By Spencer Penland on SwimSwam
2025 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Tuesday, June 3 – Saturday, June 7, 2025 Indianapolis, Indiana Indiana University Natatorium LCM (50 meters) World Championship Selection Criteria SwimSwam Preview Index Meet Central Psych Sheets Live ResultsMEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY: BY THE NUMBERS
World Record: 49.45, Caeleb Dressel (USA) – 2021 American Record: 49.45, Caeleb Dressel – 2021 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials Winner: Caeleb Dressel, 50.19 World Aquatics ‘A’ Cut: 51.77The men’s 100 fly has been largely dominated by Caeleb Dressel since 2017, but the world record holder in the event is not competing at this year’s Nationals. Dressel won the 100 fly at the Olympic Trials last summer, clocking 50.19. That makes the men’s 100 fly yet another event that will be missing at least one of its Olympians from last summer.
Moreover, the men’s 100 fly has seen a lot of turnover from last year, as only three of the eight finalists from the Olympic Trials last summer are competing in the event at Nationals this year. Other finalists from Trials last year who won’t be in the picture this year are Zach Harting (4th), Ryan Murphy (6th), Luke Miller (7th), and Kaii Winkler (8th).
The 50-Point Club
With Dressel’s absence, there are three swimmers in the field who are entered with a time under 51 seconds, and another who has been under 51 seconds before.
Thomas Heilman (photo: Jack Spitser)
Leading the way is 18-year-old Thomas Heilman out of Cavalier Aquatics/Piedmont Family YMCA. The other American Olympian in this event from last summer, Heilman came in 2nd at Trials last summer in 50.80. As just a 17-year-old, Heilman would finish 18th in prelims in Paris, missing out on the semi-finals.
Heilman was notably the Trials champion in the 200 fly last summer, and he would go on to finish 10th in the semis in Paris. This year, Heilman hasn’t yet swum the LC 100 fly, however, he did pop a 1:57.81 200 fly in mid-May at the Richmond Sectionals meet. Given his age, Heilman is a swimmer whose stock could very well continue to rise, which means he may well end up being one of the American stars of this summer.
Alongside Heilman is Shaine Casas, who is benefiting as much as anyone from the absences in his primary events. Casas now has an easier path in the backstroke events due to absences, and he finds himself in a great position in the 100 fly as well with Dressel being out. He wound up entering and declaring a false start in the 100 fly at Trials last summer, however, he may well view it as a much more favorable event this summer. Casas holds a career best of 50.40 in the 100 fly, which he swam back in 2022. That time also marks Casas as the swimmer with the fastest career best in this field.
Casas has been in good form so far in 2025. Back at the Westmont Pro Swim Series in March, he clocked his season high of 50.82 in the 100 fly, which also makes him the fastest American in the event so far this year. Like Heilman, he’ll be one of the most interesting swimmers to watch at this meet, as he could easily turn into one of the stars of the meet. Now, between the fly events, back events, 200 IM, and the 100/200 free, Casas will likely have to scratch down from his seven entries, however, he has the clearest path he’s ever faced to be on an international LC roster in a multitude of events.
The other swimmer in the field who is seeded under 51 seconds is Cal’s Dare Rose, who came in 3rd at Trials last summer with a 50.84.
Dare Rose (photo: Jack Spitser)
Rose holds a career best of 50.46 from the 2023 World Championships, marking the 2nd-fastest career best in the field. His time from Worlds earned him the bronze medal. Like Casas, Rose has already shown himself to be in great shape heading into this meet, as he clocked a season-best 50.93 at the CA NOVA Speedo Grand Challenge on Memorial Day weekend.
Rose is only entered in the 50 fly and 100 fly next week, which means we can say with a great degree of confidence that he will race the 100 fly, and he has the benefit of pouring his focus into the event versus those racing busier schedules.
Michael Andrew rounds out the swimmers in this field who have been under 51 seconds in the 100 fly before. Andrew’s career best of 50.80 is a bit dated, coming from May of 2021, however, in his defense, his focus of events has been shifting quite a bit over the past few years. Now that he’s training with the ASU pro group, we’ll get to see Andrew’s first true taper meet in a very long time. In fact, Andrew detailed at the Sacramento Pro Swim Series in early April that he was still trying to adjust to racing while tired, which wasn’t something he really ever did under his previous training plan.
A potential benefit to that adjustment for Andrew is that, now that he’ll be in a resting phase heading into this meet, he may feel more refreshed than ever racing at this meet. That’s not a guarantee, just a possibility. Either way, this is a Michael Andrew type of meet. Following the disappointment of not making the Olympic roster last summer, he gets to come back this summer, race a bunch of 50s, a couple of 100s, and the 200 IM.
Andrew comes into the 100 fly seeded with a 52.36, which doesn’t necessarily jump off the page, but as stated above, the 100 fly hasn’t been as much of a focus for him in recent years. He hasn’t swum the 100 fly LC yet this year, however, he’s managed to put up some very solid 50 fly times, including a 23.44 at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim Series in early May.
Now, the trickiest part with Andrew is that this meet featuring 50s makes his schedule a bit too busy. The 100 fly is on day 3 of the meet, but, unfortunately, the 100 fly, 50 breast, and 50 back are all back-to-back-to-back on that day. It’s incredibly hard to imagine that Andrew would forego the 50 breast, so that’s a lock. That means the only remaining question is whether Andrew will attempt the double or not, and, if so, which event he will choose for the double. Given the likelihood that he races the 50 breast, we’re going to leave Andrew out of our official picks on this preview, but if he does race it, he’ll be a contender.
