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
Day Three of the Men’s NCAA Championships saw two new NCAA records, and some very exciting races at the top of the meet. Here are some of the excellent swims from outside the ‘A’ final that you might’ve missed.
Kyle Ponsler from NC State won the first heat of the evening, swimming the 400 IM in 3:37.42, a nearly three second drop from his seed time of 3:40.05. He has been slightly faster than his seed, holding a previous best time of 3:39.28 from this meet last year, but he still saw an almost two second drop this evening to win the ‘B’ final.
Cal’s Tyler Kopp finished just behind Ponsler, dropping more than three seconds from his previous best time. The first portion of that drop came in the prelims, where he dropped from the 3:40.90 he went last year’s NCAAs to 3:39.85 to qualify 13th for the final. He went on to drop another two seconds in finals, finishing in 3:37.85 and touching just behind Ponsler for 2nd.
Also in the ‘B’ final of the 400 IM was UNC junior Louis Dramm. He came into this meet seeded 31st thanks to his season best time of 3:42.42 from ACCs last month. He ended up finishing 13th in the final at 3:39.41, which was also a new best time, dropping from the 3:40.93 he went at the 2023 NCAAs.
In the 200 freestyle, Ohio State freshman Cornelius Jahn finished 18th overall to be the 2nd alternate for finals. He came into the meet as the 42nd seed, swimming the event as a “bonus” event after he earned an invite in the 200 backstroke. He was seeded with his personal best time of 1:34.70, which he dropped almost three seconds from to finish in 1:32.00.
Indiana had an excellent swim from junior Kai Van Westering in the 100 backstroke. He was originally seeded 35th in the event with his season best time of 45.64, which he went at Big Tens where he was not a scoring athlete, but his lifetime best in the event was 45.43 from last year’s Big Ten Championships. He destroyed both of those times en route to finishing 11th overall in the event, bringing in six points for the Hoosiers and finishing in 44.76 for an almost seven tenth drop.
Michigan finished 8th in the 400 medley relay, bringing in 22 points. Junior Jack Wilkening led off the relay with a new 100 backstroke school record of 44.90. Ths was also almost half-a-second faster than his previous best of 45.34 from Big Tens.
Would be sub 3;30 if he put those ears in his cap
And got a haircut
Nasty picture, what happened to his goggles
Michigan junior Jack Wilkening became the first Michigan native ever under :45 in the 100 Backstroke. He had previously become the first Michigander under :46 at the ‘23 UGA Fall Invite.
Wilkening becomes the first backstroker from Michigan under two barriers since Florida State’s Mike Kowalski broke :51 and :50 at the 1985 NCAAs.
Meanwhile, Michigan junior Tyler Ray became just the eighth native of the state to reach an NCAA Men’s 100 Butterfly “A” final. Ray’s :44.00 preliminary swim is the fastest-ever by a Michigander and shattered his own school record in the process.
Tyler is the first native to reach the “A” Final since Georgia’s Camden Murphy in ‘21 and the fourth Michigan native to achieve the feat… Read more »