College Swimming Reset (Men’s Freestyle): Liendo, Maurer, Sarkany Set to Defend Titles
The college swimming season has entered its home stretch. January features the final dual meets of the season before conference championships in February and the NCAA Championships in March. Prior to the holiday break, swimmers set themselves up for championship season with strong performances at various midseason invitationals. Here is a look at every women’s individual event as of right now, including the records, the winners from the 2025 NCAA Championships, the top returning swimmers, the top times in the country this season and the top performances in history.
Below are the statistics for the men’s freestyle events, which have multi-time champions Jordan Crooks and Luke Hobson departing while Josh Liendo, Rex Maurer and Zalan Sarkany return for 2026.
Women’s part one – freestyle
Women’s part two – backstroke & breaststroke
Women’s part three – butterfly & IM
50 Freestyle
- U.S. Open Record: Caeleb Dressel – 17.63 (2018)
- American Record: Caeleb Dressel – 17.63 (2018)
- NCAA Record: Caeleb Dressel – 17.63 (2018)
- 2025 Champion: Jordan Crooks, Tennessee – 17.91
- Top Returning Finisher: Josh Liendo, Florida – 18.23
Current 2025-26 Rankings:
- Josh Liendo, Florida/Ilya Kharun, Arizona State – 18.40
- Gui Caribe, Tennessee – 18.47
- Tommy Palmer, Arizona State – 18.74
- Jere Hribar, LSU/Luke Nebrich, Missouri – 18.75
All-Time Rankings:
- Caeleb Dressel – 17.64
- Jordan Crooks – 17.82
- Josh Liendo – 18.o7
- Gui Caribe – 18.26
- Bjorn Seeliger – 18.27
- Ilya Kharun – 18.31
- Ryan Hoffer – 18.33
- Jack Alexy – 18.34
- Chris Guiliano – 18.43
- Cesar Cielo – 18.47
Last season’s NCAA Championships marked the final run for Jordan Crooks in the sprint freestyle events. During his magnificent career at Tennessee, he joined Caeleb Dressel as the second man to ever crack 18 in the splash-and-dash, winning national titles in 2023 and 2025. Also gone from last year’s field are Jack Alexy and Chris Guiliano, but the field is far from bare with the returns of 2024 winner Josh Liendo, Gui Caribe and Ilya Kharun. Those three currently sit well clear of the national rankings. Veteran Jonny Kulow has yet to post any sizzling swims this season, but he has a history of 17-second relay splits. This could be a huge event for Arizona State with Kharun, Tommy Palmer, Remi Fabiani, Kulow, Tolu Young and Adam Chaney all ranked among the top-15 in the country with sub-18-second swims.
100 Freestyle
- U.S. Open Record: Jordan Crooks – 39.83 (2025)
- American Record: Caeleb Dressel – 39.90 (2018)
- NCAA Record: Jordan Crooks – 39.83 (2025)
- 2025 Champion: Josh Liendo, Florida – 39.99
- Top Returning Finisher: Josh Liendo, Florida – 39.99
Current 2025-26 Rankings:
- Gui Caribe, Tennessee – 40.91
- Remi Fabiani, Arizona State – 41.10
- Josh Liendo, Florida – 41.11
- Julian Koch, Pittsburgh/Jere Hribar, LSU – 41.15
All-Time Rankings:
- Jordan Crooks – 39.83
- Caeleb Dressel – 39.90
- Josh Liendo – 39.99
- Gui Caribe – 40.15
- Leon Marchand – 40.28
- Jack Alexy – 40.36
- Chris Guiliano – 40.53
- Bjorn Seeliger – 40.72
- Vladimir Morozov – 40.76
- Dean Farris – 40.80
While Crooks took down Dressel’s NCAA and U.S. Open records in the 100 free during the NCAA Championships prelims, Liendo struck back in the final, edging Crooks for his third consecutive national win in the event. Liendo will go for the four-peat against fierce competition from Caribe, and Crooks’ record will certainly be on alert as both men appear likely to push the 40-second barrier. Aside from Liendo and Caribe, the only active college swimmers with lifetime bests under 40 seconds are Kulow (40.83) and Jere Hribar (40.94). Fabiani has broken through this year to go as fast as 41.10, with Julian Koch and Kaii Winkler among the others who have put themselves in strong positions.
