NCAA men’s swimming and diving championships: Kos destroys 100 backstroke national record to win NCAA title

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NCAA men’s swimming and diving championships: Kos destroys 100 backstroke national record to win NCAA title

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Texas senior Hubert Kos and Florida senior Josh Liendo are in a heavyweight battle for NCAA swimmer of the year.

After Liendo threw the first punch last night with his 100 butterfly title and NCAA record, Kos followed it up with a record of his own. Kos not only won another 100 backstroke NCAA title, he became the first man to ever break 43 seconds in 100 yards of backstroke. Liendo then won the 50 freestyle NCAA title in the final individual swimming event of the night.

An eight session meet turned into an eight round brawl as Florida and Texas have continued to go back and forth individually and in the team race.

Texas took a 60 point lead after the 100 backstroke, but Florida continued to claw back throughout the finals session. The Gators upset Texas’ Rex Maurer in the 500 freestyle, finishing first and second in the race, and Liendo made it back to back wins for Florida in the 50 free.

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Indiana had the most swims of the night, pushing the Hoosiers past Arizona State by nine points. With one day to go, Texas the ability to secure a second straight NCAA team title. The Longhorns lead by nine and a half points heading into the final day of competition.

Here are the biggest takeaways from Night 3:

Kos re-breaks NCAA record to win second consecutive 100 backstroke title

Take a bow, Hubert Kos.

The Texas senior annihilated his own 100 backstroke NCAA record to win the national title. Kos not only bested his own mark by nearly half a second, he is the first man to ever break the 43 second barrier in the 100 yard backstroke.

The SEC champion led from the jump, as he was the only swimmer to break 10 seconds on the opening 25. Kos’ front half was captivating, as he took out the race three tenths faster than this morning’s opening 50.

The Hungarian was extremely consistent down the stretch, splitting 11.09 seconds and 11.10 seconds on his final two 25s. It was an exclamation point of a swim to start off the session.

His performance through two days has sent a message globally. The international calendar is always looming and meets like this lets the rest of the world know that Kos will continue to be a force.

The rest of the field was quick, as five additional swimmers broke the 44 second barrier. Georgia senior Ruard Van Renen led that pack and finished second in 43.54.

Arizona State fifth-year Adam Chaney was third in 43.75 with Texas junior Will Modglin, the American record holder in the event, following in fourth.

It was an experienced championship final, as there were no freshmen and only one sophomore in the heat. Army second year Johnny Crush tied for fifth out of lane one with Indiana senior Owen McDonald.

Notre Dame’s Marcus Reyes-Gentry and NC State’s Aiden Hayes rounded out the top eight.

Okadome completes the breaststroke sweep

Yamato Okadome doubled up and completed the NCAA breaststroke sweep, but Indiana freshman Josh Bey challenged the California sophomore for 200 yards of breaststroke.

Okadome was the only swimmer to take out the race in under 52 seconds, but Bey was always lurking, turning less than two tenths of a second behind the Golden Bear.

Down the stretch the two had almost identical splits, with Okadome having the slight edge on the third 50 and Bey the fourth. In the end it was Okadome who timed up the finish just right to take down the freshman by 0.18 seconds.

Okadome won the title in 1:48.61 with Bey following in 1:48.79. Bey’s teammate Toby Barnett, finished sixth for IU, scoring some much needed points for the Hoosiers.

It was Michigan freshman Luka Mladenovic who moved up from fourth to third and UNC’s Ben Delmar, who was the top qualifier this morning, finished fourth for the Tar Heels.

Texas junior Nate Germonprez finished fifth as the Longhorns lone representative in the championship final. Tennessee freshman Gabe Nunziata and Virginia Tech sophomore Eli Martin placed seventh and eighth in a 200 breaststroke championship final full of young stars.

Florida teammates Ahmed Hafnaoui and Ahmed Jaouadi go 1-2 in 500 freestyle

The Gators had a strategy in the 500 freestyle and executed masterfully to turn the McAuley Aquatic Center on its head.

Florida teammates Ahmed Hafnaoui and Ahmed Jaouadi swam a dominant race, leading wire to wire, and taking the top two spots in the 500 free. The Gators were able to take down the favorite, Rex Maurer, who was the defending champion and American record holder in the event.

Hafnaoui, the 400m freestyle Olympic gold medalist from Tokyo, asserted himself from the beginning, saying that there was only one way to go about the swim in his post-race interview. The Tunisian native was out half a second faster than anyone else at the 200 mark, and was able to hold on to win his first NCAA title.

Jaouadi, Hafnaoui’s teammate both collegiately and internationally, finished second after his record-breaking performance in the 1,650 freestyle on Wednesday night. Hafnaoui and Jaouadi were the only swimmers in the field to break four minutes and seven seconds, stopping the clock in 4:06.56 and 4:06.90.

It was a major event for Florida, as Hafnaoui and Jaouadi’s teammate Gio Linscheer grabbed fifth for the Gators.

Maurer finished third in 4:07.88, still adding an important 16 points to Texas’ total. 1,650 freestyle runner up Zalan Sarkany finished fourth 4:07.95 for Indiana earning another All-American honor. Sarkany’s teammate and US Olympian Aaron Shackell finished seventh for the Hoosiers.

Closing out the championship final was Alabama’s Leonardo Alcantara and Georgia’s Sean Green who finished sixth and eighth.

Liendo back on top in the 50 freestyle

After a runner-up finish in 2025, Josh Liendo has returned to the top of the podium in the 50 freestyle.

The Florida senior alternated titles with Tennessee’s Jordan Crooks during the past several seasons. Crooks won the 2023 and 2025 titles with Liendo winning in 2024.

In his final NCAAs, Liendo finished on top, this time out-touching Tennessee senior Gui Caribe, 18.06 to 18.19.

This is Liendo’s second win of the week, backing up his NCAA record performance in the 100 butterfly. After the back-to-back wins, Florida was able to take the lead passing Texas by three and a half points.

Caribe gave it his all, flipping first at the 25, and setting a new personal best to finish as national runner-up. Arizona State’s Ilya Kharun finished third in 18.19.

The heat was bunched up from fourth to eight, with swimmers finishing times ranging between 18.47 and 18.66.

NC State junior Quintin McCarty grabbed fourth and was followed by two Sun Devils, fifth-year Remi Fabiani and senior Jonny Kulow.

Louisville freshman Nikita Sheremet finished seventh while Virginia Tech junior Brendan Whitfield finished eighth.

Arizona State wins third relay of the week

In a neck and neck race between Texas, Florida, and Arizona State, the Sun Devils came out victorious in the 400 medley relay.

Adam Chaney, Andy Dobrzanski, Ilya Kharun, and Remi Fabiani put together the most complete effort, winning their third relay title of the week.

Texas was out to an early lead thanks to the backstroke efforts of Will Modglin. The Longhorns continued to hold down the top spot throughout the first three legs, despite the efforts of Josh Liendo and Ilya Kharun on the butterfly leg.

In the end, it was Fabiani who had enough to best Texas and split a 40.24 freestyle leg to win the title for ASU in 2:56.79.