2025 Men’s NCAA Championships: Day 2 Finals Preview ...Middle East

By Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam

2025 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships

The first prelims session was action-packed as the swimmers went all-in to secure the best possible position for tonight’s finals. This will be the first night of individual finals after a dramatic first evening at the 2025 Men’s NCAA Championships.

500 Freestyle 

American record holder Rex Maurer held the top seed in the men’s 500 freestyle. In a lightning-fast prelims session, Maurer clocked 4:07.55 in the final heat to post the fastest qualifying time. 

Rex Maurer (photo: Jack Spitser)

He wasn’t the only sub-4:08 performance this morning, as Lucas Henveaux, the anchor leg of Cal’s historic 800 freestyle relay last night, swam 4:07.98 to win his heat. Henveaux re-joined the Golden Bears roster at midseason and this swim breaks the ACC record he clocked earlier this season. 

One second separates the top four qualifiers for the men’s 500 freestyle this morning, as defending runner-up Luke Hobson checked in with a 4:08.32 from the first circle-seeded heat. Meanwhile, Jovan Lekic shattered his lifetime best by 3.71 seconds, swimming 4:08.55 to make a surprise ‘A’ final appearance. 

Six of the eight ‘A’ finalists are from the SEC as Georgia’s duo Tomas Koski (4:09.01) and Jake Magahey (4:09.19) made it back, as did Alabama’s Charlie Hawke. Watch for Magahey to make a move tonight—he’s never finished worse than third in this race at the NCAA Championships. 

Indiana’s Zalan Sarkany is only non-SEC finalist other than Henveaux. It was an important swim for the Hoosiers as he improved from his 14th place seed. 

200 IM 

The top three swimmers on last year’s podium—Destin Lasco, Owen McDonald, and Hubert Kos—are once again the top three as we head into tonight’s championship final. They aren’t in the same order they finished last season though, as Kos, the 2024 third-place finisher, leads after swimming a Texas program record 1:38.89. 

Destin Lasco (photo: Jack Spitser)

Kos was off at last year’s NCAA Championships but that doesn’t look to be the case in Federal Way, which means we should see a thrilling three-way race between him, Lasco, and McDonald. Kos was the only swimmer sub-1:39 this morning, but Lasco, the American record holder, is holding strong at 1:39.23 and McDonald shaved a few tenths off his season-best in 1:39.81. 

Throw in reigning conference champions Carles Coll Marti (1:39.82) and Julian Smith (1:39.85) and this should be a great race.

Over his collegiate career, Lasco has proven his ability to close races strongly. That’s still the case at his final NCAA Championships. Lasco closed in 23.44 this morning—faster than he did to win last year’s final—moving from fourth at the final exchange to win his heat. So, while his rivals may have the advantage over him after breaststroke tonight, he could still use his explosive freestyle leg to engineer a title defense. 

50 Freestyle 

The splash-and-dash has not been immune to the “swimflation” of the past couple of seasons. That peaked this morning when an 18-point effort did not earn a second swim. Jordan Crooks led the field with a blistering 18.00, setting the stage for him to drop another sub-18-second performance this evening. While Crooks has broken 18 seconds three times in his career, he has never done so at an NCAA Championships. 

Josh Liendo (photo: Jack Spitser)

This championship final is the who’s-who of NCAA sprinting, as he’s joined by names like his teammate Gui Caribe (18.42), Cal’s Jack Alexy (18.48), NC State’s Quintin McCarty (18.62), and ASU’s sprint duo Ilya Kharun (18.44) and Jonny Kulow (18.56). Finally, adding Chris Guiliano at midseason is paying off big for Texas. Sprint freestyle is the Longhorns’ main weakness, but now they have an ‘A’ finalist as Guilano’s 18.73 won the final qualifying spot by three hundredths. 

Even with this star-studded final that’s totally capable of a surprise, it feels like the race for gold will be in the middle of the pool between Crooks and defending champion Josh Liendo (18.30). Despite early struggles for the Gators as a team, Liendo has looked excellent so far in Federal Way. He swam 18.30 this morning to win his heat and earn lane five for tonight’s final.

Crooks and Liendo have had some legendary match-ups over their NCAA careers and we’ll get another chapter of that story this evening.

200 Freestyle Relay 

Tennessee’s squad of Crooks, Caribe, Lamar Taylor, and Nikoli Blackman threw down the gauntlet at the SEC Championships. The squad rocketed to a 1:12.80, destroying the NCAA record and becoming the first team to break 1:13 in the event. 

Guilherme Santos (photo: Jack Spitser)

Can they conjure that same magic tonight? While the Volunteers are not the only program with two ‘A’ finalists in the 50 freestyle, they do have the first and third seeds, highlighting their depth in this race relative to the other programs. 

Florida’s relay of Liendo, Alex Painter, Ed-Fulllum-Huot, and Scotty Buff was also under the former NCAA mark at the SEC Championships, though we’ll see if that 200 medley relay disqualification throws them off their game tonight. Arizona State has been excellent in this relay this season, though a disqualification at the Big 12 Championships means the team’s season-best is a 1:19.93 from the Wolfpack Elite Invitational.

And, as we’ve seen on display already this week, watch for Cal to move way up from their season-best time. The Golden Bears will be riding the high of their historic 800 freestyle relay and will look to snag a relay title on the other end of the sprinting range. However, after a rocky 50 freestyle final, it remains to be seen if they have the depth to hang with the top teams. Meanwhile, this relay isn’t Texas or Indiana’s strong suit, though an eagerness to not cede too much ground to the Golden Bears will no doubt power them. 

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