NCAA Day 2 Review: Who’s looking Strong At Halfway?

2025 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships

• March 26-29, 2025
• Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center, Federal Way, Washington
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Start Times: Prelims: 10 AM ׀ Finals: 6 PM (Pacific Daylight Time)
• Psych Sheet
• Eligible Relays
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Live Results
• Live Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 2
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2

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Texas A&M

The Aggies are seeded for 62 points on the psych sheets, three quarters of them from the pair of Connor Foote and Baylor Nelson, so moving up in the relays is a clear path to success. They’ve managed that successfully in the two they’ve swum so far, picking up an extra 8 points in the 200 medley and 18 in the 200 free relay, although freshman Ben Sytsma had to be helped out of the pool after the latter with what appeared to be a shoulder injury after splitting 18.96. He probably wasn’t going to be on the A&M 400 free relay, though, so that might have been the end of his meet anyway.

Nelson was a little off his PB in the 200 IM, and will need to rebound slightly to ensure he makes the ‘A’ final in the 400 tomorrow, but Foote is looking in good shape. Already 23.5 points up on their seed they’re playing with house money right now.

ASU

Ilya Kharun and Jonny Kulow made the 50 free ‘A’ final to bring home 27 points, and were supplemented with another couple from Daniel Matheson in the 500 free. That meant they were +5 against the psych sheets for the day: not an overwhelming amount, but enough to keep them on Tennessee’s coattails.

More importantly is how they’ve swum so far. Kulow and Kharun look in fantastic shape, and the 200 free relay was phenomenal. Patrick Sammon swam a PB of 1:31.25 leading off the 800 free relay and was right on his 50 split from Big-12s tonight, and Tommy Palmer rebounded from a tough individual 50 to split 18.17. Tennessee is still the team to beat in the 400 free relay on Day 4, but ASU are probably now ahead of Florida among the chasing pack.

Cause for Concern

Michigan

After years of adding, sometimes significantly, from Big Tens to NCAAs the Wolverines look to have figured out the transition slightly better this season. The disqualification of the 200 medley relay on Day 1 cost them 14 points, but they were less than half a second off their entry time.

They actually lost more points in the 200 free relay on Day 2, dropping from 5th to 11th. They were only six-tenths off their winning time of 1:14.83 from Big Tens, but need to start holding seed. With 43 points at the halfway point they have just over half of the 82 they were seeded for, and the top-10 finish they were predicted is looking far away right now.

The 200 fly on Day 4 is the big event for them, where they could have all three of Colin Geer, Gal Cohen Groumi and Tyler Ray score. None of those swimmers have looked badly off and all swam well in the finals session tonight, but Michigan can’t afford to make a habit of adding time.

Wisconsin

The Badgers added in the 200 medley on Day 1, and whilst Taiko Torepe-Ormsby’s did miss out on some individual points in the 50 after finishing 10th last year it was the 200 free relay that hurt them on Day 2. Entered 7th-fastest, this was the event for the Badgers to pick up points in – they were seeded for only four outside of it.

They only dropped three positions, but seventh to tenth is a ten point swing and the net result is that they’ll likely finish with fewer points than last year. After the women’s team had success last week, especially in the relay events, there was cause for optimism. They now need someone to step up if they are to show progression this week from last season. Dominik Mark Torok won the ‘B’ final in the 400 IM last year, but more likely than not Wisconsin is done scoring for this year

Louisville

The Cardinals lost 10 points vs seed in the relays on Day 1, and whilst they only had one individual swim on Day 2 Gregg Enoch adding over four seconds in the 500 free doesn’t do much to turn their meet around. The 800 free relay yesterday was two seconds over their entry time and 4.5 seconds slower than last year where they took seventh. They moved up to 14th in the 200 free relay last night , but it’s starting to look like some of the team have missed their taper.

Denis Petrashov should still bring home some big points in the breaststrokes, but there should be less confidence in both that and Tommy Bried’s 400 IM than two days ago. Louisville has two individual qualifiers in the 200 freestyle on Day 3 in Guy Brooks and Murillo Sartori, but Brooks was nearly two seconds off his entry time on a flying split yesterday. Sartori was an ‘A’ finalist last year, and they may need something big from him again to get back on track.

Quietly Confident

Kentucky

Kentucky has five individual swims and no relays entered, but should still be looking at moving up into the top-25. After Carson Hick’s big drop in the 500 at SECs he had a shot at scoring here and duly delivered, slicing another six-tenths off in prelims to go 4:10.27. Whilst he added in the ‘B’ final to finish 11th, he still brought home 6 points.

Levi Sandidge was just off his PB from February in that 500 with a 4:15.56, and both go again in the mile on Day 4. Holding seed again there would give them 21 points, and they could move up in the standings even just by standing pat on their entry times.

Ryan Merani is seeded 21st in the 400 IM today and 19th in the 200 fly on the final day. Turning either one of those into a ‘B’ final appearance does not seem too unreasonable right now

USC

At this point last year the Trojans had zero points and Krzysztof Chmielewski had added over two seconds in the 500. Fast forward 12 months and they have 32 points on the board, a 3.66 second PB and ‘B’ final appearance for the Polish Olympian, and reason for optimism throughout the roster.

