line-ups, expect it to be a nail-biting, exhilarating, and exciting first finals session.

After Gio Linscheer of Florida posted a 14:34.18 this morning in the final heat to the top of the leaderboard, tonight’s eight swimmers will know what time they need to go to earn a spot on the podium. Leading the way is top seed Zalan Sarkany of Indiana. The senior is the two-time defending champion in the event and will occupy lane 4 tonight with his time of 14:25.14. The Hungarian faces a challenge like no other as he will go up against two 1500 World Champions, as the Florida duo of Ahmed Jaouadi and Ahmed Hafnaoui clock in as the 2nd and 5th seeds, respectively.

Don’t count out Harvard’s William Mulgrew, either, as the 3rd seeded first-year joins Sarkany and Jaouadi with a seed time under 14:30. In fact, the top three are all under 14:27, setting up what is sure to be a thrilling race from the get-go.

After the mile awards, things get very fast as the 200 medley relays take to the block. The first relay event of the meet saw NC State post a fast 1:21.23 out of lane 1 in this morning’s first heat and will be hoping that one, if not several teams, do not better that time so that the Wolfpack can claim a spot on the podium.

It’s not just the 1:21.23 that teams will be chasing, as Texas’s Will Modglin swam the fastest 50-yard back in history earlier this year, going 20.00. The Longhorns, seeded third, may be in the lead after the breaststroke, but Ilya Kharun‘s fly leg could easily pull ASU into the lead, making a very tight three-way battle for the win as Florida plans on using star Josh Liendo as their anchor. The Gators were DQed on this relay last year and have come back on a revenge tour, breaking the NCAA record at SECs, going 1:20.03

After the collective heart rates of all those watching have returned to normal levels, the 800 free relay takes to the water. Virginia showed up big this morning, going 6:06.85, shattering their school record, and currently sits third in the seeding. Top-seeded Texas looks to be the team to beat with Camden Taylor and Rex Maurer occupying the middle legs for the Longhorns,  but with Stanford anchoring with Henry McFadden and the 2nd seeded OSU team starting things off strong with Tomas Navikonis, be on the lookout for lead changes up and down the field.

200 Medley Relay Line-Ups

• Lane 1: Jack Wilkening, Luka Mladenovic, Tyler Ray, Ole Eidam
• Lane 2: Evan Petty, Yamato Okadome, Lucca Battaglini, Martin Wrede
• Lane 3: Will Modglin, Nate Germonprez, Hubert Kos, Garrett Gould
• Lane 4: Jonny Marshall, Koen de Groot, Scotty Buff, Josh Liendo
• Lane 5: Adam Chaney, Andy Dobrzanski, Ilya Kharun, Jonny Kulow
• Lane 6: Stepan Goncharov, Volodymyr Lisovets, Caleb Ellis, Jere Hribar
• Lane 7: Lysander Osman, Adomas Gatulis, Javier Lopez Guillen, Falemana Tuufui
• Lane 8: Miroslav Knedla, Travis Gulledge, Owen McDonald, Mikkel Lee

800 Free Relay Line-Ups

• Lane 1: Aaron Shackell, Owen McDonald, Raekwon Noel, Dylan Smiley
• Lane 2: Remi Fabiani, Filip Senc-Samardzic, Mattia Mauri, Jonny Kulow
• Lane 3: Andres Dupont Cabrera, Ethan Ekk, Jason Zhao, Henry McFadden
• Lane 4: Rafael Fente Damers, Camden Taylor, Rex Maurer, Baylor Nelson
• Lane 5: Tomas Navikonis, Cornelius Jahn, Jordi Vilchez, Tristan Jankovics
• Lane 6: Kaii Winkler, Daniel Diehl, Hudson Williams, Jerry Fox
• Lane 7: Enzo Solitario, Luukas Vainio, Yoav Romano, Dominik Mark Torok
• Lane 8: Antoine Sauve, Eitan Ben Shitrit, Colin Geer, Lorne Wigginton