NCAA men’s swimming and diving championships:Liendo re-breaks NCAA 100 butterfly record to win national title

Mollie Handkins via Getty Images

Two NCAA records fell on the second night of the Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. 

First it was Josh Liendo, who cemented himself as the NCAA butterfly king. Then it was the Arizona State Sun Devils who crushed Tennessee’s 200 freestyle relay NCAA record from one year ago.

In the race of the night Texas senior Hubert Kos made sure Liendo had to earn every bit of the 100 buttefly NCAA title and record. The championship final was an instant classic, with both Kos and Liendo battling under NCAA record pace for the full 100 yards. 

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Kos looked like he was shot out of a cannon to start the race, touching first at the first, second, and third wall. The Texas senior was out in 19.56 seconds, faster than Liendo by three tenths of a second. Liendo brought it back on the third 25, but still trailed Kos heading into the final length. 

Kos, traditionally a 200 backstroker, showcased incredible versatility in the 100 butterfly.

In the end it was the defending champion who had enough gas in the tank to pass Kos and win the NCAA title by 0.05, re-breaking his own NCAA record. Kos gave it everything he had, asserting himself on the first 50, also breaking Liendo’s national record mark from this morning.

All of the 100-yard butterfly records are now toast, including the NCAA record, Texas and Florida team records, the NCAA meet record, and the McAuley Aquatic Center pool record.

Liendo will be back in the water tomorrow in the 50 freestyle while Kos will shift his focus to the 100 and 200 backstroke coming up on Friday and Saturday.

It was another strong night for Florida after Ahmed Jaouadi won the 1,650 freestyle in NCAA record fashion last night, however Texas is surging and has taken the lead in the team race.

Here are the biggest takeaways from night two of the Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving championships:

Arizona State wins second relay title in a new NCAA record

Remi Fabiani, Adam Chaney, Ilya Kharun, and Jonny Kulow only let the Tennessee Volunteers hold onto the 200 freestyle collegiate record for one full season.

The Sun Devils quartet smashed the short-lived NCAA record by almost four tenths of a second, winning the NCAA title by nearly a full second.

After setting a new NCAA record in the 400 freestyle relay at the Big 12 championships, it was obvious that Arizona State knew another big swim was in the cards. They did just that, splitting with elite consistency between 17.76 and 18.59 seconds.

Florida capped off a successful night with a second place finish as Liendo led off in a 18.27 to get Florida out into an early lead. NC State grabbed third in 1:13.73, four tenths behind Florida, while the defenidng champion Volunteers placed fourth out of lane eight.

Texas tied for fourth after throwing down a 1:14.40 during this morning’s preliminary session while Cal, Michigan, and Louisville followed placing sixth, seventh, and eighth.

Kharun joins Liendo and Kos under 43 seconds in 100 butterfly final

Behind Liendo and Kos was one of the deepest fields in NCAA history. Not only did the top two break the NCAA record, but ASU junior Ilya Kharun broke 43 seconds to place third. Kharun is only the fourth swimmer to achieve that mark in 42.92, and three of those were in tonight’s final.

Kharun broke the Arizona State school record, is now the fourth fasteset performer in history and will be the favorite to win the 200 butterfly later in the week.

US Olympian Thomas Heilman placed fourth in 43.58. It was a new school record for the Virginia freshman in his first individual NCAA final. Michigan senior Tyler Ray stopped the clock fourth one-hundredths of a second later to finish fifth in 43.62.

Florida’s Scotty Buff and NC State’s Aidan Hayes also broke 44 seconds, placing sixth and seventh, while Pittsburgh’s Julian Koch finished eighth to round out a ridiculous heat.

This 100 butterfly race will go down as one of the most notable in collegiate swimming history, with three of the four fastest performers in history and seven total athletes under 44 seconds.

Rex Maurer wins back-to-back 400 IM titles

Rex Maurer asserted himself from the start in the 400 Individual Medley. The Texas junior left no doubt, winning his second consecutive 400 IM NCAA title in 3:32.96. Maurer controlled the race from the start, leading for all 400 yards

Maurer’s win was fuel for Texas, leading the charge to a massive scoring event for the Longhorns. Texas’ three swimmers in the championship final vaulted the Longhorns into first place by 12 points after the event.