Luke Maurer hit a PB in the 200 IM after coming within a tenth of his 200 free best time on Day 1, finishing 19th albeit nearly half a second off scoring. Michal Chmielewski was sub-20 for the third time in a month on the fly leg of the medley relay, and could score in both the 100 and 200 fly.

Their performance vs seed is their plus this year. In 2024 it was difficult to find a swim that didn’t add from the entry time: this year it seems to be going the right way. Krzysztof Chmielewski’s performance in finals is something to watch though. In his lone appearance last year, the 200 fly ‘B’ final he added nearly three seconds to finish 16th, and added two seconds as he finished 13th in the 500 tonight.

18 points on the boards from divers Moritz Wesemann and Shangfei Wang was an improvement against expectations too. Tomorrow will be a big day for them on the 3m.

A Good Day For:

Destin Lasco

Lasco has always been a big taper swimmer, but his times this year seemed off even so. He came in with only one event seeded to score, the 200 backstroke, but blew away any inhibitions with his very first swim. That was the 800 free relay where he split 1:29.10, second fastest in history, including a 45.6 second 100.

His underwaters in that race looked fantastic, and although he lost out to Hubert Kos by 0.07 in the 200IM, his two swims sub-1:40 today send a message that he’ll be tough to beat in the backstrokes. An 18.71 50 free split to help Cal take fourth in the 200 free relay is not to be sniffed at either.

Tomas Koski

Missing scoring in his freshman year wasn’t catastrophic for Koski, but he’s back with a vengeance so far this year. He had a phenomenal SECs and has held serve so far, leading off Georgia’s third-place 800 free relay in 1:30.90 and then making the ‘A’ final in the 500.

He was slightly off his season best from SECs to take 5th, but more than answered questions about his ability to step up when it matters. He’s proving that he’ll be an able replacement for Jake Magahey next year.

He has the 200 free today and the mile on Day 4. Another 10-15 points from him should not be out of the question, and he may have something to say on the final two relays as the Bulldogs look to replicate their huge jump in the 200 medley.

Finn Brooks

Brooks schedule this year is pretty much the same as it was in 2024, with an extra relay leg thrown in. He brought in 2 points in the 100 fly but missed out on a second swim in the 50 free and 100 breast, adding nearly 1.5 seconds in the latter.

He’s on a tear in Washington this year, following up a 19.4 50 fly split with a PB and school record of 18.86 in the 50 free. He was 19.04 in finals, before leading off Indiana’s 200 free relay with another 19.0 as Indiana moved up 3 spots. All three swims on Day 2 were under his previous best of 19.12.

Brooks has possibly been the biggest success story this year for Indiana. His times so far here mean he could be an even bigger one by the end of the meet.

Ilya Kharun

Fastest ever split in the 50 fly, an ‘A’ final appearance in what is somehow his weakest individual event of the three he’s entered and a starring role on a near-record-setting relay: Kharun has had a great first two days.

He was slightly off his bests last year, only making the ‘B’ final in the 50 free and being outsplit by Luke Miller and Josh Liendo on the medley relay. His times in each this year were over half a second faster, 18.78/18.31 against 19.47/18.94 in the 50 fly/50 free respectively. He followed up his fourth place finish in the individual 50 free with another 18.3 swim to lead off ASU’s 200 free relay, which is now #2 all time.

He’s now Arizona State’s clear #1, and he’s exploded under Herbie Behm. His times in the sprints at short course worlds were incredible, and he’s backing those up big time this week. Luca Urlando might need to watch out in the 200 fly on Day 4, as may Josh Liendo in the 100 today.

Day 3’s Race To Watch – 100 Breaststroke

There are storylines for so many teams in this event. Will Indiana turn their six top-16 entries into big points? Will Nate Germonperez bounce back and make the ‘A’ final for Texas, who have Will Scholtz lurking too? Can Yamato Okadome bely his freshman status and bring home big points for Cal in a stroke dominated by seniors? Can Julian Smith back up his NCAA record from SECs and give the Gators their first win of the championship?

It isn’t only for the top teams that subplots abound. Matvei Namakonov will look to be the first All-American in Delaware’s history, Kohen Rankin will hope to give the Army a second individual scorer (along with a likely Johnny Crush 100 backstroke finals appearance) and Jack Kelly will try to back up his recent Ivy League record with a place in the ‘A’ final.

In what can be one of the most unpredictable races on the schedule, there will certainly be a surprise or two. Poised at the halfway point of the individual events, it could be where we see the meet take a turn.

Day 3’s Swimmer To Watch – Ruard Van Renen

You’re probably aware of Van Renen’s ability in the backstroke events, having scored in both the 100 and 200 in his freshman year at SIU and his sophomore year at Georgia. However it’s in another stroke that he could surprise on Day 3.

He’s switched up his third event from last year, replacing the 50 free with the 100 fly where he holds a PB of 46.07 from 2023. That isn’t close to scoring, but he’s in line for a big drop after splitting 19.48 on Georgia’s medley relay on Day 1.

That matched to the hundredth Luke Miller’s split for NC state – he was third last year in the 100 with a 43.90 – and just ahead of Finn Brooks who has a PB of 44.59. If he’s in the ballpark of those two times he’ll score.