Dean Farris Wins His Last Individual NCAA Race, Will Retire

2022 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 23-26, 2022
• McAuley Aquatic Center, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia (Eastern Daylight Time)
• Prelims 10AM /Finals 6PM
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Live Results
• Official Psych Sheets
• Virtual Championship Program
• SwimSwam Pick Em’s Contest

American Record holder and 2-time NCAA Champion Dean Farris confirmed on Saturday that he will retire from competitive swimming at the conclusion of the 2022 Men’s NCAA Championships. Farris finishes his career on a high note as he touched the wall first in his final individual race: the consolation final of the men’s 100 freestyle, clocking a time of 41.42, about six-tenths short of his lifetime best from 2019. Farris also clocked a 44.68 in the 100 backstroke to place 7th, and led off Harvard’s 200 medley relay in a 20.36, making him the 7th-fastest performer all-time in that event.

Farris ends his career as one of the most successful swimmers in both Ivy League and Harvard swimming & diving history. Farris is the 2019 NCAA Champion in both the 100 backstroke and the 100 freestyle. In the same meet, Farris led off Harvard’s 800 freestyle relay in a 1:29.15, a mark which still stands as the NCAA, U.S. Open, and American Record in the event. When Farris won the 100 backstroke in 2019 he became just the 2nd man ever to swim the event in under 44 seconds, and came within 0.20 of breaking Ryan Murphy’s NCAA, U.S. Open, and American Record in the process. This also made Farris Harvard’s first NCAA Champion since backstroke legend David Berkoff achieved the same feat in 1987 and 1989.

Farris was born and raised in Atlanta, and began his swimming career at DeKalb Aquatics, later making the move to Metro Atlanta Aquatic Club where he trained and flourished with coach Michael Norment until going to college. Farris also enjoyed the more light-hearted side of the sport in the summers, swimming with his local summer league team, Venetian Aquatics in Decatur, GA, as well as for his high school, The Paideia School. Farris was an NCSA Junior Nationals champion in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke in 2016, as well as a two-time Georgia High School state champion. Farris swam in two U.S. Olympic Trials, first in 2016, before entering his freshman year at Harvard, and again in 2021, before entering his senior year at Harvard.

In his first season at Harvard, Farris won 3 individual Ivy League titles and set 8 Harvard program records. That same season he would go on to place 4th at the NCAA Championships in the 200 free. As a sophomore, Farris won 3 more Ivy League individual titles and placed 6th in the 200 free, 7th in the 200 back, and 12th in the 50 free. As a junior during the 2018-2019 season, Farris won 3 more individual Ivy League titles and 2 NCAA titles, first in the 100 backstroke and then in the 100 freestyle, and also placed 6th in the 50 freestyle at NCAAs.

Farris took two Olympic red shirt years in 2019-2020 and then 2020-2021, training with the University of Texas in Austin, and then returned to NCAA competition for the 2021-2022 NCAA season. In 2022, Farris placed 2nd at the Ivy League Championships in the 50 freestyle, 1st in the 200 freestyle, and 1st in the 100 freestyle. As mentioned earlier, Farris placed 7th in the 100 backstroke at the 2022 NCAA Championships, as well as 9th in the 100 freestyle, and posted the 7th-fastest 50 backstroke all-time (20.36) leading off Harvard’s 200 medley relay.

Though he never made an Olympic team, Farris has had considerable success in the long course pool. He represented the United States at the 2019 Summer Universiade in Naples, Italy, and helped Team USA win gold in both the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 freestyle relays. In the 4 x 100 free relay, he recorded a blistering fast time of 47.08. Some of Farris’ best times include:

• 50 Free – 18.92 SCY / 22.32 LCM
• 100 Free – 40.80 SCY, #4 all-time / 48.07 LCM
• 200 Free – 1:29.15 SCY, American Record, #1 all-time / 1:46.45 LCM
• 50 Back – 20.36 SCY, #7 all-time
• 100 Back – 43.66 SCY, #4 all-time / 53.93 LCM
• 200 Back – 1:38.99 SCY
• 100 Fly –  46.17 SCY / 52.92

Since coming onto the national scene in 2016, Farris has been perhaps the most memed swimmer in history, and has been mentioned thousands of times in the SwimSwam comments. Though this seems comical, it speaks to Farris’ impact on the sport and ability to kindle the imaginations and make fans wonder what a human can achieve in the pool.