2025 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships
- March 26-29, 2025
- Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center, Federal Way, Washington
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- Start Times: Prelims: 10 AM ׀ Finals: 6 PM (Pacific Daylight Time)
- Psych Sheet
- Eligible Relays
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Live Results
- Live Recaps
During the first preliminary session of the 2025 Men’s NCAA Championships, Cal’s 5th-year Lucas Henveaux broke his own ACC record in the 500-yard freestyle.
The 24-year-old stopped the clock at 4:07.98, lowering his previous time of 4:08.83 from last month’s ACC Championships. Most of his time drop can be attributed to his final three 50s, as he out-split his record pace by 0.24 on the eighth 50, 0.60 on the penultimate 50, and 0.35 on the final 50. See a full splits comparison between the two record swims below.
Splits Comparison:
| Henveaux’s Previous Record — 2025 ACC Championships | Henveaux’s New Record — 2025 NCAA Championships | |
| 50 | 22.72 | 22.53 |
| 100 | 24.76 | 24.66 |
| 150 | 24.99 | 25.01 |
| 200 | 25.11 | 25.28 |
| 250 | 25.18 | 25.49 |
| 300 | 25.32 | 25.39 |
| 350 | 25.37 | 25.43 |
| 400 | 25.47 | 25.23 |
| 450 | 25.39 | 24.79 |
| 500 | 24.52 | 24.17 |
| Total Time | 4:08.83 | 4:07.98 |
Last night, Henveaux joined teammates Jack Alexy, Gabriel Jett, and Destin Lasco on Cal’s 800 free relay, making history as the first team ever to break the 6-minute barrier. They notched a final time of 5:59.75, completely obliterating the former NCAA record of 6:02.26, set by Alexy, Jett, Lasco, and Robin Hanson at last year’s NCAA Championship meet.
Henveaux, a Belgian Olympian, was a key contributor to Cal’s 2023 NCAA Championship title, finishing 9th in the 500 free (4:10.50) and 1650 free (14:44.14), and also helping Cal to a 3rd-place finish in the 800 free relay. The 2022-23 season was the only one he competed for Cal before returning this past January.
After the aforementioned 2022-23 season competing with Cal, Henveaux was highly successful on the world stage. He notched a 4th-place finish in the 400 free at the 2024 LC World Championships in Doha and then competed for Belgium at the Paris Olympics this past summer, where he finished 3rd in the prelims of the 200 free (1:46.04), but missed out on qualifying for the finals. He was also 12th in the prelims of the 400 free and 19th in the 800 free. More recently, Henveaux earned the bronze medal in the 200 free at the SC World Championships in Budapest this past December.
Men’s 500 Freestyle ‘A’ Final Qualifiers:
- Rex Maurer (TEX) – 4:07.55
- Lucas Henveaux (CAL) – 4:07.98
- Luke Hobson (TEX) – 4:08.32
- Jovan Lekic (LSU) – 4:08.55
- Tomas Koski (UGA) – 4:09.01
- Jake Magahey (UGA) – 4:09.19
- Zalan Sarkany (IU) – 4:09.22
- Charlie Hawke (BAMA) – 4:09.52
mfw when the belgian residing in california sets an atlantic coast conference record
I think Rex and Luke take it out early and dare the field to keep up. Could lead to an epic race with 3-4 guys in the 4:02-4:05 range
Lucas looked smoothest. He was eying his competitors from about the 300 on; it was like he was playing with his heat like a lion playing with its food (a Bear….food?) … before making the move to end the game.
Certainly would put a crimp in Texas plans for the meet if Henveaux could beat both R Maurer and Hobson. I don’t necessarily expect him to do so, but he seems the only one to have that potential within his grasp.
Only exception: can Magahey reclaim his ‘youth?’ Morning swim a good start.