Florida’s Julian Smith Breaks NCAA Record in the 100 Yard Breaststroke at SEC Championships

2025 SEC Championships

• Dates: Tuesday, February 18–Saturday, February 22
  • Prelims: 9:30 am EST/ Finals 5:30 pm EST (Tuesday-5:00 EST)
• Location: Gabrielsen Natatorium — Athens, GA
• Defending Champions: Florida women (2x); Florida men (12x)
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• Teams: Alabama, Arkansas (women), Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas*, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt (women)
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  • Prelims: Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5

The Julian Smith breaststroke takeover completed on Friday as he set the U.S. Open, NCAA, SEC, and SEC Championship Records in the 100 yard breaststroke on Friday in Athens. His 49.51 was the fastest swim in the history of the event.

A List of Records Smith Broke:

• U.S. Open Record: Liam Bell, Cal, 2024 – 49.53
• NCAA Record: Liam Bell, Cal, 2024 – 49.53
• SEC Record: Julian Smith, Florida, 2024 – 49.98
• SEC Championship Record: Caeleb Dressel, Florida, 2018 – 50.03
• University of Florida Record: Julian Smith, Florida, 2024 – 49.98

Splits Comparison:

Smith is the first swimmer we could find to split 22-point en route to an elite 100 yard breaststroke – and that’s where the improvement came versus his mid-season best.

This is the third-straight SEC title in the 100 yard breaststroke for Florida, all coming from three different swimmers. Dillon Hillis won in 2023 in 51.02, Aleksas Savickas won in 2024 in 51.01, and now Smith won in 2025.

Texas sophomore Nate Germonperez swam 50.15, which ranks him as the 7th-best performer in history. That is also a new Texas school record.

Breaststroke Nouveau

Smith continues a trend of the 100 yard breaststroke being the event that has arguably the weakest correlation to long course international success. Of the last four guys to hold this record, and the top five in history, none have any significant international results in long course.

Caeleb Dressel, who set the record in 2018, was the world’s best sprint freestyler and butterflier at the peak of his career, and never swam the 100 breaststroke seriously in long course. A month later, in 2018, Indiana’s Ian Finnerty became the first man under 50 seconds in 49.90. He swam 59.49 in long course at the 2019 World University Games, but never made a final in the 100 breast at a U.S. Trials meet (for Worlds or the Olympics).

In 2022, Minnesota’s Max McHugh swam 49.90 at the NCAA Championships. He was able to get down to a 59.57 in long course and was 7th at the Olympic Trials – coming the closest to an Olympic Team.

In 2024, Liam Bell emerged as a new swimmer with a new stroke and a new physique, spending a summer out of the pool and in the weight room. While that initially showed up in short course, breaking the NCAA Record in yards in 49.53, it also helped him in long course. He swam 59.40 at the Olympic Trials and placed 4th – the closest any came to a major U.S. roster.

And now Smith holds the record, in spite of not swimming this race at the Olympic Trials. He swam the 50 free (22.42) and 100 free (49.05) in Indy last summer, finishing 24th and 22nd, respectively.

That might change, though, with Smith’s big lurch forward this season. He was 7th at NCAAs last year and his previous best time was 50.94. When he arrived at Florida, his best time in the event was 55.4.

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