{"id":608975,"date":"2025-03-29T21:08:53","date_gmt":"2025-03-30T04:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=608975"},"modified":"2025-03-29T23:11:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T06:11:40","slug":"ncaa-mens-championships-jordan-crooks-anchors-in-39-36-as-tennessee-finishes-with-400-free-relay-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-mens-championships-jordan-crooks-anchors-in-39-36-as-tennessee-finishes-with-400-free-relay-record\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Men’s Championships: Jordan Crooks Anchors in 39.36 as Tennessee Finishes With 400 Free Relay Record"},"content":{"rendered":"

NCAA Men’s Championships: Jordan Crooks Anchors in 39.36 as Tennessee Finishes With 400 Free Relay Record<\/strong><\/p>\n

A historic era in sprint freestyle would conclude Saturday evening as the college career of\u00a0Jordan Crooks<\/strong> concluded. Over the past three seasons, Crooks has achieved legendary times over 50 and 100 yards, joining\u00a0Caeleb Dressel<\/strong> as the only men to break the 18 and 40-second barriers in the two events. While he could not knock off the NCAA record in the 50, he took down Dressel’s seven-year-old mark in the 100 free Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Crooks could not quite hold off longtime rival\u00a0Josh Liendo<\/strong> in the 100 free final, but he had one final swim remaining, and it would result in a national title at the expense of Liendo and his Florida Gators. Diving into the pool to anchor the Tennessee Volunteers’ 400 free relay four tenths behind Florida, Crooks responded with the fastest split in history, a mark of 39.36 beating his own previous best of 39.52. Crooks entered the race as the only swimmer to ever split below 40 seconds, and he has now done so four times.<\/p>\n

“I couldn’t have asked for a better relay to go out on,” Crooks said. “We came together, four guys from different walks of life, and we just made it work.”<\/p>\n

That effort helped Tennessee to a national title, adding to a win in the 200 free relay two days earlier. The quartet competing was the same, with\u00a0Gui Caribe<\/strong> leading off in 40.57 before\u00a0Lamar Taylor<\/strong> and\u00a0Nikoli Blackman<\/strong> handled the middle legs. Tennessee finished in 2:42.30, clipping the NCAA and U.S. Open records of 2:42.41 set by an identical quartet at last month’s SEC Championships. Tennessee also annihilated the meet record set by Arizona State last year, swimming a full second faster than the 2:43.40 which was at the time the quickest mark in history.<\/p>\n

“We talked about going out with a bang. We set a big goal. It was a tough goal to get to, but we surpassed that at SECs then brought it home at NCAAs,” Taylor said.<\/p>\n

It has been the goal all along.<\/p>\n

“It is really special. I think you could see us crying. We have a really good connection together as a team. We make fun of each other, and it makes everything lighter,” Caribe said.<\/p>\n

It is a relay the Volunteers – and the swimming world – won’t soon forget.<\/p>\n

“This is our last time as a relay together – our last time with Jordan and Lamar. We talked about this being the last time we had a relay like this and throughout the season we made the most of it,” Blackman said.<\/p>\n

Arizona State also went under the old meet record, with the team of\u00a0Ilya Kharun<\/strong>,\u00a0Patrick Sammon<\/strong>,\u00a0Tommy Palmer<\/strong> and\u00a0Jonny Kulow<\/strong> clocking 2:43.22. Kulow came home in 39.93, becoming the second swimmer to ever split 39 on a relay, and that inspired anchor leg was needed to put the Sun Devils ahead of Florida for the second spot.<\/p>\n

Florida finished third in 2:44.02, with Liendo leading off in 40.42 before\u00a0Julian Smith<\/strong>,\u00a0Alex Painter<\/strong> and\u00a0Scotty Buff<\/strong> finished off the squad. Cal, led off by Jack Alexy<\/strong> in 40.55, finished fourth in 2:44.59. Finishing one spot ahead of Indiana meant the Golden Bears would finish second in the team standings for the 15th consecutive NCAA Championships.<\/p>\n

Texas would lock up the national championship by completing the race legally and recording a seventh-place result. The team of\u00a0Chris Guiliano<\/strong>,\u00a0Hubert Kos<\/strong>,\u00a0Rex Maurer<\/strong> and\u00a0Luke Hobson<\/strong> clocked 2:45.12.<\/p>\n