All It Takes Is a Great Swim
Behind our 50-point club, there’s a handful of swimmers who can make some real noise in the 100 fly if they just manage to pop a lifetime best next week. Leading that pack is Luca Urlando, who returned from injury to have a very successful NCAA season with Georgia this year.
Luca Urlando (photo: Jack Spitser)
Once one of the most promising rising stars in American swimming, Urlando’s career was derailed by a significant shoulder injury. That being said, the 23-year-old is back healthy and appears to be potentially even better than ever.
Starting with his college season, Urlando won the 200 fly at NCAAs, swimming a 1:36.43 (yards), which broke the NCAA Record. He also clocked a career best in the 100 fly at NCAAs with a 43.49, which was good for 3rd place. Urlando then carried that momentum from NCAAs into the LCM pool, as just a couple of days after NCAAs, he traveled down to Sacramento for the Pro Swim Series, where he was exceptional. Urlando popped a career best of 51.32 in the 100 fly at that Pro Swim Series. He also was 1:52.37 in the 200 fly, which was another career best.
Now, we know Urlando was fully rested for that Pro Swim Series since it was directly after NCAAs but, even so, all it would take for Urlando to make the team in the 100 fly is another career best in Indy.
NC State’s Aiden Hayes comes in seeded 5th in the 100 fly for this meet and is 1 of only 3 swimmers in this field from last year’s Trials final. Last year, Hayes came in 5th at Trials with a 51.43. He also executed the Trials races very impressively, going 51.58 in prelims, 51.50 in semifinals, then 51.43 in finals. That being said, Hayes’ career best was set in the summer of 2023, where he went 51.24.
Since he’s no longer in college, we don’t have an NCAA season to judge Hayes’ improvement on. Instead, he’s only swum a single meet since the Olympic Trials last summer, which was the TAC Titans Spring Fling in mid-May, where he clocked a 52.52 in the 100 fly. It’s hard to judge where someone is based on a single meet in the past year, however, 52.52 is strong enough that we should expect to see Hayes in another final in the 100 fly, especially since he’s shown he can be on point in prelims.
Trenton Julian has the 5th-fastest career best in this field, having been 51.10 back in the summer of 2022. Julian came in 9th in semifinals at Trials last summer, swimming a 51.79. So far in 2025, Julian has been consistently solid in the 100 fly, having been 52.68 in March, 52.46 in April, and 52.45 in May. Like the others in this section, Julian would almost certainly have to pop a career best in order to finish in the top two, but he has a great chance of making the final, so there’s a chance.
Cal’s Gabriel Jett is an ever-present threat in this event. Jett has been such a dynamic yards swimmer for the Golden Bears, and we’ve been waiting for him to fully breakout in LCM swimming. While he’s done quite well in the long pool, it still seems like he has more potential. That being said, he has a career best of 51.53 in the 100 fly, which is plenty fast enough for him to make the final next week. At Trials last summer, he came in 15th in semi-finals with a 52.57 after going 52.35 in prelims.
Jett seems to really fit that mold where, if he has a great race, he could really cause some disruption in this event.
The Best of The Rest
Jack Dahlgren, a Mizzou pro, came in 10th in the 100 fly at Trials last summer, swimming his career best of 52.02.Jack Dahlgren (photo: Jack Spitser)
So far this year, he’s been 53.11 in the 100 fly, and he’s put up an impressive 1:56.83 in the 200 fly. Dahlgren would have to have the swim of his life to make the Worlds team in this event, however, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him in the final after narrowly missing out on it last summer at Trials. Ohio State’s Evan Fentress was a semifinalist in the 100 fly at Trials, taking 13th in 52.27, which is his career best. He had a hit or miss NCAA season this year, clocking career bests in the 50 and 100 free, but not improving in the 100 or 200 fly. Like Dahlgren, Fentress would have to have a true coming out party to get in contention for the team, however, he could make the final with a good swim in the morning. Kamal Muhammad, who recently announced he’s transferring from Virginia to Tennessee for his final 2 years of NCAA eligibility, could be an interesting name to watch here. Muhammad just swam his career best of 52.36 at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim Series. That time ties him for the 10th seed coming into the meet, so he’s right on the threshold of making the final. Texas’ Ryan Branon just popped a career best of 52.46 in the 100 fly at the ST TXLA Longhorns Aquatics meet in mid-May. He also posted a career best of 1:56.45 in the 200 fly at that meet, so Branon appears to be in great shape with his LCM fly heading into this meet. 16-year-old Rowan Cox out of Longhorn Aquatics could really make some noise in the 100 fly. He clocked his career best of 52.59 in the 100 fly at Junior Pan Pacs last summer, where he earned the silver medal. This year, Cox has been 53.78 in the 100 fly, which he swam at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim Series a few weeks ago.
SWIMSWAM’S PICKS
Rank Swimmer Season-Best Personal Best 1 Thomas Heilman N/A 50.80 2 Dare Rose 50.93 50.46 3 Shaine Casas 50.82 50.40 4 Luca Urlando 51.32 51.32 5 Trenton Julian 52.45 51.10 6 Aiden Hayes 52.52 51.24 7 Gabriel Jett 54.12 51.53 8 Jack Dahlgren 53.11 52.02Dark Horse: Colin Geer, Michigan – Rising Michigan junior Colin Geer has been making a name for himself through his first 2 years with the Wolverines. He comes into this meet as the 16th seed with a time of 52.72, which also stands as his career best. He set his career best at the Speedo Summer Championships at the end of last July. Since then, Geer had a terrific NCAA season, wherein he got down to career bests of 45.10 in the 100 fly and 1:39.58 in the 200 fly in SCY. While a top 2 finish seems a bit out of reach for Geer as of yet, a great swim in the morning could easily see him as an unexpected finalist in this event.
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