2026 M. NCAA Champs: Day 4 (Ups/Downs) – The Top Four Look Locked In, But The Battle Is On For 5th

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 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best during prelims. In prelims at the NCAA Championships, swimmers qualify for just one finals: the top eight finishers make the Championship/’A’ final (Ups), and places nine through 16 are used to make the Consolation/‘B’ final (Downs), but now those results are scored from prelims. However, for the purposes of this article we will still refer to them as a down.

With that in mind, we track “Ups” and “Downs” after each prelims session as a way to follow the team race. 

Team Scores Thru Day 3

1. Texas – 340.5
2. Florida – 331
3. Indiana – 254
4. Arizona St – 245
5. Tennessee – 199
6. California – 186
7. NC State – 175.5
8. Michigan – 163
9. Virginia – 110
10. Stanford – 95
11. Louisville –72
12. Virginia Tech – 67
13. Ohio St – 63
14. Kentucky – 52
15. Southern California – 52
16. Georgia – 50.5
17. Miami (FL) – 46
18. Auburn – 44
19. SMU – 41
20. Northwestern/LSU/UNC – 29
21. –
22. –
23. Alabama – 27
24. Princeton/Florida State – 25
25. –
26. Missouri – 20
27. Pittsburgh/Wisconsin – 19
28. –
29. Army – 17.5
30. Yale/Utah/Georgia Tech – 17
31. –
32. –
33. Notre Dame – 16
34. Delaware – 12
35. Purdue – 10
36. Harvard – 9
37. Texas A&M – 8
38. IU Indianapolis – 6
39. Penn State – 5
40. Arizona – 2

Ups and Downs

Indiana had a great day, putting five individual swimmers into ‘A’ finals including three in the 200 IM. With ASU putting only Jonny Kulow and Ilya Kharun into tonight’s finals, as Remi Fabiani and Adam Chaney missed out, the Hoosiers have likely locked up 3rd place in the overall standings.

ASU had just one swimmer score in 9th-16th this morning in Fabiani, while Texas had six to all but seal their second consecutive title. Kyle Peck and Cooper Lucas moved up in the 200 fly to take seven points between them, while Rex Maurer scored six points in the 200 back from heat 1. Garrett Gould, who only made the meet because of a scratch, scored three points as he finished 14th in the 100 free.

The Longhorns had four swimmers in the top 16 of the 200 IM this morning, going 2up/2down in that event, while Michigan had three swimmers score in 9th-16th in the 200 IM. Florida put Josh Liendo and Jonny Marshall into tonight’s ‘A’ finals, but Aiden Norman and Alex Painter failed to finish in the top 16.

Cal has just two scorers and no ‘A’ finalists today, as Keaton Jones finished 9th in prelims in the 200 back for a third year in a row. Tennessee have probably got 5th place on lock after putting 2 swimmers into finals and having Nikoli Blackman score in the 100 free in 13th, While NC State could also overhaul Cal with three individual ‘A’ finalists tonight.

Virginia were economical with their swims today – with just five in the morning session, they got four ‘A’ finalists.

Projected Scores after tonight (not including diving)

* Schools that placed 9th- 16th this morning can not move down in their points, but can move up if a team in the final heat tonight either DQs or swims times equal to or slower than Texas’s time of 1:14.40 from this morning.

Based on swimming alone the top four look certain to be Texas/Florida/Indian/ASU, and almost certainly in that order. Texas did what they needed to this morning in the 200 IM, and gaining 16 points from seed across the 100 free, 200 fly, and 200 back extends the gap back to Florida. With just 9.5 points between the two teams at the start of the day, Texas now sits 37.5 points ahead with just diving and the finals to come. Both Josh Liendo and Jonny Marshall could move up in their respective events tonight, but Texas have far too big of a buffer.

Indiana will likely stay ahead of ASU thanks to a huge morning in the 200 IM that saw Owen McDonald take the top seed, and freshman Josh Bey and Noah Cakir finish in the top eight. With three more ‘A’ finalists than the Sun Devils they should extend their nine-point overnight lead, and a likely Sun Devil win in the 400 free relay will be too little, too late.

Tennessee have kept the scoreboard ticking over on diving, and will need to do so again today to have enough to maintain their lead over NC State. The Wolfpack are projected to finish one point ahead based only on action in the pool today, but may fall in the 400 free relay as they saw three of their individual 100 freestylers add time, including Kaii Winkler missing the points in 17th despite his ACC time of 41.03 being quicker than the 41.12 it took to make the ‘A’ final.

Michigan should have enough to stay in the top eight, and may overhaul a Cal team who have no more swims. Virginia are set for a huge evening with four ‘A’ finalists, but a 53 point gap to Michigan looks insurmountable. A place in the top ten looks assured though – higher than we ranked them in our end-of-season rankings.

Big days for Pitt and Arizona should see them rocket up the rankings, with Florida State also looking to more than double their current score today.