NCAA Men’s Championships: Rex Maurer Supplies Key Leg as Texas Tops 800 Free Relay; Henry McFadden Anchors Stanford to Second
This contest brought some drama through the first 700 yards as Arizona State, North Carolina State and Ohio State all took turns occupying the top spot. But in the end, no one had enough speed or depth to match the University of Texas, which won its first race of the NCAA Men’s Championships. The win was the first of what the Longhorns hope will be many in their attempted title defense this week in Atlanta.
This Texas team had some new members, with the Longhorns having graduated three of the four men who swam under the existing NCAA record on the way to a national runnerup finish last year. No more Luke Hobson, Chris Guiliano or Coby Carrozza, but Rex Maurer was back on the squad and handling the third leg. Joining him were Rafael Fente-Damers, a freshman from France, plus carryover Camden Taylor and senior transfer Baylor Nelson. Together, this group had enough to break away at the end.
On the leadoff leg, Fente-Damers found himself well behind the field as Arizona State’s Remi Fabiani led the way in 1:30.99, a whooping 1.73 seconds clear of the Longhorns. Taylor got his team back into the mix over the second 200 yards, with only the Buckeyes ahead at the halfway mark thanks to 1:32 splits from Tomas Navikonis and Cornelius Jahn.
Maurer would take over the top spot for good, though, with a mark of 1:30.76. That was well short of the 1:29.91 split he posted at the 2025 NCAA meet, but it was enough here. Nelson finished in 1:31.20, and Texas touched more than a bodylength clear of the field in 6:05.82, four tenths quicker than their No. 1 seed time from last month’s SEC Championships.
“Texas has an incredibly rich legacy in the 800 free relay, so to carry that honor is extremely humbling for all four of us,” Maurer told ESPN in a post-race interview. “To get a win on the first night is a great start for us, and hopefully we can continue that for the rest of the meet.”
Texas got 40 points here to jump into the thick of the still-developing team competition. With 72 in total so far, the Longhorns are behind only Florida and Indiana, tied for the top spot with 86.
In the lanes adjacent to the Longhorns, a surprising battle for second place was unfolding. Jordi Vilchez and Tristan Jankovics remained solid for Ohio State, but Jankovics could not hang onto the spot as Henry McFadden came roaring back for Stanford. The veteran split 1:29.72, the fastest split of the day, to get his team to the wall one hundredth ahead, 6:06.39 to 6:06.40. Andres Dupont Cabrera, Ethan Ekk and Jason Zhao went first through third for Stanford.
NC State touched less than a second later for fourth place in the heat, but fourth overall belonged to the Virginia Cavaliers, who swam a season-best time by more than three seconds in the morning. Maximus Williamson led off that team in 1:30.43 before David King went 1:31.09, giving Virginia a much quicker front half than any team at night. Thomas Heilman and Jack Aikins handled the back half for a team that went 6:06.85.
NC State, led off by Kaii Winkler in 1:31.47, was fifth (6:07.20) and Indiana sixth (6:07.66). Michigan got seventh with a 1:30.63 anchor split from Lorne Wigginton. Aside from McFadden, the second-best time of the day belonged to Tennessee’s Koby Bujak-Upton, who went 1:29.79 on the leadoff leg to help his team sneak into the scoring in 16th place.
Event 3 Men 800 Yard Freestyle Relay
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NCAA: N 5:59.75 3/26/2025 California
J Alexy, G Jett, D Lasco, L Henveaux
