2026 NCAA ‘A’ finalist in both breaststroke events Luka Mladenovic of Michigan has entered the transfer portal just days after finishing up his freshman season with the Wolverines. Numerous men from Minnesota have also entered the portal including NCAA ‘A’ finalist in the 200 fly Jacob Johnson.
Mladenovic arrived at Michigan this past fall and is originally from Salzburg, Austria. Mladenovic finished his freshman season over the weekend and was the highest scoring individual for the Michigan men who finished 8th at the 2026 NCAA Championships.
He made the ‘A’ final in both breaststroke events, swimming a 1:49.34 in the 200 breast for 3rd as well as a lifetime best 50.47 for 5th in the 100 breast. He also was 15th in the 200 IM and helped Michigan to a 4th place finish in the 400 medley relay as well as a 7th place finish in the 200 medley relay.
Back in February, Mladenovic swam to Big Ten titles in both breaststroke events as he touched in a 50.69 in the 100 breast and a 1:49.34 in the 200 breast. He helped Michigan to a 2nd place finish at the 2026 Big Ten Championships.
Other names highlighting the portal are Minnesota’s Daniel Eichel and Jacob Johnson. Johnson also competed at the 2026 NCAA Championships, finishing 4th in the 200 fly with a lifetime best 1:39.20. Johnson was the only individual swimming scorer for the Gopher men at 2026 NCAAs. Johnson saw a huge improvement in the 200 fly from Big Tens to NCAAs as he was 4th at Big Tens in a 1:40.20. Eichel posted a lifetime best 4:14.33 500 free at the Minnesota Last Chance meet and saw his highest finish at Big Tens come in the 500 free (14th, 4:19.06).
Other Portal Notes:
- Previous Update
- After Youngstown State already had eight men in the portal, six more have joined. The program has not announced their next head coach after Brad Smith stepped down from his position earlier this month.
- SEC ‘A’ finalist Levi Thome of LSU has entered the portal. He was 8th in the 100 breast at 2026 SECs with a 51.81 (51.72 in prelims)
Wind Blows south to TCU. Go Frogs
luka to Virginia and johnson and eichel to Cal, is my guess, with no knowledge
Mladenovic is almost 22 btw not your usual freshman. All signed point to UVA. I doubt he’s going to Texas with their logjam at breast. He’d be a much more important swimmer at uva.
I think Johnson’s the more interesting one for Texas. Would allow Peck to switch back to backstroke in a post-Hubert Texas
Yea Johnson fits better with Texas or maybe Florida but even they have S. Buff. That being dais I still think Rowan Cox. is going to have some major progress. His pb is like 0.6 off Johnson’s in the 1 fly and Johnson will be a junior
I don’t disagree just saying if it came down to 1 or the other of these two guys. Between Rowan Cox, Laon Kim, Kuzey Tuncelli, and Carpenter (but I think it’ll take him a bit to get down to where he needs to be) Texas’ freshman class is loaded. Wouldn’t be surprised if the first 3 guys make the NCAA roster next year.
But also, what a crazy world we live in where we’ve got two guys who got 4th at NCAAs in their best event and they’re in the portal a few days later
Kyle Peck is not all that little bro. If not for you I’d barely know the name lol
If you don’t know the name then you don’t know ball. #KPIRL4L
Man, first it’s “Bob just pays for his swimmers and doesn’t develop” then I bring up someone Texas developed and it’s “never heard of him”
Peck is a really interesting swimmer for Texas, being able to be an 18.6 flying start guy along with an NCAA scorer in the 200 fly is a rare combo. Hasn’t shown a ton of flashes in the 100 back since getting to Austin, though that was probably his best event coming out of HS, but dropped nearly 3.5 seconds to a 1:39 200 back as a freshman. There’s almost so much there that it’s gotta be hard to box him in anywhere, so I’m sure for Texas it’d be nice to add some strength in specific areas and allow Peck to prosper in the right events.
Kinda reminds me of Alvin Jiang but even better at the 200s. Being able to split 18.6 and go up to 1:39s in the fly and back is ridiculous range. He’s probably one of the better underwater fly kick guys in the NCAA right now.
Problem with bob is his training is all or nothing. You either improve a ton or implode cause you can’t handle the training. Olympian or bust I guess🤷♂️
Thank goodness Texas has been improving a ton
Eh just a many misses as hits but it’s working for him. If you have 22 elite guys and only 11 hit that’ll win you a title. Not a good stat though
You talking NCAAs or throughout the course of the year? NCAAs I’d say nobody but Hubert hit. Throughout the course of the last year or two? Find me someone who didn’t hit
Johnson liked the Virginia IG “commitment coming” post earlier….
He must have entered the portal a while ago then?
That’ll be a hell of a fly group
What are “all signs”? If it’s just that UVA needs a breastroker more than Texas and other programs, that’s not enough.
Here they all come.
Ok so you have nothing. Got it.
Absolutely right Greg. Florida is a dark horse here with de Groot graduating, there’s not a clear replacement.
Matt Bowe better get the NIL working for the swim team. Dusty and Whitt have it going for revenue sports.
Minnesota is so screwed. “Thanks Kelly”
Time for a change up north.
they’ve been on a downward spiral for almost a decade… shocking how it takes so long for some programs to make a move
Florida needs a breaststroker/200 IMmer. The only events where they didn’t score points were the 200 fly, 200 IM, and 200 breast.
I think that tall Canadian guy graduating will be a bigger roster spot to fill, personally
Doesn’t mean you can’t also want an IMr though
Josh Liendo would be tough shoes for anyone to fill, or even come close to filling. Scotty Buff still has another year, and he finaled in the 100 fly, so he can take over there on relays, but Florida loses deGroot and Savickas this year, and they need a 50 point breaststroker to keep up. The fact that he can swim the 100/200 and the 200 IM in scoring range is an even bigger plus. UF needs to go after Mladenovic.
Virginia just posted “here they all come” and that someone signed … hmmm?
it isn’t happening this quick. Otherwise, UVA would have larger problems than finding a breaststroker
It’s probably Johnson, based on some instagram clues.
Here’s the thing about the transfer portal – it allows people to get away with things that are simply heinous, illegal, and downright unethical. For example, I have it on good account that people are being offers $700K+ to enter the portal and transfer – clear tampering!
When I was an age group coach (I was fired two years ago), we didn’t operate this way. We did everything in the light of day, as it should be done. I would go up to someone right after a race and offer them money (in cash) to come over to my club – how do you think we built a 5x back-to-back state champion team?
I hope these college coaches realize the… Read more »
In swimming? I can see $700k offers in football or basketball, but zero chance anyone is being offered that kind of money in swimming.
There’s enough spare room in your head for 700k in cash
MP Caterpillar is a jokester. Don’t take what they post seriously
This is a joke post lol look at the 2nd paragraph.