NCAA Men’s Championships: Josh Liendo Completes Dressel Triple With 100 Free Title

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

NCAA Men’s Championships: Josh Liendo Claims Third Title With Huge Final Turn in 100 Freestyle

A group of elite sprinters have competed against each other several times this week, relays, the 50 free, some the 200 free or 100 butterfly.

The top sprinters converged in the 100 freestyle on the final night of the 2024 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships from Indianapolis, with speed and more speed.

Florida’s Josh Liendo got to the wall first with a strong back-half of the race to pull away in the final 15 yards and win in 40.20.

At the 50, it was Notre Dame’s Chris Guiliano at 19.11 just ahead Tennessee’s Jordan Crooks (19.21) and Liendo (19.28).

But with a strong final turn Liendo pushed passed the field to win his third title of the meet.

“I had to give it everything I have. It was a really fast field,” Liendo said in the on-deck interview.

Liendo won the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly earlier in the meet becoming the first Florida swimmer to sweep those events since Caeleb Dressel.

“I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel the pressure. There is definitely some pressure. I just tried not to think too much about it. Each time it was just me getting up and racing,” Liendo said. “I am pretty happy with that. Last year getting it done in the 100 free, and this year getting all three, it is really exciting to continue (from here).”

His trio of titles helped the Gators finish third as a team and actually be in the title hunt for the first time in years.

“That pressure for the relays, every time we were gunning for the win. It is awesome to see the guys you train with improve so much and it is motivating,” Liendo said. “It is really good. We can build that momentum for next year.”

Gui Caribe Santos of Tennessee took second in 40.55, just ahead of Cal’s Jack Alexy (40.59), Crooks (40.66) and Guiliano (40.66).

Virginia’s Matt Brownstead (41.40) and Arizona State’s Jack Dolan tied for sixth and Cal’s Bjorn Seeliger was eighth (41.80).

Virginia Tech’s Youssef Ramadan and NC State’s Luke Miller tied to win the NCAA consolation final in 41.27.

=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 39.90  3/24/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
         Meet: M 39.90  3/24/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
     American: A 39.90  3/24/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
   U. S. Open: O 39.90  3/24/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
         Pool: P 40.00  3/25/2017 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
    Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
                       === Championship Final ===                        
 
  1 Liendo, Josh           SO Florida             40.73      40.20   20  
     r:+0.59  9.04        19.28 (10.24)
          29.74 (10.46)       40.20 (10.46)
  2 Santos, Guilherme      SO Tennessee           41.23      40.55   17  
     r:+0.56  9.08        19.35 (10.27)
          29.92 (10.57)       40.55 (10.63)
  3 Alexy, Jack            JR California          40.80      40.59   16  
     r:+0.66  9.23        19.56 (10.33)
          30.04 (10.48)       40.59 (10.55)
  4 Crooks, Jordan         JR Tennessee           40.54      40.61   15  
     r:+0.59  9.06        19.21 (10.15)
          29.86 (10.65)       40.61 (10.75)
  5 Guiliano, Chris        JR Notre Dame          40.77      40.66   14  
     r:+0.60  8.89        19.11 (10.22)
          29.79 (10.68)       40.66 (10.87)
  6 Brownstead, Matt       SR Virginia            41.26      41.50   12.5
     r:+0.64  9.21        19.79 (10.58)
          30.75 (10.96)       41.50 (10.75)
  6 Dolan, Jack            5Y ASU                 41.29      41.50   12.5
     r:+0.74  9.36        19.92 (10.56)
          30.78 (10.86)       41.50 (10.72)
  8 Seeliger, Bjorn        SR California          41.27      41.80   11  
     r:+0.63  9.18        19.75 (10.57)
          30.71 (10.96)       41.80 (11.09)
 
                        === Consolation Final ===                        
 
  9 Ramadan, Youssef       SR VT                  41.34      41.27    8  
     r:+0.57  9.22        19.47 (10.25)
          30.30 (10.83)       41.27 (10.97)
  9 Miller, Luke           SR NC State            41.37      41.27    8  
     r:+0.61  9.42        19.95 (10.53)
          30.62 (10.67)       41.27 (10.65)
 11 Hobson, Luke           JR Texas               41.35      41.45    6  
     r:+0.70  9.37        19.84 (10.47)
          30.62 (10.78)       41.45 (10.83)
 12 Foote, Connor          SO TAMU                41.60      41.49    5  
     r:+0.64  9.30        19.61 (10.31)
          30.53 (10.92)       41.49 (10.96)
 13 Kulow, Jonny           SO ASU                 41.40      41.61    4  
     r:+0.62  9.36        19.77 (10.41)
          30.60 (10.83)       41.61 (11.01)
 14 Miroslaw, Rafael       JR Indiana             41.66      41.75    3  
     r:+0.61  9.38        19.92 (10.54)
          30.84 (10.92)       41.75 (10.91)
 15 Jensen, Matthew        SR California          41.71      41.76    2  
     r:+0.64  9.41        20.05 (10.64)
          30.75 (10.70)       41.76 (11.01)
 16 McDuff, Macguire       JR Florida             41.55      41.93    1  
     r:+0.62  9.35        19.86 (10.51)
          30.88 (11.02)       41.93 (11.05)
 
                 Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 17                  
 
  1. Arizona St                      418.5   2. California                      345.5
  3. Florida                           342   4. Indiana                           266
  5. NC State                          250   6. Tennessee                         179
  7. Texas                             172   8. Stanford                          144
  9. Virginia Tech                     124  10. Notre Dame                        110
 11. Georgia                           106  12. Auburn                             88
 13. Louisville                         80  14. Ohio St                            79
 15. Texas A&M                          70  16. Michigan                         68.5
 17. Smu                                54  18. Virginia                         53.5
 19. Alabama                            50  20. Minnesota                          40
 21. Florida St                         34  22. Southern California                24
 23. Miami (Fl)                         21  24. Missouri                           19
 24. Arizona                            19  26. Towson                             17
 27. Wisconsin                          16  28. Pittsburgh                         15
 29. Lsu                                11  30. UNC                                 9
 31. Penn St                             8  32. Brigham Young                       7
 33. Utah                                6  34. Purdue                              5
 35. GW                                  3  36. Northwestern                        1

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

Name*

Email*

1 Comment

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Kanga1

29 days ago

For a moment I was in utter shock thinking that the 100M Freestyle had been annihilated!
But it’s merely a Yard event, only raced in North America in an obsolete archaic mode of measurement, that no one else in the World still uses!
So what is it in metres? About 40 metres?
Time the US caught up to the rest of the World and used metric rather than their nonsensical version of the Imperial System!

-2