Meet: M 5:59.75 3/26/2025 California
J Alexy, G Jett, D Lasco, L Henveaux
American: A 6:00.08 3/26/2025 Texas
L Hobson, C Guiliano, R Maurer, C Carrozza
U. S. Open: O 5:59.75 3/26/2025 California
J Alexy, G Jett, D Lasco, L Henveaux
Pool: P 6:03.89 3/24/2022 Texas
D Kibler,C Carozza, L Hobson, C Foster
School Seed Finals Points
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1 Texas 6:06.24 6:05.82 40
1) Fente-Damers, Rafael FR 2) r:0.33 Taylor, Camden JR
3) r:0.45 Maurer, Rex JR 4) r:0.23 Nelson, Baylor SR
r:+0.60 21.13 44.59 (44.59)
1:08.38 (1:08.38) 1:32.72 (1:32.72)
1:52.78 (20.06) 2:15.30 (42.58)
2:39.05 (1:06.33) 3:03.86 (1:31.14)
3:24.48 (20.62) 3:47.38 (43.52)
4:10.77 (1:06.91) 4:34.62 (1:30.76)
4:55.25 (20.63) 5:18.37 (43.75)
5:41.55 (1:06.93) 6:05.82 (1:31.20)
2 Stanford 6:07.40 6:06.39 34
1) Dupont Cabrera, Andres SR 2) r:0.27 Ekk, Ethan FR
3) r:0.33 Zhao, Jason FR 4) r:0.17 McFadden, Henry JR
r:+0.62 21.44 44.88 (44.88)
1:08.57 (1:08.57) 1:32.59 (1:32.59)
1:53.63 (21.04) 2:16.99 (44.40)
2:40.50 (1:07.91) 3:04.08 (1:31.49)
3:25.13 (21.05) 3:48.63 (44.55)
4:12.20 (1:08.12) 4:36.67 (1:32.59)
4:57.11 (20.44) 5:19.90 (43.23)
5:43.29 (1:06.62) 6:06.39 (1:29.72)
3 OSU 6:06.64 6:06.40 32
1) Navikonis, Tomas SR 2) r:0.20 Jahn, Cornelius SO
3) r:0.37 Vilchez, Jordi SO 4) r:0.09 Jankovics, Tristan SR
r:+0.66 21.19 44.42 (44.42)
1:07.79 (1:07.79) 1:31.36 (1:31.36)
1:52.13 (20.77) 2:15.42 (44.06)
2:38.98 (1:07.62) 3:02.50 (1:31.14)
3:23.69 (21.19) 3:46.98 (44.48)
4:10.69 (1:08.19) 4:34.65 (1:32.15)
4:55.58 (20.93) 5:18.91 (44.26)
5:42.60 (1:07.95) 6:06.40 (1:31.75)
4 Virginia 6:10.17 6:06.85 30
1) Williamson, Maximus FR 2) r:0.26 King, David SO
3) r:0.30 Heilman, Thomas FR 4) r:0.26 Aikins, Jack SR
r:+0.61 20.35 42.94 (42.94)
1:06.14 (1:06.14) 1:30.43 (1:30.43)
1:50.62 (20.19) 2:13.37 (42.94)
2:37.02 (1:06.59) 3:01.52 (1:31.09)
3:22.50 (20.98) 3:45.89 (44.37)
4:09.64 (1:08.12) 4:33.58 (1:32.06)
4:54.44 (20.86) 5:17.90 (44.32)
5:42.26 (1:08.68) 6:06.85 (1:33.27)
5 NC State 6:07.42 6:07.20 28
1) Winkler, Kaii SO 2) r:0.30 Diehl, Daniel JR
3) r:0.15 Williams, Hudson JR 4) r:0.39 Fox, Jerry JR
r:+0.67 20.97 44.31 (44.31)
1:07.99 (1:07.99) 1:31.47 (1:31.47)
1:52.02 (20.55) 2:14.90 (43.43)
2:38.65 (1:07.18) 3:03.51 (1:32.04)
3:24.14 (20.63) 3:47.12 (43.61)
4:10.87 (1:07.36) 4:34.89 (1:31.38)
4:55.41 (20.52) 5:18.62 (43.73)
5:42.80 (1:07.91) 6:07.20 (1:32.31)
6 Indiana 6:08.90 6:07.66 26
1) Shackell, Aaron JR 2) r:0.25 McDonald, Owen SR
3) r:0.30 Noel, Raekwon SO 4) r:0.23 Smiley, Dylan JR
r:+0.69 21.13 44.20 (44.20)
1:07.87 (1:07.87) 1:31.77 (1:31.77)
1:52.38 (20.61) 2:15.49 (43.72)
2:39.32 (1:07.55) 3:03.41 (1:31.64)
3:24.59 (21.18) 3:48.05 (44.64)
4:12.40 (1:08.99) 4:36.05 (1:32.64)
4:56.16 (20.11) 5:18.88 (42.83)
5:42.81 (1:06.76) 6:07.66 (1:31.61)
7 Michigan 6:09.36 6:07.81 24
1) Sauve, Antoine FR 2) r:0.18 Ben-Shitrit, Eitan SR
3) r:0.12 Geer, Colin JR 4) r:0.08 Wigginton, Lorne SO
r:+0.66 21.54 44.78 (44.78)
1:08.39 (1:08.39) 1:32.03 (1:32.03)
1:53.13 (21.10) 2:16.27 (44.24)
2:40.00 (1:07.97) 3:04.63 (1:32.60)
3:25.35 (20.72) 3:48.50 (43.87)
4:12.31 (1:07.68) 4:37.18 (1:32.55)
4:57.63 (20.45) 5:20.43 (43.25)
5:43.86 (1:06.68) 6:07.81 (1:30.63)
8 ASU 6:08.31 6:08.71 22
1) Fabiani, Remi 5Y 2) r:0.22 Senc-Samardzic,ilip JR
3) r:0.27 Mauri, Mattia FR 4) r:0.16 Kulow, Jonny SR
r:+0.61 21.20 44.08 (44.08)
1:07.51 (1:07.51) 1:30.99 (1:30.99)
1:52.21 (21.22) 2:15.40 (44.41)
2:39.27 (1:08.28) 3:03.39 (1:32.40)
3:24.86 (21.47) 3:48.25 (44.86)
4:12.28 (1:08.89) 4:36.83 (1:33.44)
4:57.28 (20.45) 5:20.36 (43.53)
5:44.07 (1:07.24) 6:08.71 (1:31.88)
