Swims You Might Have Missed On Day 1 Of The Men’s 2026 NCAA Championships

2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships

• Dates: Wednesday, March 25–Saturday, March 28
• Location: McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
• Defending Champions: Texas (1x)
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  • Prelims: Day 1
  • Finals: Day 1

The 2026 Men’s NCAA championships kicked off today with a trio of races; the 1650 free, 200 medley relay, and 800 free relay. While we say a pair of NCAA records in the very first event, as Ahmed Jaouadi out-Finked Bobby Finke’s 1650 free record thanks to bonkers final 50 of 22.73 and Zalan Sarkany took down the 1000 free record with his split of 8:33.10, moving to #2 all-time behind Luka Mijatovic,  there were plenty of swims which you may have missed.

Leonardo Alcantara just missed scoring in the mile at 2025 NCAAs but will did so this year with a 13th-place finish in 14:44.27. That sliced 5.73 seconds from his season best of 14:50.00 he swam for 9th at SECs, and is a drop of 1.18 seconds from his previous best of 14:45.45 from 2025 SECs. He set best times in both the 200 free and 500 free last month, and if he has drops in store in those events as well he could be a threat for the 500 free ‘A’ final and a scorer in the 200 free.

Nikita Sheremet split a sizzling 18.06 for Louisville’s 11th-place 200 medley relay, becoming just the second freshman to split 18.0 after Josh Liendo and the first ‘true’ freshman (as Liendo was a year older). Falemana Tuufui split an even faster 17.91 on the anchor leg for Kentucky’s 8th-place 200 medley relay, one of four 17-point splits tonight. He was 0.20 seconds faster than at SECs, and becomes the fastest freshman in history on a 50 free relay split, 0.12 seconds faster than Josh Liendo was as a freshman.

Jake Wang was 20.92 to lead off Yale’s 200 medley relay, slicing a second off his best from 2024, as the Bulldogs finished 17th. Purdue’s Janis Dzurkalis continued his excellent form from Big Tens for Purdue as he split 18.59 on the anchor, the 10th-fastest split in the field.

Army’s relay was DQed due to a -0.06 takeover from their anchor leg, but had a blazing-fast front half courtesy of Jonny Crush‘s 20.25 leadoff and Kohen Rankin‘s 22.65 breaststroke leg. Both are highly seeded in the 100 back and 100 breast, respectively, and look in great form after being off their bests at the Patriot League Championships last month

The men’s 800 free also saw a number of notable splits. Virginia’s David King split 1:31.09 on the second leg for them, 0.74 seconds faster than he was on the leadoff last year, while Koby Bujak-Upton became the first freshman to crack 1:30 as he led Tennessee’s relay off in 1:29.79 this morning.

Aaron Shackell dropped half a second from his 200 free best to lead Indiana off in 1:31.77, the 6th-fastest leadoff leg in the 800 free relay field today. That is just over half a second faster than he was at Big Tens, where he was 1:32.33 to come within 0.04 seconds of his best from midseason.

Mitchell Schott split 1:30-point for the second time in a month as he swam 1:30.61 on the second leg of Princeton’s relay, but the Tigers got a second sub-1:31 split from Patrick Dinu on the anchor in 1:30.95. The Romanian swimmer was just 1:32.15 on this relay at the Ivy League Championships, and will be one to watch for the individual 200 free tomorrow as the 30th seed.

Julian Koch led off Pitt’s school-record-breaking relay in 1:31.95, itself a school record as well and a best time by 0.84 seconds. That stands him in excellent stead for his individual events this week, which kick off with the 100 fly tomorrow. Oliver Sogaard-Andersen was 1:31.85 for USC to set a new best as well and position himself as a contender for the top-16 tomorrow individually, and is now less than a second away from Dylan Carter‘s school record of 1:30.95.

Levi Sandidge finished third in the mile, dropping eight seconds to go 14:22.26 to move to #5 all-time. That is his highest NCAA finish yet after placing 24th in 2024 and 8th in 2025. He went out in 4:17.64, just two seconds off his 500 free best, so will be one to watch later this week.