Florida State, Led by “Michael the Archangel,” Turns Heads with ACC 2nd-Place Relay Finish

2025 ACC MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 18-22, 2025
• Greensboro Aquatic Center — Greensboro, North Carolina
• Defending Champions: NC State (results)
• Full Event Schedule (pre-scratch timeline)
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results (also available on Meet Mobile as “2025 ACC Championship”
• Live Streaming

When the Florida State men upset the Florida Gators 150-149 on January 31 at a neutral site in Ocala, there was lots of handwringing from Gainesville about the significance of the result. And it would be intellectually dishonest to pretend like Florida won’t finish well ahead of Florida State at the NCAA Championship meet.

But Neal Studd‘s Seminole men backed up their season-long results on Tuesday by very-nearly pulling off a massive upset in the men’s 200 medley relay, ultimately finishing in 2nd place behind the debutant Cal Golden Bears.

Florida State finished in 1:21.98 and held the lead until U.S. Olympic gold medalist Jack Alexy hit the water for Cal, splitting 18.10 on the anchor leg to lead the Golden Bears to a win in 1:21.54.

But just as the fact that we can’t let Florida’s relative strength on the national stage obscure the significance of that win, we can’t let Cal’s come-from-behind win obscure the significance of FSU’s 2nd-place finish.

For one, that swim took more than a second off FSU’s old school record of 1:23.15 that was done at the 2022 ACC Championship meet.

Splits Comparison:

The leg that stands out is that of French newcomer Michel Arkhangelskiy, which translates to Michael the Archangel from a combination of French and Russian, who is traditionally a patron saint of France.

That split makes him the 4th-fastest 50 yard butterflier on a rolling start in NCAA history. With that, a new collegiate star is born, landing his name among a list of stars, All-Americans, and Olympic finalists.

Arkhangelskiy started off under-the-radar with the Seminoles. Mid-season, he split 20.48 on the Florida State medley relay at the Georgia Tech Invite. He also swam 46.28 in the 100 fly, 19.51 in the 50 free, and 1:40.45 in the 200 back.

His real coming out, though, was against Florida – which could have been missed by those who dismissed the result as an anomaly. There he swam 42.51 in the 100 free, 46.21 in the 100 fly, and split 19.85 in the 50 fly.

But this 19.10 is on a whole new level and pushes him into bigger conversations, much as his namesake the Archangel’s 708 AD appearance and fabled inspiration to build Mont Saint Michel in France pushed him into broader prominence in France and across Western Europe.

Michel Arkhangelskiy‘s Resume:

• 50 fly LCM – 23.29
• 100 fly LCM – 52.64
• 100 free LCM – 49.62
• 100 back LCM – 53.70

Arkhangelskiy is 19 and turns later this semester – which makes him the age of an average college sophomore.

He is a 35-time French Junior National Champion and grew up training with Olympic Nice Natation. He finished 5th in the 100 fly at the French Olympic Trials last year, 2nd in the 50 fly, and 3rd in the 100 back.

The emergence by the Florida State men is not a surprise. It follows the Neal Studd playbook to a tee. A former elite swimmer himself for England, Studd is a behemoth of a man on the pool deck – he could probably benchpress his entire coaching staff.

In lockstep with his own personal interest in power and lifting, his teams tend to be sprint-oriented. He built a mid-major power from scratch at Florida Gulf Coast, launching the program in 2007-2008 and having a relay make the A-final at the 2015 NCAA Championships, which is a tall task for a mid-major program.

That relay, fittingly, was also a 200 medley relay.

When he was hired to take over Florida State in the 2015-2016 season, it was a natural move. The program had most of its success previously in sprinting, and that’s where Studd’s strengths as a coach were borne out.

This is a Studd blueprint relay. He’s still relying on some international talent – Baravelli from Italy, Arkhangelskiy from France – but some is homegrown as well – Mason Herbet is a native Floridian and Sam Bork is from Wisconsin.

Now, in his 9th season in Tallahassee, Studd’s group is hitting their stride.