Tennessee’s 400 Free Relay NCAA Record Caps Historic SECs
Records are, so the saying goes, meant to be broken. And the swim postseason is high time for old records to look their age and vanish.
But what transpired this weekend at the University of Georgia’s Gabrielsen Natatorium was special. And the bookends provided by the Tennessee men’s sprint contingent in particular exemplified it.
The Volunteers started the SEC Championships by buzzing within .07 seconds of the NCAA record in the 200 medley relay. Three-quarters of that quartet returned two nights later to absolutely destroy the 200 free relay mark, lowering it to a brain-aching 1:12.80.
The same four men – Lamar Taylor, Gui Caribe, Lamar Taylor, Nikoli Blackman – punctuated the meet by going 2:42.41 in the 400 free Saturday, clubbing 0.99 seconds off the NCAA record.
In between, Florida has perhaps the most impressive performance of the bunch, skipping the 2:56s altogether in the 400 medley relay to drop a time of 2:55.66 that is 1.66 seconds quicker than the old mark.
All this fast swimming is not to be taken for granted. The leaps and bounds by which records have been evaporated is stunning, and it’s a reminder of NCAA swimming’s capacity to astound, even in the chaos of short-course yards.
Tennessee’s efforts deserve special mention. With Kevin Houseman swimming breaststroke on the 200 medley relay around Taylor, Caribe and Crooks, the Vols opened the meet with a 1:20.22 in the 200 medley relay. The 200 free performance made a mockery of the record: 0.55 seconds in a race that can move by hundredths is huge.
The splits are eyewatering:
Event 8 Men 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
==================================================================================
NCAA: N 1:13.35 3/23/2023 Florida
J. Liendo, A, Chaney, E. Friese, M. McDuff
SEC: S 1:13.35 3/25/2023 Florida
J. Liendo, A. Chaney, E. Friese, M. McDuff
SEC Meet: M 1:14.19 2023 Florida
M. McDuff, J. Liendo, A. Chaney, A. Mestre
==================================================================================
1 Tennessee-SE 1:13.96 1:12.80NA 64
1) Crooks, Jordan J 2) r:0.15 Caribe, Gui
3) r:0.19 Taylor, Lamar 4) r:0.13 Blackman, Nikoli
r:+0.59 8.62 17.96 (17.96)
26.27 (8.31) 36.00 (18.04)
44.53 (8.53) 54.25 (18.25)
1:02.89 (8.64) 1:12.80 (18.55)
Event 42 Men 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
==================================================================================
NCAA: N 2:43.40 3/30/2024 Arizona State
L. Marchand, J. Dolan, P. Sammon, J. Kulow
SEC: S 2:44.07 3/27/2023 Florida
J. Liendo, A. Chaney, J. Smith, M. McDuff
SEC Meet: M 2:45.31 2024 Florida
J. LIendo, A. Chaney, J. Smith, M. McDuff
==================================================================================
1 Tennessee-SE 2:44.13 2:42.41NA 64
1) Caribe, Gui C 2) r:0.24 Blackman, Nikoli
3) r:0.09 Taylor, Lamar 4) r:0.29 Crooks, Jordan
r:+0.59 19.57 41.11 (41.11)
1:00.54 (19.43) 1:22.24 (41.13)
1:41.26 (19.02) 2:02.89 (40.65)
2:21.50 (18.61) 2:42.41 (39.52)
Tennessee coach Matt Kredich has collected a special group in Knoxville. The squad is composed of swimmers from Bahamas, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago and the Cayman Islands, international powerhouses all. (Taylor, a transfer from Henderson State, is worth an exploration on his own.)
Crooks is in the process of capping one of the great short-course careers ever. The 400 free relay was his 27th career top-three finish at SECs – 11 gold, 12 silver, four bronze. This week, he went 18.12, 17.96 and 17.85 in flat-start 50 frees; 40.58 and 40.45 in flat-start 100 frees, tying Josh Liendo for gold; split 17.42 on an anchor 50 free and 39.52 on an anchoring 100 free. His 100 fly split of 43.56 is only diminished by its proximity to Liendo’s 42.12.
Florida’s 400 medley relay deserves special mention. The Gators got DQed in this race at NCAAs last year. They set the SEC record in 2023, a team only Liendo remains from. They lost Macguire McDuff and Adam Chaney from last year’s preferred quartet. But the growth of Julian Smith into the fastest 100 breaststroker in American history, of Liendo into an utter star and of Johnny Marshall into 4-for-4 in backstroke events in two years at SECs shows the talent continues to turn over.
Event 31 Men 400 Yard Medley Relay
==================================================================================
NCAA: N 2:57.32 3/29/2024 Arizona State
H. Kos, L. Marchand, I. Khraun, J. Kulow
SEC: S 2:58.32 3/26/2023 Florida
A. Chaney, D. Hillis, J. Liendo, M. McDuff
SEC Meet: M 2:59.48 2023 Florida
A. Chaney, D. Hillis, J. Liendo, M. McDuff
==================================================================================
1 FLOR-FL 3:02.95 2:55.66NA 64
1) Marshall, Jonny C SO 2) r:0.16 Smith, Julian SR
3) r:0.22 Liendo, Josh JR 4) r:0.20 Painter, Alex FR
r:+0.79 20.99 43.91 (43.91)
1:06.57 (22.66) 1:32.86 (48.95)
1:52.27 (19.41) 2:14.98 (42.12)
2:33.76 (18.78) 2:55.66 (40.68)
Tennessee hasn’t won an NCAA relay title in Crooks’ tenure. Last year, the Vols were fifth in the 200 medley, 200 free and 400 free relays, as well as the 400 medley without Crooks. Fourth in the 200 free relay in 2023 was the highest the Vols have gotten. They’ve generally swum their fastest times at SECs, then struggled to repeat it at NCAAs.
Even if this is proves to be the high-water mark on the season, Tennessee put together something historically special.
