Aiden Hayes Makes His Return From Injury At TAC Titans Spring Fling

2025 TAC Titans Spring Fling Meet

• May 16-18, 2025
• Triangle Aquatic Center – Cary, NC
• LCM (50 Meters)
• Results: “2025 TAC Titans Spring Fling Meet” on MeetMobile

Former 200-yard butterfly NCAA champion Aiden Hayes made his return to competition at the TAC Titans Spring Fling Meet in Cary, North Carolina this weekend. Hayes sat out the 2024-25 season with a fractured wrist, and in January, NC State head coach Braden Holloway told SwimSwam the “timetable is TBD, but [he’s] out for a while.” As he missed the entire season, this meet marks Hayes’ first since the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, where he finished fifth in the 100-meter butterfly.

The 21-year-old Hayes made a strong impression during his first meet in almost a full year. He won the 100-meter butterfly in 52.52, which makes him one of the five-fastest American men this season. That ranking is led by Shaine Casas with his 50.82 from the Westmont Pro Swim, followed by Luca Urlando’s 51.32 from the Sacramento stop of the series.

Hayes split 24.45/28.07 to win in Cary, dropping .87 seconds from prelims to finals. Both front and back halves were faster than the 24.94/28.45 he swam for a 53.39 in prelims, which is a strong sign for Hayes as he continues to build back from injury.

Through the first two days of competition, Hayes also raced prelims of the 50 freestyle (24.31) and 100 backstroke (57.96). He qualified for the final in both events but did not race, which is how many of his fellow Wolfpack swimmers approached the meet this weekend.

Other Notable Results So Far

• Lance Norris is fresh off a strong season with the Wolfpack where he improved his lifetime best in the 500/1000/1650 freestyle. He’s translated those gains to meters well, clocking lifetime bests in the 400 freestyle (3:50.58) and 800 freestyle (7:56.09). His 400 freestyle time improves on his former best by almost a second while his 800 freestyle time is a drop of 3.75 seconds.
• 14-year-old Alistair Peng has swum multiple lifetime bests this weekend on his way to two event wins. Highlighting his performance so far is his 25.52 in the 50 freestyle. It was his first swim sub-26 seconds and his second lifetime best of the day. He came into the meet with a best of 26.37 from July 2023 and dropped to 26.06 in prelims before cracking the time barrier for gold in the final.
• Erika Pelaez continued to chip time off her season-best 100 backstroke. She clocked a new season-best 100.75 in prelims and added five-hundredths to win the final. Both swims were faster than her Fort Lauderdale best, where she swam 1:00.92 for 11^th.
• Tyler Driscoll saw big improvements in her sophomore season at NC State, qualifying for her first NCAA Championships. She carried that momentum into long-course season. She swam her first personal best in the 50-meter freestyle in almost three years this weekend, clocking a 26.27 in prelims to chip .01 seconds off her standard, then hitting 26.21 in the final.
• Kacper Stokowksi got in the competition pool for the first time since winning three medals at the 2024 Short Course World Championship. The 100 backstroke bronze medalist at that meet, Stokowski swam 54.83 in the 100 backstroke this weekend, qualifying first before scratching the final.