2026 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships
- Dates:
- Diving: Sunday, February 15–Tuesday, February 17
- Swimming: Tuesday, February 17–Saturday, February 21
- Location: McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
- Defending champions: UVA women (6x); Cal men (1x)
- Live Video: ESPN+ ($)
- Schedule of Events (PDF)
- Championship Central
- Pre-Scratch Psych Sheet
- Live Results
- Live Recaps
- Teams: Boston College, Cal, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami (women swimming & diving/men diving), NC State, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, SMU, Stanford, Virginia, Virginia Tech
Men’s 400 Freestyle Relay — Timed Finals
- NCAA Record: 2:42.41 — Tennessee (Caribe, Blackman, Taylor, Crooks) (2025)
ACC Record: 2:44.31 — NC State (Held, Ress, Molacek, Stewart) (2018)ACC Championship Record: 2:44.81 — California (Seeliger, Alexy, Jensen, Mazellier) (2025)Pool Record: 2:46.03 — Texas (Kibler, Auchinachie, Corbeau, Kreuger) (2022)- 2026 NCAA A/B Cut Times: 3:13.62/3:14.92
Final:
- NC State (Winkler, McCarty, Fox, Williams) — 2:43.53 *ACC Record*
- Florida State (Wilson, Olsson, Bork, Arhangelskiy) — 2:47.29
- Stanford (Dupont Cabrera, McFadden, Gu, Tan)/Virginia (T. Heilman, Williamson, King, Aikins) — 2:47.51
- —
- Cal — 2:47.56
- Pitt — 2:47.68
- Virginia Tech — 2:48.10
- Louisville — 2:48.20
The NC State men broke their own ACC Record in the men’s 400 free relay. The previous ACC record was set back in 2018 by NC State with a 2:44.31 at NCAAs. NC State broke Cal’s meet record of a 2:44.81 set a year ago.
Split Comparison
| NC State 2026 |
NC State 2018 Old ACC
|
Cal 2025 Old Meet
|
|||
| Kaii Winkler | 41.4 | Ryan Held | 41.05 | Bjorn Seeliger | 41.77 |
| Quintin McCarty | 40.37 | Justin Ress | 40.62 | Jack Alexy | 40.56 |
| Jerry Fox | 40.87 | Jacob Molacek | 41.02 | Matt Jensen | 41.19 |
| Hudson Williams | 40.89 | Coleman Stewart | 41.62 | Nans Mazellier | 41.29 |
| 2:43.53 | 2:44.31 | 2:44.81 |
The biggest difference today was that all three flying start splits were under the 41-second mark. Both previous records only had one flying start split under the 41-second mark.
Quintin McCarty had the fastest split for NC State with a 40.37. McCarty was 3rd in the individual 100 free with a 41.12 earlier in the evening.
With NC State’s time tonight, they continue holding the top spot in the NCAA this season. Florida won the SEC title tonight in a 2:43.95.
Impressive relay!!
That 2018 relay was dominant at NCAAs. I think they went 2:44 in both prelims and finals. While swimflation is real, the game changed when the NCAA eliminated preliminary swims for relays. Having three to four fewer swims before the 400 free relay makes a huge difference in performance and likely changed how teams train as well.
On the broadcast they said this was the American record
Which I believe it is if you consider Kaii an American , not sure what the rules are there
The rules are pretty straightforward, if you represent Germany intentionally, you can’t break an American record.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but it seems like this is the season of insane times and splits from people who otherwise have flown “under the radar” compared to the “big names.”
GO PACK!
holy swimflation