NCAA males’s swimming and diving championships: Florida freshman Ahmed Jaouadi breaks Bobby Finke’s 1,650 freestyle collegiate file

The males’s NCAA swimming and diving championships began off with an all-time collegiate swimming race.

Florida freshman Ahmed Jaouadi and Indiana senior Zalan Sarkany battled for 1,625 yards stroke for stroke within the 1,650 freestyle. Both had been properly forward of an NCAA file tempo, and placed on a present for followers on the McAuley Aquatic Center within the first race of the week in Atlanta.

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The distinction ultimately was the kick of Jaouadi, who had a wave of white water following the freshman on the ultimate size of the pool. The Tunisia native closed in a blistering 22.73, passing the two-time defending champion after constantly holding 50 splits within the 25— to 26-second vary all through the race.

Jaouadi not solely knocked off the back-to-back champion, however set the quickest time in historical past in 14:10.03, smashing Bobby Finke’s iconic NCAA file time of 14:12.08.

Before Wednesday, solely Finke had damaged the 14-minute and 20-second barrier. Jaouadi and Sarkany annihilated that mark, with Sarkany stopping the clock in 14:12.20.

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If the mile is any indication of what’s to return, it must be a enjoyable week of racing in Atlanta. In simply three occasions there was an NCAA file within the mile, the second-fastest time in historical past within the 200 medley relay, and an intense battle within the 800 freestyle relay.

After a constant evening of swimming, Indiana and Florida are tied for the lead with 86 complete factors, with Texas shut behind at 72.

Arizona State wins 200 medley relay title forward of Texas, Florida

After setting a brand new NCAA file on the SEC championships the goal was on Florida’s again within the 200 medley relay. Despite a fiery anchor leg from Josh Liendo, it was too little, too late for the Gators as Arizona State was the strongest squad within the water.

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Adam Chaney, Andy Dobrzanski, Ilya Kharun and Johnny Kulow received the NCAA title in 1:20.07, dropping a half second off their season greatest.

Florida adopted carefully to safe nationwide runner-up in 1:20.16, simply off its nationwide file. Texas secured third in 1:20.46. Will Modglin, Nate Germonprez, Hubert Kos and Garrett Gould had been the leaders on the 100 mark earlier than Arizona State and Florida put collectively spectacular again halves.

Indiana positioned fourth dropping nearly a second from its season greatest. The quickest instances from Wednesday morning got here from NC State and Tennessee. The Wolfpack dropped a second and a half to swim a 1:21.23. The quartet of McCarty, Diehl, Hayes and Salls moved into fifth general whereas the Volunteers, runners-up on this occasion from 2025, dropped four-tenths of a second to go 1:22.05 and place ninth.

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Cal, Michigan and Kentucky rounded out the highest eight with LSU falling to tenth after being seeded fourth coming into the week.

Texas earns first win of the week in 800 freestyle relay

Texas grabbed its first NCAA win within the 800 freestyle relay. The Longhorns entered the week as the highest seed and dropped nearly a half-second off their entry time to win the nationwide title by over five-tenths of a second.

Rafael Fente-Damers, Camden Taylor, Rex Maurer and Baylor Nelson stopped the clock in 6:05.82, placing collectively essentially the most full swim from begin to end. The Longhorns had been constant, with splits starting from Maurer’s 1:30.76 to Fente-Damers’ 1:32.72 on lead off.

Stanford dropped a second to out-touch Ohio State by a hundredth of a second to complete second. Henry McFadden had sufficient juice on the finish to move up the Buckeyes and safe two additional factors for the Cardinal.

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The quickest time from Wednesday morning belonged to Virginia, which broke its college file in 6:06.85 to maneuver all the way in which into fourth place. The Cavaliers featured two freshmen and one sophomore, which is promising for upcoming years. Maximus Williamson and U.S. Olympian Thomas Heilman had been the 2 high recruits in final yr’s cycle.

NC State, Indiana, Michigan and Arizona State added 4 extra top-eight finishes inserting fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth.

Tennessee redshirt freshman Koby Bujak-Upton threw down an enormous 1:29.79 main off the Vols 800 freestyle relay. Already the highest seed within the 200 freestyle, Bujak-Upton dropped practically a second from the non-public greatest he entered the week with. He might be one to keep watch over within the particular person 200 freestyle.

Scoring modifications in 2026

Similar to the ladies’s meet, comfort finals won’t be swum on the NCAAs. Traditionally, swimmers who positioned ninth by way of sixteenth would swim once more at evening.

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This determination has obtained a lot of pushback following the ladies’s NCAA championships final week. Fans in Atlanta had been booing when comfort finals had been talked about within the venue final Wednesday.

This yr, athletes might be locked into place after they end between ninth and sixteenth in prelims. Whoever locations within the high eight will compete for the NCAA title in the course of the championship remaining, contested within the night.

This means factors at the moment are scored within the morning and extra info is accessible main into every evening’s finals session.

Additionally, relays will swim solely as soon as, so any workforce can transfer up into anyplace, whether or not groups swim within the morning or are seeded inside the high eight and compete at evening.

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The general scoring hasn’t modified, with particular person occasions being scored from 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11 for the top-eight finishers and 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for ninth by way of sixteenth. Relays are price double, with 40 large factors going to the NCAA champion.

Thursday’s schedule

Preliminaries: 10 a.m. ET, finals 6 p.m. ET | Live results

• 400-yard particular person medley

Thursday’s competitors might be streamed on ESPN+.