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
In 2020, Indiana swimmer Jassen Yep came to Bloomington as a walk-on recruit. At his first-ever Big Ten championships in 2021, he finished 28th in the 200 breast in a time of 1:58.59. But five years later, Yep ended his collegiate career as an NCAA champion in the event, ten seconds faster than his freshman self.
“It’s definitely really inspiring,” Yep said of his journey. “I hope that you know anyone can do it. It takes hard work. It takes a good team.”
Yep saw graduate improvement throughout the course of his collegiate career. In his sophomore season, he was no long a walk-on. But despite dropping over three seconds, he was still not NCAAs-caliber, racing exhibition-only at Big Tens. After finishing third at Big Tens in the 200 breast as a junior, he qualified for NCAAs for the first time that season and just missed scoring, placing 17th in the 200 breast and 21st in the 100 breast. As a senior, he won a 200 breast Big Ten title and was seventh at NCAAs, in addition to 12th at 100 breast.
Jassen Yep, 200 Breast Season-Bests:
- High school best time: 1:57.42
- Freshman season: 1:58.59
- Sophomore season: 1:53.86
- Junior season: 1:52.33
- Senior season: 1:50.40
- Fifth year season: 1:48.30
Coming into the 2025 NCAA championships during Yep’s senior season, he was a contender to final in the 200 breast after breaking 1:50 for the first time at Big Tens. However, Matt Fallon, the top seed, last year’s runner-up and the United States’s top long course breaststroker for the past two years, was the favorite to win. After all, he was the only swimmer in the field who had broken 1:49 before. After he swam the fastest time in prelims, his title seemed even more certain.
But in the actual race, Yep took control by the 150-yard mark and held on, not allowing himself to get passed by Fallon’s signature back half. His final time of 1:48.30 was 0.55 seconds faster than the rest of the field and made him the third-fastest performer of all-time — only Texas’s Will Licon (1:47.91) and Arizona State’s Leon Marchand (1:46.35) are faster.
“After Big Tens, whatever I did here I’d be proud of,” Yep said. “I was really just swimming for the parents and my time. I did it this morning, I did tonight. I just closed my eyes on every turn and pull out. I didn’t want to know where anyone was. I really just wanted to swim my own race, and it just got me there in the end.”
Yep outpaced Fallon on his front half by 0.74 and was just 0.17 slower than the Penn senior on his back half.
Splits Comparison:
| Jassen Yep, 2025 NCAA Championships | Matt Fallon, 2025 NCAA Championships | |
| 5oy | 24.59 | 25.02 |
| 1ooy | 27.41 | 27.72 |
| 150y | 27.91 | 27.89 |
| 200y | 28.39 | 28.24 |
| Total | 1:48.30 | 1:48.87 |
The breaststroke group at Indiana is something that Yep credits for his improvement. He says that his training partners push him in practice, with some swimmers like former Hoosier Max Reich and senior Josh Matheny even constantly beating him.
“I remember getting [to Bloomington] as a freshman, I would just watch Lilly [King] and watch Cody [Miller] practice, when we did pulleys, watching the technique, trying to learn something,” Yep said. “They push me every day. Like Max Reich used to beat me in chicken pull all the time, Josh [Matheny] as well. There’s always someone to challenge you, someone to push you.”
“When you think you can’t do it, you look over and it’s always a good atmosphere…and you’re like, ‘I can do it.’ And that gets you very far.”
Yep said he’d retire following the end of the 2024-25 NCAA season, which means that this is it for him. However, it also means he got his storybook ending.
All those comments from Yaboi and Guerra about yep going 1:51 in drag socks at dual meets finally came to fruition lmfaooo
I love this story and Yep, however, I find it hard to believe the #72 ranked recruit in the nation according to swim cloud got 0 money from IU and was a “walk-on”
Agreed. 1:57 200 breast is not a walk on.
Swimcloud rankings are deeply flawed, and that was a team that already had Frankel, Fantoni, Steele, Capobianco, Backes, Franzman, Mathias, Blaskovic, Calvillo, and Burns on it, plus some other relay members and NCAA qualifiers, and maybe some other more highly touted freshmen. It’s definitely believable that as a 1:57 in 2020 he wouldn’t have immediately gotten a scholarship; even if they wanted to the money may have been tied up.
1:57 isn’t a senior cut. If you want a scholarship at IU for swimming, you will need a senior cut just to be considered.
#antigranthousepropoganda
#Yepwasnotawalkon
Why are you continually doubling down on something that is objectively true? If an athlete does not receive a scholarship, they are a walk on. This isn’t up for debate in the world of NCAA power 5 athletics. It’s a very well known status for an athlete.
A while ago there was an article describing a swimmer at a D3 school as a “walk on”, and I was confused by this, and posted a question in the comments. D3 swimmers don’t get scholarships, so aren’t they all walk-ons?
In reply I was told by several people that the term can also just mean that someone wasn’t recruited, and they just showed up on campus, and tried out for the team.
So, depending on the context, not having a scholarship by itself doesn’t automatically mean “walk on”.
I disagree with that definition. There are only so many scholarships being offered at any one school. But there are scorers of swimmers that are scoring points at duel, conference and Championship meets who aren’t on scholarship but were certainly recruited into the program and are hoping to compete for future scholarship awards. . To me, you’re a walk on if you come to the school un-recruited and subsequently try out for the team.
Jassen is the GOAT