2025 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships
- March 26-29, 2025
- Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center, Federal Way, Washington
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- SwimSwam Pick’Em Contest
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results
- Day 1 Heat Sheets
- Day 1 Live Recap
The 2025 Men’s NCAA Championships got off to quite the dramatic start, and the numbers reflect that.
Based on psych sheet scores, the University of Florida was supposed to be leading after night 1 with 74 points out of a possible 80. Because of a disqualification in the 200 medley relay and an underperformance in the 800 free relay, the Gators ended the night with only 22 points – 29.7% of their projected score. This is a delta of -52 points, and although their 200 medley DQ victory indicates they’re at least in decent form, 52 lost points is a steep uphill recovery battle.
Florida wasn’t the only disqualification of the night. The University of Michigan, which also suffered a DQ in the same relay, is one of the biggest points losers of the night, falling 14 points behind their seed. Virginia Tech, the other 200 medley relay disqualification, lost 10 points but cushioned themselves to an extent by overperforming in the 800 free relay.
Losses for some teams inevitably mean wins for others, and several schools capitalized on the slew of DQs. No team did so better than the University of Georgia, who secured a top 8 finish despite being seeded outside of the top 16. Texas A&M, Georgia Tech, and Army also scored some unexpected points in this relay.
The biggest positive surprise in the 800 free relay, meanwhile, was the Indiana Hoosiers’ triumphant 6:06.76, a five second drop. They placed an unexpected 6th and improved 20 points from their seed in this event alone.
Day 1 Seed vs Performance
| Team | Difference Vs Seed |
| Georgia | +22 |
| Indiana | +20 |
| California | +16 |
| Stanford | +10 |
| Texas | +8 |
| Texas A&M | +8 |
| UNC | +8 |
| Virginia | +8 |
| Georgia Tech | +6 |
| NC State | +6 |
| Army | +4 |
| Auburn | +4 |
| Ohio St | +2 |
| Alabama | +2 |
| Florida St | -2 |
| Southern Cali | -2 |
| Virginia Tech | -4 |
| Tennessee | -6 |
| Arizona St | -8 |
| LSU | -8 |
| Louisville | -10 |
| Michigan | -14 |
| Arizona | -18 |
| Florida | -52 |
200 Medley Relay
| Seed | Performance | Difference From Psych Sheet | |
| Georgia | 0 | 22 | +22 |
| Texas A&M | 0 | 8 | +8 |
| UNC | 2 | 10 | +8 |
| Texas | 32 | 40 | +8 |
| Auburn | 6 | 12 | +6 |
| Stanford | 12 | 18 | +6 |
| California | 26 | 32 | +6 |
| Georgia Tech | 0 | 6 | +6 |
| NC State | 22 | 26 | +4 |
| Army | 0 | 4 | +4 |
| Louisville | 14 | 14 | 0 |
| Indiana | 28 | 28 | 0 |
| Arizona St | 30 | 30 | 0 |
| Florida St | 24 | 24 | 0 |
| Ohio St | 4 | 2 | -2 |
| Tennessee | 40 | 34 | -6 |
| LSU | 8 | 0 | -8 |
| Virginia Tech | 10 | 0 | -10 |
| Michigan | 18 | 0 | -18 |
| Florida | 34 | 0 | -34 |
800 Free Relay
| Seed Score | Performance | Difference | |
| Indiana | 6 | 26 | +20 |
| California | 30 | 40 | +10 |
| Virginia | 0 | 8 | +8 |
| Virginia Tech | 0 | 6 | +6 |
| Stanford | 24 | 28 | +4 |
| Michigan | 8 | 12 | +4 |
| Ohio St | 10 | 14 | +4 |
| NC State | 22 | 24 | +2 |
| Alabama | 28 | 30 | +2 |
| Texas | 34 | 34 | 0 |
| Georgia | 32 | 32 | 0 |
| Florida St | 2 | 0 | -2 |
| Auburn | 4 | 2 | -2 |
| Southern Cali | 12 | 10 | -2 |
| Arizona St | 26 | 18 | -8 |
| Louisville | 14 | 4 | -10 |
| Florida | 40 | 22 | -18 |
| Arizona | 18 | 0 | -18 |
Womp Womp
We should all band together as a sport and find a new way to deal with relay DQs. Adjust the final time by the reaction time plus one second; something discouraging but not quite so devastating.
Timing anything within a tenth of a second is near impossible for humans, and it’s not a good amount of pressure to put on a kid.
I dislike this as much as I dislike the proposal in Track and Field that long jump and tipple jump will have a take off zone where the jump is measured from. It becomes a different event/sport and most past rule changes have been for either safety reasons or judging purposes but as technology becomes better the rule changes should not to be as drastic.
You’re right! We should also give everyone pacifiers after those bad swims :/
Usually the goal is two tenths, not one tenth. And no, it is not near impossible for humans if you train it. It’s not a blind reaction time kind-of-thing… you can see your teammate coming in and just a minimum amount of training (and concentration) definitely allows you to be within two tenths if no one loses focus.
You make it sound like these are 8-year old kids. These are incredibly elite athletes.
Back to your playpen, junior.
Don’t count Florida out. They are rich in talent and are swimming well as usual. Divers can do cannonballs, and 15 mtr violations are going to be called….and there are 3 more relays to go.
Anthony should have protested the call.
I mean he left early I don’t know what there is to protest.
It sucks, but at this level there is really no excuse for making silly mistakes
I will say the same thing that I am saying when we watch the big international meets and there is a review. Why can we not get to see the video that is used to determine the DQ?
When I watched it live I thought it was early, but when I saw the slow motion video that ESPN showed did not think it was a DQ, but that was with a bad angle, poor quality and slightly obscured take off. Another bonus with getting to see the video is that we can see the cause of the DQ as well, poor finish, swimmer a little to eager and leaving early, bad equipment etc etc etc
Think about Olympic / World… Read more »
I don’t know if leaving .03 faster than you’re allowed it can be considered a silly mistake
I feel like it’s hard to determine who’s on and who’s off after Day 1 because it’s only two events, that showed last weekend where teams like UTK flopped night one then slowly made their way into form.
However, ignoring that, go dawgs and this might be a really rough weekend (second one in a row) for the Gators.
Florida getting kicked while their down over and over by these article titles lol
I fear for saltie’s well-being.
I appreciate the concern. It was a tough night for sure but I have faith in our boys for the next few days. On the bright side, at least no one broke our NCAA record
That’s the spirit! On the even brighter side, most of them look to be in decent form.