200 Freestyle
- U.S. Open Record: Luke Hobson – 1:28.33 (2025)
- American Record: Luke Hobson – 1:28.33 (2025)
- NCAA Record: Luke Hobson – 1:28.33 (2025)
- 2025 Champion: Luke Hobson, Texas – 1:28.33
- Top Returning Finisher: Tomas Koski, Georgia – 1:31.36
Current 2025-26 Rankings:
- Remi Fabiani, Arizona State – 1:31.23
- Koby Bujak-Upton, Tennessee – 1:31.30
- Nikoli Blackman, Tennessee – 1:31.41
- Tomas Koski, Georgia – 1:31.42
- Jacob Wimberly, Texas – 1:31.51
All-Time Rankings:
- Luke Hobson – 1:28.33
- Leon Marchand – 1:28.97
- Dean Farris – 1:29.15
- Chris Guiliano – 1:29.42
- Kieran Smith – 1:29.48
- Townley Haas – 1:29.50
- Blake Pieroni – 1:29.63
- Jack Alexy – 1:29.75
- Jordan Crooks – 1:30.00
- Gabriel Jett – 1:30.08
This event will look massively different than in 2025 after six out of eight A-finalists from the 2025 national meet graduated. That includes Luke Hobson, who redefined the limits of possibility in the event when he clocked 1:28.33 last year. None of the top-10 performers in history are active collegians, with Hobson among the five men on that list who exhausted their eligibility last spring. The only returners from the 2025 top-eight are Georgia’s Tomas Koski, who tied for sixth, and Stanford’s Henry McFadden, who placed eighth. Those two both swam 1:30s last season, and the only other current college swimmer who has ever been that fast is Maximus Williamson, who swam 1:30.46 as a high school senior.
500 Freestyle
- U.S. Open Record: Leon Marchand – 4:02.31 (2024)
- American Record: Rex Maurer – 4:04.45 (2024)
- NCAA Record: Leon Marchand – 4:02.31 (2024)
- 2025 Champion: Rex Maurer, Texas – 4:05.35
- Top Returning Finisher: Rex Maurer, Texas – 4:05.35
Current 2025-26 Rankings:
- Zalan Sarkany, Indiana – 4:09.57
- Ahmed Jaouadi, Florida – 4:10.72
- Rex Maurer, Texas – 4:10.75
- Ethan Ekk, Stanford – 4:11.10
- Aaron Shackell, Indiana – 4:11.14
All-Time Rankings:
- Leon Marchand – 4:02.31
- Rex Maurer – 4:04.45
- Carson Foster – 4:05.81
- Kieran Smith – 4:06.32
- Luke Hobson – 4:06.34
- Matthew Sates – 4:06.61
- Jake Magahey – 4:06.71
- Lucas Henveaux – 4:06.74
- Zane Grothe – 4:07.25
- Noah Millard – 4:07.68
If Rex Maurer is at his best by the end of the season, he will be hard to beat in the 500 free. He won last year’s national title by a full second over Hobson, and the second, third and fourth-place finishers from that race all graduated. Maurer clocked 4:04.45 for an American record in November 2024, behind only Leon Marchand all-time. Yale’s Noah Millard is the only other active college swimmer who has ever been sub-4:08. Zalan Sarkany, the two-time defending champion in the 1650 free, could be a threat, and the arrival of Ahmed Jaouadi to college swimming should shake things up in the distance races, although the mile will be his best chance at a title.
1650 Freestyle
- U.S. Open Record: Bobby Finke – 14:12.08 (2020)
- American Record: Bobby Finke – 14:12.08 (2020)
- NCAA Record: Bobby Finke – 14:12.08 (2020)
- 2025 Champion: Zalan Sarkany, Indiana – 14:21.29
- Top Returning Finisher: Zalan Sarkany, Indiana – 14:21.29
Current 2025-26 Rankings:
- Zalan Sarkany, Indiana – 14:23.85
- Luke Whitlock, Indiana – 14:37.47
- Ahmed Jaouadi, Florida – 14:39.10
- Nathan Wiffen, Cal – 14:41.69
- Ethan Ekk, Stanford – 14:43.13
All-Time Rankings:
- Bobby Finke – 14:12.08
- Zane Grothe – 14:18.25
- Zalan Sarkany – 14:21.29
- Clark Smith – 14:22.41
- Felix Auboeck – 14:22.88
- Akram Mahmoud – 14:22.99
- Jordan Wilimovsky – 14:23.45
- Connor Jaeger – 14:23.52
- Martin Grodzki – 14:24.08
- Chad La Tourette – 14:24.35
Sarkany won this title by four seconds last season over Maurer, with Millard the only other top-five finisher returning to the race. But this is where Jaouadi will make his biggest impact; after winning world titles in the 800 and 1500-meter free, Jaouadi moved his training base to the University of Florida. Time conversions are not always reliable, but his 1500-meter mark of 14:34.41 converts to 14:12.54 in short course yards, just shy of the U.S. Open record from former Florida great Bobby Finke. Another new addition to the field is Nathan Wiffen, twin brother of 800-meter Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen, while the Kentucky duo of Carson Hick and Levi Sandidge earned a pair of top-eight finishes in 2025.
