Luca Urlando Has Two Years Of NCAA Eligibility Left, Plans On Using Both

2025 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships

On Saturday night, newly-crowned NCAA champion Luca Urlando confirmed to SwimSwam that he had two seasons of eligibility left in collegiate swimming and that he planned on using both. On this timeline, his final season will be the 2026-27 season.

Urlando competed for Georgia during three NCAA seasons: 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2024-25. His first extra year of eligibility comes from his COVID-19 fifth year, which was given to all winter sport collegiate athletes who competed during the 2020-21 season. He also redshirted the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons — he was out for the former season after dislocating his shoulder in October 2023, while he spent the latter season training with Bob Bowman’s pro group at Arizona State in preparation for the Paris Olympic games.

On the Georgia athletics webpage, Urlando is listed as a redshirt senior.

Having Urlando for two more seasons will be a huge boost for Georgia. He was the Bulldogs’ top scorer at the 2025 NCAA championships with 45 individual points and he also raced on four relays. In his individual events, he placed ninth in the 200 IM (1:40.53), third in the 100 fly (43.49) and first in the 200 fly (1:36.43). In the 200 fly, he shattered his own NCAA record by 0.74 seconds.

Urlando’s presence will also set up further showdowns with Arizona State’s Ilya Kharun, who is set to graduate in 2027. Kharun was the 2024 NCAA champion in the 200 fly and placed third to Urlando this year, while the two finished 2-3 respectively behind Josh Liendo in the 100 fly.

In This Story

63
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

63 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
SwimMom
19 hours ago

Why doesn’t the NCAA put an age limit on college sports? 18yr old boys should not be competing against 25 yr old men.

KSW
1 day ago

I can’t wait for 2 more years of Luca post race interviews

M. Seliskar
1 day ago

Will he transfer to Texas?

I miss the ISL (go dawgs)
Reply to  M. Seliskar
1 day ago

He is more than fine at UGA. The Texas glaze is rampant. He trained with Bob for a year then voluntarily left.

Bobthebuilderrocks
Reply to  I miss the ISL (go dawgs)
22 hours ago

I don’t understand why people don’t see the importance going to UGA has for Urlando.

Anti fan club or something
1 day ago

So long as he doesn’t try to sue the NCAA afterwards like another 7th year I know of. Seems like a good guy though 👍

Bull Puoy
Reply to  Anti fan club or something
1 day ago

“Oh he’s not a GRANT….. HOUSE!
His 200 fly is mighty, just lettin’ it all hang out.”

Hank
1 day ago

This is getting ridiculous. That dude has been around since like 2015 it seems like.

I miss the ISL (Go dawgs)
Reply to  Hank
1 day ago

His freshman year was 20-21, same as Alex Walsh, let’s not be dramatic here.

Last edited 1 day ago by I miss the ISL (Go dawgs)
bob
Reply to  Hank
1 day ago

He’ll be done with his eligibility younger than stetson bennett or chad baker-mazara 🤣

Dawg Talk
Reply to  bob
16 hours ago

Don’t forget Hendon Hooker. Only four months younger with two fewer rings than Stet and no 2 Fly records either.

I miss the ISL (go dawgs)
1 day ago

Okay guys, obviously I’m very biased, but he deserves these extra years after all the hardships he’s been through. This is not the same situation as a semi-arbitrary COVID 5th year, or the waivered 5th year internationals that teams like Cal love. Imagine where he could be right now if all the injuries didn’t derail his progress. I’m so happy he gets this opportunity!

Edna Mode
Reply to  I miss the ISL (go dawgs)
21 hours ago

He’ll be 26 when he graduates? Why not just go pro? This is crazy.

MigBike
Reply to  I miss the ISL (go dawgs)
19 hours ago

We agree! As A MAN VOL fan I wish Luca all the best and look forward to many great meets against UGA during his career.

Caeleb’s left suit string
1 day ago

Grant House reborn

Bignowhere
Reply to  Caeleb’s left suit string
1 day ago

Except he is faster and isnt suing the NCAA

sam
1 day ago

yeah fifth years are not going anywhere and its going to get worse

Swim Fan
Reply to  sam
1 day ago

What do you mean by that? There have been people using medical redshirts in every sport long before 5th years.

sam
Reply to  Swim Fan
1 day ago

I keep hearing in basketball circles that current seniors are suing for more eligibility because they wont get four year of NIL

About Yanyan Li

Yanyan Li

Although Yanyan wasn't the greatest competitive swimmer, she learned more about the sport of swimming by being her high school swim team's manager for four years. She eventually ventured into the realm of writing and joined SwimSwam in January 2022, where she hopes to contribute to and learn more about …

Read More »