Virginia’s Thomas Heilman and Maximus Williamson Among Freshmen Men in Contention This College Season
Freshmen male swimmers often struggle to immediately make a scoring impact on the national level. Some swimmers arrive as already-established performers, like Canadians Ilya Kharun and Josh Liendo in recent seasons plus Leon Marchand before that, but it often takes a year or two for men to truly find their footing on the college level.
Last season, for instance, only four freshmen men finished in the top-eight in individual swimming events at the NCAA Championships, none getting higher than sixth. The top-scoring freshman was Cal’s Yamato Okadome, who was sixth in the 200 breast and seventh over 100 yards while immediately contributing to Cal’s medley relays (which were otherwise stocked with senior and fifth-year swimmers).
Ahmed Jaouadi — Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
But expect a reversal in that trend in 2026 thanks to the arrival of Ahmed Jaouadi, the Tunisian who won world titles in the 800 and 1500-meter free this summer, plus three swimmers who have made impacts for the United States internationally. Two of them are Virginia Cavaliers, Olympian Thomas Heilman and multi-time world junior champion Maximus Williamson, while this summer’s breakout breaststroker, Campbell McKean, is now competing for the University of Texas. All four should battle for high finishes this season.
Jaouadi has to make the adjustment to short course yards racing for the first time in his career, but his distance prowess is undeniable. His early-season performances have included the country’s top time in the 1000 free at 8:36.65 plus a sixth-ranked mark of 4:14.94 in the 500 free.
Heilman has represented the U.S. senior team in butterfly events each of the past three summers, finishing as high as fourth in the 200 fly at the 2023 World Championships. This year, Heilman rebounded from a third-place national finish in his main event to finish as runnerup in the 100-meter race and secure his spot at Worlds. Heilman enters a deep field of butterflyers, headlined by Kharun and Luca Urlando in both races plus Liendo in the 100, but he has done well in the early going. Entering midseason competition, Heilman ranks third nationally in the 100 fly at 44.59, behind only Kharun and Liendo, and he is fifth in the 200 fly at 1:41.69.
Williamson, meanwhile, comes into college after setting a national high school record in the 200 free last year at 1:30.46. Five swimmers beat that at the 2025 NCAA Championships, but all have graduated, giving Williamson a chance at contending right away. Currently, he sits second nationally at 1:32.32, just 0.13 behind Georgia’s Tomas Koski. Williamson has also posted top-16-worthy times in the 200 IM and 100 free, and he is also among the top-10 performers nationally in the 200 IM.
Campbell McKean — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
As for McKean, he is in the top-five in both breaststroke events, with times of 51.63 in the 100 and 1:53.38 in the 200, as well as fourth in the 200 IM. McKean made enormous strides from 2024 to 2025 as he jumped from 1:01 to 58 in the 100-meter event, and he showed his big-meet ability when he surged onto the World Championships team. Interestingly, McKean is not a lock to be the breaststroker on the top Texas medley relay squads thanks to the presence of junior Nate Germonprez.
Meanwhile, a pair of distance standouts representing Bay Area universities are also setting themselves up for a strong championship season. Ryan Erisman, who placed third in the 400-meter free at U.S. Nationals, has gotten off to a strong start for the California Golden Bears. He is the fourth-quickest swimmer this year in the 1000 free (8:43.48) while also sitting top-eight in the 400 IM (3:44.88) and 500 free (4:15.50). Rival Stanford has Ethan Ekk ranked No. 2 in the 1000 free, with a time of 8:42.55 that sits behind only Jaouadi, plus a strong mark of 3:44.78 in the 400 IM.
Breaststroke could be a particularly strong race for freshmen this year; in addition to McKean, Michigan’s Luka Mladenovic is top-10 in both breaststroke events, as is Tennessee’s Gabe Nunziata in the 200. Only two other swimmers in their first year have cracked the top-10 prior to midseason invitationals, Arizona’s Alex Desangles in the 200 back (1:40.72) and Auburn’s Daniel Krichevsky in the 200 free (1:32.72).
