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
Trending Up
Stanford
After missing scoring in the 100 fly last year, Andrei Minakov made the ‘A’ final again this year and broke 44 seconds in the bargain. Ron Polonsky repeated his trick of moving up into the ‘A’ final in the 100 breaststroke and Henry McFadden scored 11 points in a cutthroat 200 free final.
Minakov, Polonsky and Aaron Sequira look like good bets to score on Day 4. The Cardinal are already up on seed, thanks in part to diver Jack Ryan, but could take 7th ahead of NC State and Georgia if they have a good final day. All four relays so far have dropped time from ACCs and they could take another top-8 finish in the 400 free relay to end the meet – that could be key.
Georgia
Even with Drew Hitchcock’s DQ in the 400 IM Georgia outscored the psych sheet by 25.5 on Day 3, mainly through their big swim in the 400 medley relay. The quartet of Ruard Van Renen, Kristian Pitshugin, Luca Urlando and Reese Branzell broke the previous school record by three seconds on their way to a sixth place finish in 3:00.38. They were only seeded outside the points as they were DQed at SECs, but still massively exceeded expectations.
The dawgs have had a rock-solid meet so far. Not one swimmer has moved down, either to a lower final or to miss scoring, and they’ve added big points in both medley relays.
Arizona State is probably too far away to catch on the final day but NC State are firmly in the rear-view mirror and the aim will be to keep them there. Getting some points in the 400 free relay will be necessary, but Van Renen should score in the 200 backstroke after taking third in the 100 and breaking 44-seconds twice on Day 3.
Cal
After a whirlwind Day 3 the Bears are now clear favourites for second over Indiana and Florida, and could really make Texas sweat today.
We knew Cal was criminally undervalued on the psych sheets. What we couldn’t be sure of was by quite how much. Finishing Day 3 at +103 on the day (one hundred and three) puts them in with a puncher’s chance at upsetting Texas .
Mewen Tomac and Bjorn Seeliger had good swims in the 100 backstroke and Cal will need both to move up on Day 4 as they look to chase down the deficit to Texas.
It may come down to the 400 free relay tomorrow, just not between the two teams we thought. Both Florida and Indiana have fallen away and it’s now a battle between two familiar foes.
Cause for Concern
Auburn
The tigers were -20.5 on Day 2, scoring zero points, and had the same return today. The relays don’t have the same pop they did last year, and with fewer individual swims they desperately needed those to hit.
Danny Schmidt has added in both of his events so far after being seeded to score, and Nate Stoffle failed to make it back in the 100 backstroke yesterday. He goes again in the 200 today, as does Mason Mathias in the mile but neither look like a lock to score.
Auburn are seeded 22nd in the 400 free relay, and with only 14 points on the board may need something big there to make the top-25. It’s looking like a year of regression after finishing 10th and 12th in the last two years.
NC State
The Wolfpack had no swimmers score in the 500 free or 200 IM on Day 2, and their two finalists in the 50 free added to finish 8th and 16th. Luke Miller could only make the ‘B’ final in the 100 fly on Day 3 after finishing third last year, and although Kyle Ponsler and Quintin McCarty also earned a second swim they’re struggling with individual scorers.
Losing Aiden Hayes and Arsenio Bustos to injuries is part of that, but they’re lacking the stars that take you to the next level right now. Quintin McCarty’s habit of adding in finals isn’t an ideal situation either.
Their distance crew didn’t look great in the 500 on Day 1 which could spell trouble in the mile. They should end day four with a bang as they come into the 400 free relay as the fifth seed, but outside of McCarty no one had made an ‘A’ final. Ponsler’s big PB in the 400 IM is a good sign, but the pack need to show tomorrow that it wasn’t an outlier.
Virginia
The Cavaliers are only 5 points under seed so far, but they’re yet to score individually. David King and Jack Aikins in the 200 back are their best bet, but neither looked too hot in the 100 on Day 3. King’s time from ACC’s would have made the ‘B’ final, but he added half a second to finish 26th.
Virginia started off well in the 800 free relay on Day 1, breaking their school record by a second with a 6:11.30 and moving up to 12th place, but have failed to kick on since. If Aikins and King don’t get a second swim in the 200 backstroke tonight they’ll be looking at a first finish outside the top-25 since 2017-2018
Quietly Confident
Alabama
The Crimson TIde’s strength is the mid-distance freestyles, and they’ve doubled down there. After taking fifth in the 800 free relay with a new school record of 6:06.59, they put three men into the 200 freestyle finals: Charlie Hawke taking 4th, Kaique Alves finishing 10th and Toni Dragoja coming 14th. Alabama are already up on their projected points, and their best chance for points on Day 4 is the 400 free relay. They’re ranked 11th coming in but should be confident of moving up.
Yale
Noah Millard won the 500 free ‘B’ final, and should rack up big points in the mile on the final day. He looked good in the 800 free relay, and although he added slightly in the individual he should still be comfortably top-8 in his swim today.
The medley relays have both dropped time and the 400 free relay is seeded 18th, only 0.18 outside of scoring. They should be looking at this one as a free hit, and will already come away from NCAA’s as the Ivy League’s best team at this level.
