NCAA Men’s Championships: Florida Relays Set For Speedy Follow-up in Indianapolis

Florida's Josh Liendo -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

NCAA Men’s Championships: Florida Relays Set For Speedy Follow-up in Indianapolis

The primary team storyline at this week’s NCAA Men’s Championships centers around the Arizona State Sun Devils, the most impressive team in the country this season, trying to knock off two-time defending champion Cal. But Florida should also make a major impact on the proceedings in Indianapolis, just one week after the Gator women achieved their highest national finish in 14 years.

Florida’s men placed sixth at the 2023 NCAA meet, but they were only 16.5 points behind third-place Texas. On the way to that result, Florida won the 200 freestyle, 400 medley and 400 freestyle relays, all in NCAA-record-setting fashion. This year, head coach Anthony Nesty and his Gators bring back most of their primary contributors while inserting two key freshmen into the lineup.

Arizona State is seeded first in three sprint relays entering the meet after swimming the fastest-ever 200 medley relay and nearly breaking Florida’s records in the 400 medley and 400 free, but the Gators cannot be discounted. They have already developed a penchant for performing well at this meet during Nesty’s tenure.

Central to Florida’s efforts is Josh Liendo, last year’s individual NCAA champion in the 100 free and runnerup in the 50 free and 100 fly. This year, he is seeded top-two in all of his events entering the meet, and while representing Canada in long course international competition, Liendo has won three individual World Championships medals in his career, including last year’s silver in the 100-meter fly.

Macguire McDuff returns to the national level after anchoring all three Florida first-place relays last year. Since that previous national meet, McDuff has come into his own individually, nearly qualifying for the U.S. World Championships team in the 100-meter free (for relay purposes) and earning the top time in the 200-yard free so far this college season.

Florida’s American-record-setting 200 medley relay from the SEC Championships — Photo Courtesy: Auburn Athletics

The rest of Florida’s pieces fall into place behind those two: for the medley relays, Julian Smith and Aleksas Savickas are both possibilities for the breaststroke leg, and while Adam Chaney remains one of the quickest sprint backstrokers in the country, freshman Jonny Marshall covered that leg in the 400 medley relay at the SEC Championships. The emergent Marshall has been as quick as 44.12 in the 100 back this season, ranking second in the country entering NCAAs.

Liendo and McDuff swam fly and free, respectively, on Florida’s 2023 medley relays, but Florida used freshman Scotty Buff on the fly leg at the SEC Championships, giving the Gators an American-only team eligible to break the American record established by NC State one hour earlier at the ACC Championships. But records aside, using Buff here provides one clear-cut strategic advantage: Liendo is freed up to race the other three relays, including the 800 free.

Add Liendo to McDuff, Smith and Mitchell, and Florida was able to achieve the country’s second-quickest 800 free relay at the conference meet, with the Gators only tenths behind the Leon Marchand-led Arizona State team heading into NCAAs.

As for the sprint relays, Chaney and Smith are the likely options to join Liendo and McDuff, although it’s worth noting that Ed Fullum-Hout replaced McDuff on the 200 free relay at SECs so that McDuff could focus on the other four relays. That 200-yard team is actually Florida’s only top-seeded relay entering the NCAA Championships, with NC State, Arizona State and a Jordan Crooks-led Tennessee team all within striking distance.

Florida is seeded second behind the Sun Devils in the other four relays, but the margins are at least one second in all except the 800 free. Still, don’t discount the Gators; last season, they dropped between a half-second and two seconds in their sprint relays at the national meet, and the drops the Florida women notched at their NCAA Championships suggest the men have another gear remaining. Heck, Liendo will be chasing some individual records belonging to Florida legend Caeleb Dressel this week, and he could break one or two of them.

Does Florida have the all-around talent to match Arizona State or Cal? Probably not. The Golden Bears do not occupy high seeds in most events but are likely to post the biggest time drops of any contender. Still, Florida sits in a very strong position on the eve of the men’s meet, with the Gator sprinters and relays positioned to follow last year’s dominant effort with a dramatic encore.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use