2026 Big 12 Championships
- Dates: Tuesday, February 24–Saturday, February 28, 2026
- Location: Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, NC
- Defending champions: Arizona State women (1x); Arizona State men (1x)
- Teams: Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Christian, Utah, West Virginia
- Men’s Championship Preview
- Women’s Championship Preview
- Championship Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Live Video: ESPN +
- Live Recaps
MEN’S 200 FREE RELAY — FINALS
- NCAA Record: 1:12.80 – Tennessee (Crooks, Caribe, Taylor, Blackman), 2025
Big 12 Record: 1:13.05 – Arizona State University (Kharun, Palmer, Sammon, Kulow), 2025Meet Record: 1:15.76 – University of Texas (Krueger, Jiang, Bowman, Kibler), 2021- NCAA Qualifying Times (Qualifying/Provisional): 1:16.23/1:16.91
Top 8 Finishers
- ASU — 1:12.98 **New Conference Record
- Arizona — 1:16.18
- TCU — 1:17.88
- BYU — 1:18.48
- Cincinnati — 1:18.87
- Utah — 1:19.11
- West Virginia — 1:19.76
The Arizona State men have been on everyone’s radars all year long for how strong their sprint freestyle group is, and they have been in top form at the 2026 Big 12 Championships.
On night two of the meet, they qualified seven men to the 50 freestyle ‘A’ final, going on to finish 1st-6th in the event.
On night four, they had the 200 freestyle relay, and we were on NCAA record watch for the team. They touched in 1:12.98, coming in just over the 1:12.80 record set by Tennessee at the 2025 SEC Championships.
Their swim was the 3rd fastest relay in history, coming in only behind Tennessee’s NCAA record and Tennessee’s 1:12.84 from the 2025 NCAA Championships. At that meet, ASU finished 2nd in 1:13.05.
On Friday, the ASU men got off to an early lead with Remi Fabiani splitting 18.62, which was a new personal best and the fastest opening split in the field.
Jonny Kulow split 18.16 on the 2nd leg. Adam Chaney was 18.28 in 3rd, and Ilya Kharun anchored in 17.92.
Kulow has been 17.78, which he swam on the medley relay at the 2025 NCAA Championships, and if he can match that speed next month, they could make the relay record untouchable for a long time.
Split Comparison
| Tenessee, NCAA Record — 1:12.80 (2025 SEC Championships) | ASU, Big 12 Record — (2026 Big 12 Championships) |
ASU, Old Big 12 Record — 1:13.05 (2025 NCAA Championships)
|
|
| 50 | Jordan Crooks — 17.96 | Remi Fabiani –18.62 |
Ilya Kharun — 18.39
|
| 100 | Gui Caribe — 18.04 | Jonny Kulow — 18.16 |
Tommy Palmer — 18.17
|
| 150 | Lamar Taylor –18.25 | Adam Chaney — 18.28 |
Patrick Sammon — 18.35
|
| 200 | Nikoli Blackman — 18.55 | Ilya Kharun — 17.92 |
Jonny Kulow — 18.14
|
What a great swim by these guys. Expected, but still great. An observation: it’s sort of amazing how big a difference you see in the 50 from some of these guys. At NCAAs, Kulow went 17.7, but also 18.14. Both extremely fast, but one 4 tenths faster than the other … and in the 50 … from the same guy at the same meet. Possibly could account for the difference in relay exchange time. Or maybe slight differences in the current if your ahead/behind the team next to you. One of those things is in your control (sort of) and one isn’t, so whether a 17.7 can be replicated might be out of Johnny’s control.
Does Kulow not have any other sub 18? MDS, where are you?
He technically went 17.9 last year at big 12’s along with Ilya on the 200 free relay but that really got dq’d. Not sure if there’s been another time.
Kulow seems to be a bit off this year so I’m interested to see how he does at NCAAs.
Maybe he’s just more tired than usual. We’ll see in about a month.
He’s been dealing with a minor injury throughout the back half of the season
I’ve never swam in the same pool as 18-point flat start guys, but imagine 8 of them at the same time make for some choppy water, even with the best pool and lane lines. It’s also really crowded and chaotic behind the blocks.
I’d be curious if they do a lot of time trials how consistent they are in practice