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Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.
Jack Alexy is not someone who flies under the radar anymore, but still, not many were predicting him to be among the top finishers in the 200 freestyle at the Men’s NCAA Championships.
Alexy only raced the event once last season, clocking 1:37.78 on the lead-off leg of Cal’s ‘B’ 800 free relay at the 2022 Minnesota Invite, but coming off his breakout performance at the 2023 World Championships where he piled up five medals, the New Jersey native took on the 200 free quite frequently in his junior season with the Bears.
Alexy’s best time stood at 1:35.52 from 2019 coming into 2023-24, a mark he set while he was 16, but he took it down to 1:33.83 in December at the Minnesota Invite and then went 1:32.74 during Cal’s dual with Arizona in January.
That entry time placed him down in 27th on the psych sheets coming into NCAAs, but Alexy was one of many swimmers to send a warning shot for the individual event on the opening night of the meet in the 800 free relay, splitting 1:30.50 on Cal’s record-breaking squad that won the title in the event for the first time since 1986.
The 21-year-old then went faster than his split in the prelims of the 200 free, clocking 1:30.38 to snag Lane 5 in the final that featured solely junior swimmers.
Alexy upped his game again in the final.
Leaning on the speed that earned him a silver medal in the 100 free at the 2023 Worlds, he opened things up in a blistering 43.31 at the 100, leading the tightly bunched field with six of the eight finalists sub-44.
Luke Hobson pulled away on the back half en route to defending his title and taking back the NCAA and U.S. Open Record he broke leading off the 800 free relay—which Leon Marchand took minutes later in the next heat on Wednesday—but Alexy closed better than anyone else to place 2nd.
Alexy came home in 46.44 over the final 100 to become just the seventh swimmer in history under the 1:30 barrier, touching in 1:29.75. He also broke the Cal school record of 1:30.14 set by Andrew Seliskar in 2019.
All-Time Performers, Men’s 200 Freestyle (SCY)
- Luke Hobson (Texas), 1:28.81 – 2024 NCAA Championships
- Leon Marchand (ASU), 1:28.97 – 2024 NCAA Championships
- Dean Farris (Harvard), 1:29.15 – 2019 NCAA Championships
- Kieran Smith (Florida), 1:29.48 – 2021 SEC Championships
- Townley Haas (Texas), 1:29.50 – 2018 NCAA Championships
- Blake Pieroni (Indiana), 1:29.63 – 2018 NCAA Championships
- Jack Alexy (Cal), 1:29.75 – 2024 NCAA Championships
- Andrew Seliskar (Cal), 1:30.14 – 2019 NCAA Championships
- Grant House (ASU), 1:30.23 – 2022 Pac-12 Championships
- Drew Kibler (Texas), 1:30.28 – 2022 NCAA Championships
In the 800 free relay, with the benefit of an exchange, Alexy was out sub-20 at the 50 and a blistering 42.2 at the 100. He faded a bit on the last 50, but altered his splitting strategy optimally for the individual event.
Split Comparison
| Alexy, 800 FR Relay (with takeover) | Alexy, 200 FR Prelims | Alexy, 200 FR Final |
| 19.94 | 20.81 | 20.45 |
| 42.26 (22.32) | 44.00 (23.19) | 43.31 (22.86) |
| 1:05.90 (23.64) | 1:06.95 (22.95) | 1:06.47 (23.16) |
| 1:30.50 (24.60) | 1:30.38 (23.43) | 1:29.75 (23.28) |
Whether or not Alexy takes on the 200 free seriously in the long course pool this summer remains to be seen, but his performance in short course tells us the potential is there.
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This dude is quickly figuring out this race. He clearly overcooked the first 100 in the relay and had it dialed in by the the finals of the individual 200. Scary potential. If he get’s his underwaters even just to average, look out..
still can’t process that Alexy is faster than Seliskar and Kibler ever were
Alexy has achieved great results in SCY even though his underwater game is lacking, relatively speaking. Thus while is 129 is obviously great in SCY what’s exciting is what it implies about his prospects for time drops in LCM, where turns are half as frequent.
Love to see him at least take a crack at long course 200 free. Just for fun
His best is like 1:53 from 2018
Caribe’s runner up 100 free and massive 40.5 PB is also worth noting, I feel like no one has talked about this
This is the nicest Cal comment you’ve ever made 🤗
he has a really beautiful 200 free stroke, I loved watching him in this race
Smoothest looking 200 I saw all week.