2026 NCSA Spring Championships
- March 17-21, 2026
- Rosen Aquatic and Fitness Center, Orlando, FL
- SCY (25 yards)
- Psych Sheets
- Live Video
- “NCSA Spring Swimming Championships -cop” on Meet Mobile
- Recaps
Every event winner on day two of the 2026 NCSA Spring Championships swam faster than they did in prelims, and they were led by 16-year-old Sadie Buckley, who swam 1:45.74 to win the 200 freestyle final by more than a second.
Buckley, who swims for Nation’s Capital Swim Club, was the top seed out of prelims after swimming 1:46.92 to just miss her lifetime best of 1:46.48 from February.
She had a very strong swim in finals, splitting 51.82/53.92 to lock up the top overall time in 1:45.74, dropping nearly a second from her personal best. She also will move up to be the 8th fastest 15-16 girl in the event this season.
Buckley, a 2027 Texas commit, came in more than a second ahead of 2nd place finisher Paige Kowal from Academy Bullets Swim Club, who swam 1:46.80 to drop three tenths from the 1:47.14 she swam in November.
Buckley also swam the 200 butterfly, finishing 4th in 1:57.85, which was two tenths off her prelims swim of 1:57.64. She came into the day at 1:59.33 from March of last year.
17-year-old XCEL swimmer Zara Kocak won the event in 1:55.49, which was a two-second drop from the 1:57.72 she swam in February. She is committed to swim at Indiana for the class of 2027.
Emma Cigna, an NC State commit for 2026, finished 2nd in the event, dropping another half-second to touch in 1:56.12.
The only other girls’ event on Wednesday evening was the 100 breaststroke, which went to 15-year-old Grace Koenig-Song of NASA Wildcat Aquatics in 1:00.28. This was a three-tenth drop from the 1:00.57 she swam in December, and is the 4th fastset 15-16 time in the country this season. She touched a little more than half a second ahead of Bryce Winzenread, who swam 1:00.95.
On the boys’ side, the Vatev brothers from Hornet Swim Club took two of the three individual event wins. Matt Vatev, who will be swimming at Penn in the fall, swam 53.29 to win by six tenths over NASA Wildcat’s Noah Chen‘s 53.85. Vatev dropped two tenths from his prelims swim of 53.56, but added from his lifetime best 52.83.
Chen’s 53.85 was a slight add from the 53.76 he swam in prelims, but was still two tenths faster than his previous best 54.05. Chen is committed to Brown for the fall, which is also in the Ivy League. This means tonight was far from the last time he and Vatev will race in the 100 breaststroke.
Luke Vatev swam 46.43 in the 100 back to lock up the event win by about a second over Elliot Rijnovean from Atlantis Swimming. Vatev, who is committed to Stanford for 2027, was about three tenths off his personal best 46.17 from February.
Rijnovean, who is committed to Indiana for the fall, added a bit from his lifetime best of 46.72, also from February.
In the boys’ 400 IM there was a race for the top spot between Brayden Capen of the Academy Bullets Swim Team and Matthew Wolfle from Nova of Virginia. Ultimately, Capen came out on top in 3:44.39, holding off a late charge from Wolfle at the end.
Capen, a 2027 Tennessee commit, split 52.23/56.80/1:03.21/52.15 to drop three seconds from his prelims swim of 3:47.56 and nearly five seconds from his pre-meet best of 3:49.09.
Wolfle, who is committed to Virginia Tech for the fall was 51.96/1:00.36/1:01.48/50.84 to touch in 3:44.64, a two-and-a-half second drop from his previous best of 3:47.27 that he swam last March.
There were also two relays on Wednesday.
The girls had the 200 freestyle relay, which went to Nation’s Capital Swim Club in 1:31.93 with their team of Alyssa Sagle (23.12), Buckley (22.95), Emma Young (22.82), and McKenzie Cory (23.04).
The boys swam the 800 free relay, and, again, Nation’s Capital took the top time with Alex Grocholski (1:37.45), Lachlan Bartholomew (1:39.05), Quinn Caputo (1:39.07), and Finn O’Shea (1:38.11) swimming 6:33.68.
Luke Vatev split 1:35.36 on the anchor leg of the Hornet Swim Club 10th place relay