Texas senior Baylor Nelson made it a 1-2 finish for the Longhorns, out-touching Ohio State senior Tristan Jankovics by twelve one-hundredths of a second. Maurer and Nelson’s teammate Cooper Lucas added to the scoring, placing sixth.

They were followed closely by Michigan sophomore Lorne Wigginton who placed fourth, building on his 20th place finish in 2025.

Freshman Ryan Erisman and Josh Bey finished fifth and seventh representing Cal and Indiana while Northwestern’s Joshua Staples closed on the championship final in eighth.

UVA freshman Maximus Williamson wins 200 freestyle final after grabbing final spot in championship final

The most unique storyline of the night came out of the 200 freestyle, as Virginia freshman Maximus Williamson won the NCAA title after tying for eighth in prelims.

With only eight swimmers getting to race for the championship, Williamson was rewarded the spot by his teammate David King which he tied with this morning.

Williamson swam a 1:31.17 to tie for eight, he dropped all the way down to a 1:30.03 to win the race and steal the NCAA title.

Top seed Koby Bujak-Upton was on the chase, but Williamson secured the wire-to-wire victory by eight one-hundredths of a second. The Tennessee redshirt freshman swam the fastest time of the week with his 1:29.79 lead off on the Vols 800 freestyle, but it was Williamson who dropped over a second to take the NCAA title.

Stanford junior Henry McFadden was also charging on the final 50, and was the only swimmer to split under 23 seconds on the way home. McFadden finished third just 0.02 seconds behind Bujak-Upton after placing eighth a year ago.

Three other swimmers broke one minute and 31 seconds as Ohio State senior Tomas Navikonis, Arizona State fifth-year Remi Fabiani, and NC State sophomore Kaii Winkler finished fourth, fifth, and sixth.

Cal junior Keaton Jones put points on the board for the Golden Bears with his seventh place finish and Princeton’s Mitchell Schott represented the mid-majors finishing eighth.

Okadome out-duals Texas duo to win 100 breaststroke

In the 100 breaststroke it was California sophomore Yamato Okadome who had the juice to win the NCAA title. After turning fourth at the halfway mark, Okadome kicked it into gear to pass a pair of Texas Longhorns.

The ACC swimmer of the championships is off to a strong start, posting the only sub 50 second swim in 49.90. Okadome will go for a breaststroke sweep tomorrow in the 200 breaststroke.

Texas freshman Campbell McKean and Texas junior Nate Germonprez secured silver and bronze behind Okadome, contributing to Texas’ team lead. Although the Longhorns were looking for another win, they were able to stack up a massive point total, as Will Modglin joined his teammates in the championship final finishing eighth.

Koen de Groot was leading the pack at the 50 mark, but fell slightly behind the pace to finish fourth for Florida. Michigan freshman Luka Mladenovic grabbed fifth. Alexei Avakov snagged important points for Indiana placing sixth 0.11 seconds behind Mladenovic.

Mid-majors were well represented by Delaware’s Matvei Namakonov, who finished seventh in tonight’s championship final in 50.83.

Sitz wins 1m diving NCAA title, Florida puts two in the top eight

In the men’s 1-meter springboard diving it was SMU sophomore Luke Sitz who came out on top. Sitz was surgical down the stretch, putting together the most consistent list throughout the six dives.

Eighth place qualifier Matteo Santoro moved up from eighth to national runner-up after an impressive finals performance. The Miami freshman stepped up to the place throughout this evening’s event.

SEC champion and Tennessee sophomore Bennett Greene moved up into third after nailing his sixth dive. Florida put two in the top eight, with Jesus Agundez placing fourth and Conor Gesing placing sixth.

The top seed going into finals was USC senior Moritz Wesemann who ended up fifth. Utah senior Elias Petersen and Georgia Tech junior Max Fowler finished seventh and eighth respectively.

Friday’s Schedule

Preliminaries: 10:00 am ET, Finals 6:00 pm ET | Live results

• 100-yard backstroke

• 200-yard breaststroke

• 500-yard freestyle

• 50-yard freestyle

• 400-yard medley relay

• Three-meter diving