Josh Liendo Splits 42.77 on Florida’s record-setting 400 Medley Relay, Fastest Ever

2024 SEC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 19 – February 24, 2024
• James E. Martin Aquatic Center — Auburn, AL
• Defending Champions: Women: Florida (1x) Men: Florida (11x)
• Start Times (CT): 9:30 am prelims/5:30 pm finals
• Championship Central
• 2023 SEC Championships Box Score
• Major Conference Roster Limits and Scoring Rules
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Video (SEC+ Network)
• Day 1 Diving Recap
• Day 1 Finals Live Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Live Recap | Day 3 Finals Live Recap
• Day 4 Prelims Live Recap | Day 4 Finals Live Recap

For the second consecutive season, University of Florida sophomore Josh Liendo has swum the fastest-ever medley relay split in the 100 butterfly.

Liendo split 42.77 on the butterfly leg of Florida’s SEC Title winning 400 medley relay on Friday evening. That undercuts his 42.91 from last year’s NCAA Championship meet where Florida also won.

Fastest 100 Fly Splits – 400 Medley Relay

1. Josh Liendo, Florida – 42.77 (2024 SEC Championships)
2. Josh Liendo, Florida – 42.91 (2023 NCAA Championships)
3. Joseph Schooling, Texas – 43.34 (2016 NCAA Championships)
4. Ilya Kharun, Arizona State – 43.35 (2023 NC State/GAC Invitational)
5. Tom Shields, Cal – 43.48 (2013 NCAA Championships)
6. Austin Staab, Stanford – 43.55 (2009 NCAA Championships)
7. Andrei Minakov, Stanford – 43.58 (2022 NCAA Championships)

The elephant in the room is Caeleb Dressel‘s 42.80 flat-start in the 100 yard fly that stands as the fastest ever. Because Dressel’s flat start is so good, he doesn’t usually get the same boost as other swimmers do from a relay exchange, but the reality is that he rarely swam the butterfly leg on Florida’s medleys.

As a senior in 2018, for example, he swam the breaststroke leg on Florida’s 5th-place medley relay at NCAAs. He swam fly at the 2017 NCAA Championships, but only split 44.33. As a sophomore, he was again the breaststroker. His overlap with Jan Switkowski in an era where Florida didn’t have a lot of great sprinters meant that Switkowski usually took butterfly duties while Dressel filled in another leg.

Liendo, meanwhile, seems to get as much of a boost from his relay exchanges as anyone. He won the 100 fly on Thursday in 43.98 after a Meet Record of 43.89 in prelims. At last year’s NCAA Championships, he was 43.40 for 2nd place in the individual 100 fly final.

This win is Liendo’s fourth of the meet. He also swam on the winning 800 free relay, 200 free relay, and the 100 fly individually. He was 3rd in the 50 free and has the 100 free and probably the 400 free relay remaining on Saturday.