Unprecedented Speed? Men’s 200 Freestyle Relay Could Be Faster Than Ever This Season
The standard of excellence in the men’s 200-yard freestyle relay lasted for 14 years, from the height of the polyurethane suit era until two teams blasted through that mark at the 2023 NCAA Championships.
The mark was 1:14.08 from theAuburn team of Jakob Andkjaer, Gideon Louw, Kohlton Norys and Matt Targett, and it held up narrowly in 2022 when the Florida Gators came just three hundredths short. But the next year, Josh Liendo, Adam Chaney, Eric Friese and Macguire McDuff combined for a time of 1:13.35, beating the vaunted record by more than seven tenths, while the Cal team of Bjorn Seeliger, Jack Alexy, Liam Bell and Destin Lasco also broke the old mark with a time of 1:13.82.
The record survived the 2024 season but just barely, with Florida claiming the national title while Cal and Arizona State each swam sub-1:14 and NC State came in fourth in 1:14.13, setting an American record in the process. And then at the midway point of the 2024-25 season, both Arizona State and Tennessee dipped below 1:14. With that context in mind, what sort of follow-up could be in the cards for this championship season?
The Sun Devils own the nation’s top time at 1:13.93, posted by the team of Ilya Kharun, Tommy Palmer, Patrick Sammon and Jonny Kulow. After winning Olympic bronze in both butterfly events in Paris, Kharun has made significant strides in the 50 free this year, his season-best of 18.51 ranked second in the country, and Kulow has posted sub-18 relay splits in his career.
Tennessee’s Jordan Crooks — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Tennessee, meanwhile, has the services of Jordan Crooks, one of only two men to ever swim below 17 in the 50 free, and Gui Caribe is as good of a No. 2 as there is in the country. At the Short Course World Championships in which Crooks became the first man ever under 20 in the short course meters version of the 50 free, Caribe was the silver medalist in the splash-and-dash as well as in the 100 free, where he actually finished ahead of Crooks. Meanwhile, Nikoli Blackman and Lamar Taylor have developed into strong reserve swimmers, with both clocking 18-mid splits at midseason.
But if any team will go under 1:13.35 — perhaps even into 1:12 territory — Cal might be the best bet, with Alexy, Seeliger and Lasco all in their final season of eligibility. Matthew Jensen, a fifth-year swimmer alongside Seeliger and Lasco, could be the fourth man on the team, or the Bears might turn to Brooks Curry. The two-time Olympian has been part of the Bears’ postgrad training group the past two seasons, but despite never appearing on the team’s roster, he has been entered to swim at next week’s ACC Championships.
As for the three-time defending national champion Gators, Liendo returns on the heels of winning Olympic silver in the 100 fly, and Julian Smith has excelled thus far in his senior season, but the in-season departures of both Chaney and McDuff from the roster will make another win much more challenging, even with Alex Painter, Ed Fullum-Huot and Scotty Buff as options.
You can never count out NC State, which will have Luke Miller, Jerry Fox and Quintin McCarty back off last year’s national-record team. The 200 free relay is probably the weakest of the five Texas men’s squads, but with Chris Guiliano in the fold alongside Luke Hobson and the Longhorns’ versatile sophomore class, a run at a top finish here remains possible.
Will a field with all this star-power produce the first-ever 1:12 relay at the NCAA Championships? That would mean averaging quicker than 18.25 per swimmer, a tough ask but more realistic than ever given the powerhouse teams assembled. The conference championship meets, which begin in earnest next week, will provide a glimpse into how realistic such an achievement might be.
