2026 Indiana Last Chance – Men’s
- March 6-7, 2026
- Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center, Bloomington, Indiana
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- All session results
- Day 1 results
On Saturday, David Kovacs won the 200 backstroke at the Indiana Last Chance meet, swimming 1:39.18 to earn a likely NCAA Invite.
Friday, three men swam under 1:40 in the 200 backstroke at the Indiana Last Chance meet as they tried to earn NCAA Invites, but only Northwestern’s Oli Kos was under the potential cutline in 1:39.51.
This morning, all three men swam the event again, and this time, Kovacs and Kos both swam far under the potential bubble in the event.
Kovacs won in 1:39.18, taking seven-tenths off the 1:39.87 he swam yesterday which moved him up to 33rd in the NCAA this season, which was still out of the meet. His swim will move up to 16th in the country, which is comfortably under the cutline and adds another qualifier for the Indiana men’s team.
Kos finished 2nd in 1:39.32, two tenths faster than the 1:39.51 he swam yesterday, and it will move him up to 19th in the country this season from the 24th he sat in after yesterday. This will also comfortably be in.
Sam Powe from Georgia, who came into the meet ranked 28th in the country with his 1:39.69, swam 1:40.44 on Saturday, and will now rank 30th in the country. He is on the bubble, but probably be out.
The Indiana men also time trialed the 200 freestyle relay twice on Saturday, trying to move into the top 8. They are currently ranked 10th in the NCAA, and starting this year, relays outside the top 8 will be swimming in prelims.
They swam 1:15.36 with Mikkel Lee (19.28), Dylan Smiley (18.59), Travis Gulledge (18.58), and Miroslav Knedla (18.91), which will move them up to 9th, just behind Tennessee’s 1:15.27.
They also swam 1:15.53, with Lee (19.17), Smiley (18.90), Gulledge (18.63), and Knedla (18.83).
Other Notable Results
- Van Mathias, who is not in college anymore, swam the 100 freestyle in 41.35. This was just two hundredths off his lifetime best 41.33 from March of 2023.
- Diego Nosack, from Northwestern, swam the 200 fly again, touching in 1:42.82, which is about a second off the 1:41.40 he swam yesterday, which will leave him ranked 33rd, outside qualifying.
- Alabama’s Sean Niewold, who has been at the Pro Swim Series in Westmont, swam 18.76 in the 50 free, which will move him from a three-way tie for 22nd (bubble, likey in) to 13th (in).
Power program coaches “your making a mockery of NCAA by allowing mid major swimmers automatic qualification”
Also power program coaches “ok so you are going to time trial this event 4 times in ideal conditions until you qualify for the meet”
They’re doing every possible thing to give their teams an advantage going into the meet. Sounds like the type of head coach most ADs would drool over
Would be so funny if both Kos A final in the same events. It’s already looking like a slight possibility in the 2 back
Classic Ray looze lol
Agree. The 2 swimmers who got bumped out by Kos and Kovacs have got to feel pretty bummed right now. And they don’t get another chance to drop time.
Lol. Clean water. No pressure and noise of a conference championship or a team race. 5 or 6 tries. Preliminaries and semifinals and finals of a race. Until you make it. And add quarterfinals if not. Agree that NCAA needs to consider adding some guardrails on these events in the name of fairness.
All of that is true but everyone has the same opportunity to swim a last chance meet.
If you’re on the bubble after your conference meet, maybe it’s wise to go to a last chance meet to try to better your time.
I hate last chance meets. I think it should be time trials between each session at conference. Maybe one the day after and that’s it. No iffy refereeing, hand times, etc
Sorta like voting with no voter ID
Last chance meets have the same regulations as championship meets. The times are decided by touch pads.
Agreed. It diminishes the sport into a bunch of time trials at your home pool
The NCAA just sets the deadline on qualifying and conferences schedule their championships around it, giving themselves the week cushion for last chance meets. The blame goes to the conferences as they are the ones giving themselves extra chances.
As for hand times, what are you talking about? These have to be approved and legit timed meets that meets all requirements. There is no more hand times bs anymore.
Also small comparison but this is very similar with those who qualify for US Olympic trials at the last minute. Difference being it’s a standard and not a rankings based but imagine if it was and they only took the top 60-75 in the country in each event people would be talking the same way about how shady it is.
And though the example above is an individual 200 yard race, this format heavily favors sprinters and 200 yard relay events where swimming the race another 3 or 4 times in a few hours’ time is feasible. So I guess it’s just tough luck for those kids missing the 1650 free or 400 IM theoretical cutline by 1 or 2 spots? They won’t get 3 or 4 chances in a row.
Time Trials shouldn’t count for qualifying times, either
Agree – What a cheesy and cheapo way to swim the way to the NCAA.
When’s the cutoff for these last chance meets? So swimmers who were in after conference meets can keep getting bumped by guys getting 5-6 more tries with last chance meets and TTs?
Welcome to NCAA swimming. This has always been done.
Sunday is the last day. Think these have gotten even more prevalent with the Pac-12 meet going by the wayside
Men’s PAC-12 and MAC used to be the last weekend of qualification period. Neither has men’s swim anymore.
Yaay, double Kos at NC’s!