Florida & NC State Men Break 200 Medley Relay American Record Within Minutes of Each Other

If you were feeling the post-2024 Worlds comedown, this should cheer you up: with the 2024 SEC and ACC Championships running simultaneously, the Gator and Wolfpack men broke the 200 medley relay American record within minutes of each other.

The Wolfpack got under the Cal’s old standard from the 2018 NCAA Championships with the quartet of Aiden Hayes, Sam Hoover, Luke Miller, and Quintin McCarty. The Wolfpack swam 1:21.87, knocking two-hundredth off the record.

Minutes later, Adam Chaney, Julian Smith, Scotty Buff, and Macguire McDuff lowered the mark even further with a 1:21.66 that now stands as the current American record.

Split Comparison:

NC State did all their work to break the Cal standard on the back half of the race with Miller’s 19.80 and McCarty’s speedy 18.11 out-splitting both Cal’s fly and free legs. On the other hand, the Gators did the majority of the work on the front half, courtesy of Chaney’s 20.78 opening split and Smith going sub-23 on the breaststroke leg.

Comparing Florida and NC State’s swims to each other, Hayes’ outsplit Chaney on the lead-off leg, but Smith’s 22.88 breaststroke split put the Gators ahead of the Wolfpack’s pace, where they stayed the rest of their race.

Thanks to the influx of international stars in the NCAA, Cal’s American record has been untouched for six years. At 2023 NCAAs, six teams went faster than their 1:21.88 mark. In 2022, four teams were under the mark.

Last year, both NC State and Florida were faster, with the Wolfpack winning the event in an NCAA and U.S. Open record of 1:20.75.

None of the swimmers from NC State’s NCAA record-setting relay were on their top squad at 2024 ACCs. Stokowski is still on their roster but they opted not to use him here as he’s just returned from 2024 Worlds in Doha. That meant that NC State put Hayes, primarily a flyer, on the backstroke leg and brought in Miller.

Since arriving at Florida last season, Canada’s Josh Liendo has been a fixture on this relay, and for good reason as he’s one of the NCAAs top sprinters. But presumably, the Gators have decided to use him on their 800 free relay this session (like Virginia is doing with Gretchen Walsh back at ACCs). Instead of using Liendo, Florida went with freshman Scotty Buff, giving them an all-American relay and a shot at this record.

The fact that even Florida’s swim is not even the top time in the NCAA this season demonstrates how much faster the college swimming scene has gotten than this record. Cal owns the top time in the 200 medley relay at 1:21.67. Florida’s time now sits at #2 while NC State is running #4 behind ASU.

Originally Reported by Robert Gibbs: (ACCs Live Recap)

MEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY – TIMED FINALS

• NCAA Record: 1:20.67, NC State – 2023 NCAA Championships
• ACC Record: 1:20.67, NC State – 2023 NCAA Championships
• ACC Championship Record: 1:21.69, NC State – 2022
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:23.71

Top 3:

1. NC State – 1:21.87
2. Virginia Tech – 1:22.76
3. Notre Dame – 1:23.34

NC State followed up their US Open Record at last year’s NCAAs with an American Record to open up the men’s competition here. Aiden Hayes led off in 20.44, Sam Hoover split 23.51 on breast, Luke Miller went 19.80 on fly, and then redshirt freshman Quintin McCarty scorched an 18.11 anchor leg.

Hayes is better known as a butterflyer, and so is Virginia Tech’s Youssef Ramadan, who led off for the Hokies in 20.79. Carles Coll Marti, fresh off of Worlds, split 23.15 on breast while cutting it very close with a 0.00RT. Will Hayon split 20.23 on fly, and freshman Brendan Whitfield anchored in 18.59, good for 1:22.76.

Notre Dame has been looking fast all year, and they finished ahead of a few traditional powerhouses in this event for 3rd. Marcus Gentry led off in 20.91, Tyler Christianson split 24.05 on breast, and Cason Wilburn went 20.19. But it was fifth year transfer Abdelrahman who really made the difference, as he rocked an 18.19 anchor leg and stopped the clock in 1:23.34.

Florida State took 3rd in 1:23.43, followed by Louisville (1:23.44) and Virginia (1:23.46). Virginia was actually in the lead at the halfway point, after Matt Brownstead led off in 20.75 and Noah Nichols posted the fastest breaststroke split in the field with a 23.09. But a 20.70 split from Tim Connery on the fly leg dropped them from contention. The top six were all under the NCAA ‘A’ cut, while Pitt (1:24.05) grabbed a ‘B’ cut.

Originally Reported by Sean Griffin: (SECs Live Recap)

MEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY — FINALS

• NCAA Record: 1:20.67, NC State – 2023 NCAA Championships
• SEC Record: 1:21.13, Florida – 2022 NCAA Championships
• SEC Championship Record: 1:21.43, Tennessee — 2023
• 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 1:23.71
• 2024 NCAA ‘B’ Standard: 1:24.32

Full Results:

1. Florida – 1:21.66 *NEW AMERICAN RECORD*
2. Tennessee – 1:21.82 (NCAA ‘A’ Standard)
3. Auburn – 1:22.74 (NCAA ‘A’ Standard)
4. Georgia – 1:23.12 (NCAA ‘A’ Standard)
5. Missouri – 1:23.40 (NCAA ‘A’ Standard)
6. Texas A&M – 1:23.91
7. Alabama – 1:24.25
8. South Carolina – 1:24.62
9. LSU – 1:24.97
10. Kentucky – 1:26.59

Even without Josh Liendo, the University of Florida swam 1:21.66 to win the men’s 200 medley relay. Their final time of 1:21.66 is the fastest time in the nation this year, undercutting the 1:21.67 produced by the Cal Bears at a dual meet versus ASU.

Florida’s time is also a NEW AMERICAN RECORD in the event, and their record-breaking squad consisted of Adam Chaney (20.78), Julian Smith (22.88), Scotty Buff (19.75), and Macguire McDuff (18.25). NC State notably broke the American record about 30-minutes prior (1:21.86) until the Gators just erased that mark.

See a full split comparison between Florida’s American record relay from today, Tennessee’s SEC meet record relay from a year ago, and Florida’s overall SEC record from 2023:

The defending champions, Tennessee, clocked 1:21.82 en route to 2nd place tonight. Bjoern Kammann (21.21), Flynn Crisci (23.00), Jordan Crooks (19.43), and Guilherme Santos (18.18) appeared on their relay, with 3 of the 4 swimmers returning from last year’s winning relay.

Auburn checked-in for 3rd tonight, with Nathaniel Stoffle (21.17), Henry Bethel (22.59), Sohib Khaled (20.03), and Kalle Makinen (18.95) representing the Tigers today. The 22.59 split from Bethel was particularly impressive, and it was only one of two splits under the 23-second barrier tonight (Smith of Florida was the other).

Georgia and Missouri posted NCAA automatic qualifying times to place 4th and 5th, respectively.