NCAA Day 1 + Day 2 Prelims Review: Who’s On The Upswing From Conferences?

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:
  • Finals: Day 1

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Cal

We know how Cal operates. Dave Durden’s priority every year comes at the end of March, but some of his top swimmers had seemed a little more off than usual this year, and the Bears were seeded nearly 200 points back from Texas.

Day 1 showed us we never should have doubted them, as they went +16 vs the psych sheets and smashed through the 6-minute barrier in the 800 free relay.

Jack Alexy nearly matched his PB with a 1:30.02 leadoff, nearly a full three seconds faster than his season best. Destin Lasco and Gabe Jett then blasted past Texas with matching 1:29.1s, the fastest flying splits by anyone not named Leon Marchand. Even with Lucas Henveaux taking the phrase ‘anchor leg’ a little too literally the Bears had too much for the rest of the field.

On the 200 medley relay Alexy, Dare Rose and Yamato Okadome all swam their best ever splits, ranking 4th, 6th and 3rd in the field. Their time of 1:20.76 was a new school record too as Cal went 2-for-2 on Day 1.

Their top swimmers being back to their best is what puts them firmly on the upswing. Jett did miss the 500 finals, but he was their only swimmer not to final on Day 2 who added time, and Mewen Tomac (200 IM) and Tyler Kopp (500 free) both moved up into scoring positions. There’s still a long way to go in this meet but the Bears have certainly come out of hibernation.

Indiana 

One American Record and +20 vs seed – the Hoosiers had an excellent start to the championships.

Their performance in the 200 medley relay should assuage any doubts about their sprinting, which is the definite weakness for this squad compared to their competitors. Matt King anchored in 18.13, his fastest ever split, and Finn Brooks was 19.49 on fly. Those two will both be on the 200 free relay tomorrow, where Indiana could move up again from their psych sheet position.

Tomer Frankel and Rafael Miroslaw were both down in the 1:31s on the 800 free relay, much quicker than they were at Big Tens. They’re seeded for just half a point between them, coming from Frankel in the 100 fly, but combined for 3 ‘A’ finals last year. If they’re back near their bests they could give Indiana another 30-40 points.

Day 2 prelims did nothing to dispel the enthusiasm. Luke Barr only making the ‘B’ final in the 200 IM after setting the American Record in the 100 recently was a slight surprise, but he would have needed a PB to be any higher as the ‘A’ final time dropped 0.83 from last year. His 1:40.93 was less than 3-tenths off his best, and he has the ability to win the ‘B’ final.

Zalan Sarkany, Brooks and King all moved up from seed this morning, and the 200 free relay is looking competitive. They should take a second off their 1:15.33 at Big Tens, putting them in a fight with Cal and NC state for the top-four.

Indiana’s women seemed to nail their taper last week, and so far it seems as though Ray Looze has repeated the trick with the men’s team.

Cause for Concern

Florida

The Gators had one very good and one not-so-good relay on Day 1. Unfortunately for them, it was the former that they were DQed in.

Scotty Buff going 18.2 even with a dive reminiscent of the 1-metre springboard looked like good news both for his individual swims and Florida’s freestyle relays, but there were worrying signs elsewhere.

Alex Painter and Jake Mitchell, two swimmers whom Florida now needs to be two- if not three-event scorers, were around a second off their times from SECs on the 800 free relay. Mitchell followed that up by missing scoring entirely in the 500, adding more than 5 seconds.

There’s more of a concern with Painter, who will be on the remaining three relays. He led off in 1:32.14 to add eight-tenths to his 1:31.31 from SECs. Florida are likely the runaway winners in the 400 medley but the sprint freestyles could see them fall back down the field if he can’t match his 18.18/40.85 splits at SECs.

He nearly matched his best time in the 50 to scrape into the ‘B’ final, but Scotty Buff fell out of scoring position entirely and Ed Fullum-Hout added two-tenths. The 200 free relay looks vulnerable. ASU are now the favorite for second, with Cal, NC State and possibly even Indiana and Texas in with a chance of beating them.

Given how the women regressed from SECs to NCAAs it’s tough to see the Gators recovering to stay in the title hunt. Losing 52 points from seed within two events was objectively a terrible start to their meet.

Virginia Tech

To be disqualified once is a mistake, to do so twice is carelessness. After DQing their 200 medley at ACCs the Hokies promptly did so again at NCAAs, after initially finishing tenth. Whilst it was a 15m violation this time instead of a swimmer jumping early, lost points lost are still lost points.

Over half of Virginia Tech’s seeded points this year are from relays, and they needed to maximize every one of them if they want to make the top 10. Last year’s 9th place finish feels very far away right now. Carles Coll Marti will bring in big points but if Brendan Whitfield and Youssef Ramadan aren’t at their best it’s hard to see where else they will come from.

At the end of Day 1 in 2024 they had 28 points. To be on zero this year starts to put a lot more pressure on their swims on Days 2 and 3, which include the 200 free relay. They might need to play that one safe.

Arizona

Half of the Wildcat’s projected points came from the 800 free relay, and on Day 1 they added 3.5 seconds to drop from ninth to finish outside the points entirely. Ralph Daleiden Ciuferri and Tomas Lukminas are the two stars, but both were off their times from Big-12s. If they struggle in the 200 freestyle individually tomorrow Arizona could fail to beat their 27th place finish from last year.

