Florida Men Swim 1:20.03 For Fastest 200 Medley Relay In History, Liendo Splits 17.58

2026 SEC Championships

• Dates: Monday, February 16–Saturday, February 21
• Location: Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center, Knoxville, TN
• Defending Champions: Texas women (1x); Texas men (1x)
• Live Results
• Live Video: SEC Network+
• Schedule of Events
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  • Women
  • Men
• Teams: Alabama, Arkansas (women), Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt (women)

Men’s 200 Medley Relay

• NCAA Record: 1:20.15- Florida (Chaney, Smith, Liendo, McDuff), 2024
• SEC Record: 1:20.15- Florida (Chaney, Smith, Liendo, McDuff), 2024
• SEC Championship Record: 1:20.22- Tennessee (Taylor, Houseman, Caribe, Crooks), 2025
• Pool Record: 1:20.56- Arizona State (Chaney, Dobrzanski, Kharun, Kulow), 2025
• 2026 NCAA Qualifying Time (Qualifying/Provisional): 1:23.61/1:23.85

Top 8:

1. Florida- 1:20.03 *NCAA, SEC, SEC Champs, Pool Record
2. Texas- 1:20.85
3. LSU- 1:21.23
4. Kentucky- 1:21.80
5. Auburn- 1:22.41
6. Tennessee- 1:22.48
7. Georgia- 1:22.61
8. Missouri- 1:23.27

Florida started off the 2026 SEC Championships with a bang, shaving just over a tenth off their own NCAA record in a time of 1:20.03. That also breaks the meet record of 1:20.22 which Tennessee set last year.

Jonny Marshall led off for the Gators in 20.52, slightly faster than his leadoff leg of 20.61 from SECs last year, before Koen de Groot blasted a split of 22.61 on breaststroke as they hit halfway in 43.13, just three tenths off their record pace. They were nearly half a second down on early leaders Texas, who got a 20.17 leadoff from Will Modglin (#5 in history) followed by a 22.49 on the breaststroke leg from Nate Germonprez (#6 in history)

Scotty Buff scorched a 19.32 on the fly leg, before Josh Liendo swam one of the fastest splits in history as he anchored in 17.58. That sits as the 5th-fastest split in history, behind  a pair of swims from each of Caeleb Dressel and Jordan Crooks.

Buff and Liendo switched legs from the lineup they swam at NCAAs last year, where the Gators touched in 1:20.05 but were DQ’ed for a -0.06 reaction time from Buff. Even ignoring the reaction times, this lineup was more than four tenths faster, and made up for losing Julian Smith‘s 22.25 breaststroke leg.

Split Analysis

Florida were not the only school to raise some eyebrows this evening. LSU set a new school record of 1:21.23, while Kentucky did the same in 1:21.80. LSU featured a 17.58 split from Jere Hribar on the anchor leg – the sixth-fastest split in history. Kentucky got a 20.21 leadoff from French freshman Lysander Osman, the 9th-fastest leadoff in history, and an 18.16 from fellow Frenchman Falemana Tuufui on the anchor leg.

Texas ended up placing second in 1:20.85, a quarter of a second faster than the 1:21.11 they swam at midseason. Hubert Kos split 19.67 on fly before Garrett Gould anchored in 18.52