Nick Finch matching his PB to take 3rd in the 100 fly ‘B’ final is a great result as well. They may not quite hit their projection after Millard entered as #2 in the 500, but they should crack the top-25 and have some momentum behind them to do so after a confidence-boosting Day 3.
Nervousness creeping in?
Texas
Not quite in the same situation as the teams above, Texas’ predicament is more due to what could happen tomorrow. Whilst finishing second wouldn’t be a calamity – it’s a hell of a lot better than last year – it would sting after having looked so comfortable initially.
If Luke Hobson (100 free) and Cooper Lucas (200 fly) can move up to score, the final session will be much more comfortable for Texas. Hobson was a ‘B’ finalist last year, finishing 11th in 41.45 but is seeded 39th in 42.19 this time around. Having taken out his NCAA record-setting 200 free in 43.01 he can be a lot quicker.
The Longhorns also have Ryan Branon and Logan Walker just outside the top-16 in the 200 fly, but continuing the theme for their secondary guys, both of them added in the 100 fly on Day 3 and could do so again.
The ‘B’ finals are where the Longhorns are hurting. Texas is 12 up/3 down so far, and their only top swimmer not to make an expected ‘A’ final was David Johnston in the 500 (and he still finished 10th). Jackson Huckaby, Will Scholtz, Kyle Peck, Camden Taylor and Coby Carrozza have missed out on potential ‘B’ finals, and whilst that may only account for 20-25 points that would probably have put Texas just out of Cal’s reach right now. Instead they’ll need to fight for every position on Day 4.
Tennessee
The Vols haven’t seen the same dip from SECs that the women’s team did last week, but they only sit seventh going into the final day, half a point ahead of Stanford. They’re projected for nearly 100 points on Day 4, but Bjoern Kamman and Martin Espenberger both added in the 100 fly and could struggle to hit the 1-up/1-down they’re seeded for in the 200.
At 162.5 points Tennessee are 18.5 under their seed, and it’s likely now that Arizona State will pip them to a top-5 finish. They should pull away from Georgia and Stanford to cement sixth place, but their Jordan Crooks-less future looks a little murkier after this week. Nikoli Blackman has added fairly significantly so far, and their relays have all been slower than at SECs.
It has not been a bad week by any stretch, but hasn’t quite been the meet Tennessee were hoping for. A relay and ‘A’ final heavy points distribution is a good formula for success at NCAAs, but competition at the top is fierce this year and it doesn’t take much to lose a bunch of points.
A Good Day For:
Hubert Kos
Kos didn’t have his best meet at NCAAs last year with Arizona State, adding in all three events, but heads into Day 4 looking to go 3-for-3. He set a PB in the 200 IM and a big one in the 100 backstroke, breaking Luca Urlando’s NCAA record to outtouch Jonny Marshall.
He’s been fantastic on the medley relays too, splitting a 43.45 in the 400 medley on Day 3, and is the hot favourite in the 200 backstroke now.
Louis Dramm
Dramm completed an IM ‘B final double, moving up from outside the points in both to take 11th in the 200 and 13th in the 400. Both of those were school records, and big ones at that. Five of those ahead of him in the 400 won’t be in the NCAA next year and a similar drop could land him in the top eight. in 2026
He sliced 3.01 seconds off his entry time yesterday to go 3:39.31, and leapt up from the 31st seed. As UNC continue their quest to DQ any relay that looks like scoring, Dramm’s points so far have been key in their hunt for the top-25.
Julian Smith
Smith has been part of four NCAA title-winning relays, but Day 3 saw him claim his first individually in the 100 breaststroke, in what was likely his final individual event.
It’s a fitting end to a collegiate career that has seen Smith go from an unranked recruit to one of the best swimmers in the country. The 100 breaststroke has seen him take 6 seconds off his high school best of 55.57 to claim the NCAA and American records, and his 200 IM saw a ten second drop.
In his interview after the race, Smith recalled “Watching this meet four years ago, my dad said that’s going to you some day, and I said no.”. He probably wouldn’t be too upset if his dad brought that up from time-to-time.
Day 4’s Race To Watch – 200 Backstroke
When a title fight involves the Bears this one is almost always key. This was actually one of their strongest events on the psych-sheet with Gabe Jett and Destin Lasco in 4th and 6th, but they have French Olympian Mewen Tomac and last year’s ‘B’ final runner-up Keaton Jones seeded outside the top-16 too.
Texas has Hubert Kos and Will Modglin in 1st and 5th, and Kyle Peck down in 14th. Holding seed is the aim, with Peck yet to make a final after being projected as a three-event scorer.
Cal start Day 4 with 312.5 points, 55.5 behind Texas, and are projected to score 2.5 fewer on the final day without diving taken into account. They have far fewer opportunities to move up compared to yesterday where they finished +103 over seed in the swimming events. Making the most of the opportunity to do so in the first event of the day will be key if they have any hope of catching Texas.
Day 4’s Swimmer To Watch – Jozsef Polyak
After qualifying in the 200 breaststroke, Polyak has swum a couple of freebies so far in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke. In the former he sliced off more than a second, going from 1:44.91 to 1:43.81, and followed that up with a three-quarter second drop in the latter. He’s seeded outside the points in the 200 on Day 4, but has a great chance to score Minnesota’s first points of the meet.