Quietly Confident

Stanford

Stanford was +10 on Day 1, dropping half a second in the 200 medley and two seconds in the 800 free relay.

Henry McFadden, Ron Polonsky and Andres Dupont Cabrera were all under 1:32 in the latter, and all three can score this week. Polonsky went in the 200 IM on Day 2, and having been seeded for only a single point made the ‘A’ final instead. He has the potential for more in the breaststrokes later in the week.

Andrei Minakov’s fly is looking good as he went 19.34 on the 200 medley relay, dropping two-tenths from ACCs to register his fastest-ever split. Only entered individually in the two butterfly events, he’ll swim all five relays once again for the Cardinal.

After the women went +92 last week the men’s team should be confident they too can move up, with Georgia and NC State in their sights.

Texas

Texas moved up on Day 1, going +8 against seed. They didn’t just improve in position either, setting new school records in both the 200 medley and 800 free relays in 1:20.28 and 6:00.08 respectively. Luke Hobson looks like a shoo-in for the 200 freestyle title, Rex Maurer seems to have managed his taper this year and Hubert Kos must have the best 200 backstroke/50 fly combo in history.

The Longhorns have a huge psych sheet buffer against their most likely challengers Cal and Indiana, and if they’re matching or improving against that it will be nigh on impossible to catch them. The women’s team were -11 after Day 1 and added in both events – the fact that the men were significantly under in both and their top swimmers look on signals that we shouldn’t expect much of a drop off from SECs, if any.

Day 2 prelims merely confirmed that fact. Texas has 4 up/3 down and the top seed in two of three events. David Johnston finishing 9th in the 500 was a slight blow, but when that’s your only worry so far you can tell something’s going right.

Bob Bowman could be looking at a national championship with a second school now, a feat no head coach has achieved since Richard Quick did so with Stanford and Texas in the 1980s.

Florida State

The Seminoles had a fantastic ACCs but have turned up in Washington looking just as good. They were -2 against seed as the 800 free relay just missed out on scoring, but should be confident that they can match if not exceed expectations.

The 200 medley was their highest-seeded relay coming in and delivered, slicing 0.38 off their school record as they finished seventh in 1:21.60. That puts them a full two seconds under their school record prior to this season.

Mason Herbet is looking good for the 100 backstroke on Day 3 after he dropped 0.29 off his 50 back PB to go 20.59, and Tommaso Baravelli broke 23 seconds on the breaststroke leg for the first time. Neither of those two are seeded to score, but will have eyes set on a second swim now in the 100 backstroke and 200 breaststroke respectively.

Their main man Michael Arkhangelskiy nearly matched his fly split from ACCs that made him the fourth-fastest in history (#5 now) and looks a good bet to be a three-event scorer in the 100 back, 100 fly and 200 back. Logan Robinson’s 200 PB is a good sign for his 200 fly on Day 4 too.

After Day 1 Florida State sat 10th with 24 points, one spot ahead of in-state rivals Florida. That’s only 10 points off their total from last year, and their key swimmers look to be on. After a 21st place finish in 2024 they should now be aiming to at least crack the top-15.

A Good Day For:

Owen McDonald

McDonald went three-for-three individually at his first Big Tens, and has a good shot at his first NCAA title this week. He kicked off his meet with a brand new PB in the 200 freestyle of 1:31.14, nearly a second better than his previous best from 2024 PAC-12s.

That was also two-tenths faster than his flying split on Indiana’s 800 free relay at Big Tens. He’s looking in great form so far in the 200 IM on Day 2, and has to be among the favourites in the 100 and 200 backstroke as well.

Quintin McCarty 

McCarty’s PB in the 50 back stood at 20.89 from NC State vs Arizona back in October, a meet where he was also 18.91 in the 50 free. He led off for the Wolfpack on Day 1 in 20.24, fastest in the field and well under that previous best.

He now has a great chance of some big points in the 50 freestyle on Day 2 after clipping his PB to make the ‘A’ final, and could be in for some big drops in all his individual events. That includes the 100 backstroke on Day 3, where he’s entered 11th in 44.99.

Kacper Stokowski was the last NC State swimmer to make three ‘A’ finals back in 2023. With the way that McCarty has started off he could do the same.

Ron Polonsky

Polonsky had never swum a sub-23 50 breaststroke split, nor a sub-1:32 200 free split prior to last night, but delivered both as Stanford came away with a pair of top-10 finishes. That set him up nicely for the 200 IM on Day 2, where he’s scored in all three of his previous seasons.

His best time in the event is 1:39.96 from 2022 when he won the ‘B’ final, but had only been 1:41.66 this year. He nearly matched that PB in prelims as he qualified 6th, going 1:40.03. After setting a long course PB last summer in taking silver at the European Championships, 2025 looks like the year he breaks through and really makes a statement in the ‘A’ final.

Jovan Lekic

A time of 4:08.55 would have won NCAAs not too many years ago (Townley Haas won in 2018 in 4:08.60), but puts Lekic 4th into the final in 2025. That was a near four-second drop from his previous best of 4:12.26, which also stood as the LSU School record.

Lekic led off the 800 free relay on Day 1 in 1:32.59, also a PB, and could have more drops in store for the individual event on Day 3. Along with Jere Hribar, he’s given the Tigers two finalists already by the halfway point. They should blow past last year’s 24-point total