2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships
- Dates: Wednesday, March 25–Saturday, March 28
- Location: McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
- Defending Champions: Texas (1x)
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Psych Sheets
- Preview Index
- Live Stream
- Live Results
Few probably had Maximus Williamson winning two NCAA titles on their bingo card, but lo and behold, the freshman from Virginia pulled it off. After swimming a gutsy race out of lane 8 in the 200 free to take the win, Williamson was in lane 5 for the 200 IM on the final night of competition. In contrast to his 200 free, Williamson swam from behind, letting Owen McDonald of Indiana take the race out quickly before Williamson hammered home his last 50 and got the touch by .09.
After the race, Williamson debriefed on how he feels like he’s grown as an athlete this year at Virginia.
The culture that Desorbo has built on the Men’s side is starting to show. That man has edge.
Does anyone get the feeling that Maximus and Thomas might have simply absolutely incredible sophomore years next year? Something about this year and how they managed a whole host of things, being a freshmen is hard to begin with, keyboard chatter, personal hardships, etc. and they still had incredible freshmen years. Sophomore year with what kind of appears as almost clean slate, some keyboard warrior fans now, less pressure, second year of school…..
I’m excited to see where they take things next year, let it rip boys! Got a fan here
I hope so…I do believe their ceiling is very high
Yea I think there going to go absolutely nuts. Like jaw dropping performances.
Until last week I didn’t realize Maximus and Thomas were freshmen. I don’t follow men’s NCAA nearly as closely as women’s and since their names had been around here for years I mentally assigned years older.
Given they hadn’t competed in NCAAs yet I don’t understand the persistent theme of Virginia bashing, which I had long sensed despite merely skimming the related comments. Perhaps there were others who had disappointed. But these were the elite.
As a long time sports bettor I learned very early to doubt mediocrities who were overachieving. If you start doing it the other way, to project top talents to continually fail, you’ll be stuffed up the keister long term.
The Virginia men have had a tough run the last few years with some star swimmers not panning out. Some injuries, some mental health, some just burned out.
There was rightful concern over ‘the future’ of the US men’s team going there, though at least a few of those guys who didn’t work out had nothing to do with the coaches/program.
There’s also a little bit (a lot) of jealousy among a lot of programs because Virginia does a better job promoting themselves than other teams do. So the above is kind of a convenient excuse to deal with the latter for some folks.
I think a small amount of good faith can be granted to people who wanted to see them transfer to Texas because they are, along with a few others, the cornerstones of the next 2 Olympic cycles and we all want to see them succeed.
That said, yeah, let’s hope we’ve heard the last of it.
From what I understand, even if Maximus left Virginia, Texas would be an unlikely destination.
The Williamson to Texas truthers are in shambles.
something people didn’t talk about enough was how close his 2 IM got to the baguette’s freshman year 200 IM
is this the title my countryman has been relegated to?
It is a term of endearment.
who doesn’t like baguettes?
The legends get the funny nicknames
That ending was a powerful kicker, wow
Who downvotes a comment on the ending of that interview….
WOWW
You could post a comment here saying that you are in favor of giving free pony rides to orphans with terminal cancer and somebody would downvote it.
I saved an old lady from a burning building yesterday.
no, downvote it!
Did you ask for consent before saving her first?
Yeah but she set it on fire to kill her husband tho
YOU MONSTER
this went off the deep end haha
Its true I was the building
And then ran to the internet to brag about it?
Downvoted.
Just testing what Spieker Pool Lap Swimmer said
(That was the joke)
Send a /whoosh my way for that one
tears started coming in for me