Freshman Josh Bey Plays Central Role in Indiana’s NCAA Success, Now Targeting Long Course
The Indiana Hoosiers did not win any events at the NCAA Men’s Championships, and they did not get their usual points from diving, but the team still managed an impressive third-place finish in the team competition thanks to stellar depth. Three Indiana swimmers finished as high as second place in their individual events: veterans Zalan Sarkany (1650 freestyle) and Owen McDonald (200 IM) both fell just short to fast-finishing rivals while freshman Josh Bey put a scare into pre-race favorite Yamato Okadome in the 200 breaststroke.
At the conclusion of the meet, Bey ended up as Indiana’s only three-time finalist and highest-scoring individual swimmer. In addition to his strong result in the 200 breast, where his time of 1:48.79 made him the 10th-fastest performer in history, Bey placed seventh in both individual medley events. Bey called his first NCAAs a “roller coaster,” but he believes his team successfully bought into the process of focusing on their own swimming and letting the results play out. Of course, a shiny third-place trophy validated their efforts.
“Just going in there and giving it our all has been the message this entire meet, and rather than comparing ourselves to others, we’ve been going in and swimming our own races and trying to do our best,” Bey said. “I’ve heard that in the past, we’ve had some troubles with, I guess, comparing ourselves to other teams. And this year, we’ve just been focusing on ourselves in a way where it’s like, ‘Where can we do better?’”
Bey had to show some resilience when his first NCAA final swim did not turn out as planned. The first full day of the meet included the 400 IM, an event in which Bey had clocked 3:34.90 at the Big Ten Championships to become the eighth-fastest swimmer ever. He successfully qualified for the top eight but struggled in the final, ending up seventh I n3:37.23.
“I think I got a little too in my head. I overthought the race, overfocused a little too much, and I think the outcome of that was kind of just me spinning the wheels a little much and just taking it out not as controlled aggressive but more just aggressive, aggressive,” Bey said.
Josh Bey — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
His fortune flipped a day later, when he realized he had done enough to make it back amid a quick field in the 200 breast. “I just let out this audible noise, a sigh of relief. I was very relieved, to say the least,” Bey said. “After that 200 breast prelim, I just said, ‘I’m gonna give it my all. I’m gonna go out as hard as I can. I have nothing to lose.’”
It worked out with that 1:48 in the final, with Bey charging down the stretch to finish only two tenths behind Okadome. Moreover, that time was almost five seconds quicker than his pre-college personal best of 1:53.74, a mark he ended up surpassing on eight separate occasions this season. His official best time in the 100 breast is 52.68, but he crushed that simply going out in the 200-yard NCAA final with a split of 52.04.
On the final day of the meet, Bey took seventh in the 200 IM, with his time of 1:41.17 in prelims finishing off a season when he dropped almost three seconds from his best time, going from 1:43.96 to 1:41.17. Even his 400 IM, while well off his time from the conference meet, was still more than five seconds quicker than his high school best of 3:42.51.
The best preparation for these time drops was the practice environment at Indiana, where Bey had the chance to race against swimmer like McDonald, fellow freshman Noah Cakir and a breaststroke group that included Alexei Avakov, Toby Barnett and postgrad swimmer Josh Matheny. Bey cited McDonald, a multi-time top-three finisher at the NCAA Championships during his time at Arizona State and then with the Hoosiers, as a particularly valuable source of advice. Moreover, holding his own against these teammates in practice changed Bey’s approach to training and dramatically increased his confidence.
“I had always believed that I was horrible at practices and that I couldn’t do it. I think one of the biggest events for me this year was realizing that I can perform in practice and that I am a talented athlete in practice, and that how I perform in my races is a direct reflection of what I do in my training,” Bey said. “Trying to get myself in the right head space for every meet and understand how to swim races better, practice better and just be more prepared has been a huge area of growth this season.”
Moving forward, the newly-named Big Ten Swimmer of the Year has a chance to position himself as a contender for senior-level U.S. national teams in the coming years. Bey has represented his country each of the last four summers, winning silver in the 200-meter breast at the 2024 Junior Pan Pacific Championships and then qualifying for the World University Games last year. Bey has raced his best event in the finals at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials as well as last year’s Nationals, the latter race yielding a fifth-place finish in 2:10.89, 1.58 seconds behind what it took to reach the World Championships.
Even amid the grind of the college season, Bey began thinking ahead to what he would be capable of in long course this season. His other best times, 1:01.68 in the 100 breast, 2:05.28 in the 200 IM and 4:32.64 in the 400 IM (from 2023) all lag behind what he has now accomplished in yards.
“I am hoping for a lot of improvement,” Bey said. “I’m really excited to see what’s to come this long course season. I’m just going to try to be vulnerable and let it all come to me with an open mind. I’ve got my first meet in a little over a month, and I’m curious to see what’s going to happen.”
Bey views the coming months as an opportunity rather than a pressure to fulfill. “I think it’s going to be more of an optimistic feeling,” Bey said. “Take some time to reflect on the season, and then we’re going to turn around next week, get back into training and just be optimistic about what’s to come.”