2021 NCAA MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, March 24 – Saturday, March 27, 2021
- Greensboro Aquatic Center / Greensboro, NC
- Short course yards (SCY)
- Champion: Texas (15x)
- Results
The Texas men earned their 15th team title at the 2021 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships, earning Head Coach Eddie Reese the distinction of having won a National Title in five different decades (his Auburn team came in second in 1978, otherwise it would have been six different decades). Despite dominating the swimming events, defending champion California could not match Texas in diving and came in second.
The NCAA has released videos for all of the Men’s races on their official YouTube channel. You can relive the meet with all of the race videos below.
Top 10 Teams
- Texas: 595
- California: 568
- Florida: 367
- Georgia: 268
- Louisville: 211
- Indiana: 207
- Ohio State: 180
- NC State: 164
- UVA: 152
- Texas A&M: 151
New Records
Florida distance ace and Olympic Gold medalist Bobby Finke set a new NCAA Championship meet record in the 1650, finishing in 14:12.52. This was just off of the NCAA record that he set earlier in the year at the SEC Championships (14:12.08). Georgia freshman Jake Magahey set a new meet record in the 500, finishing in 4:07.97. Both races can be viewed below.
800 free relay
Top 3
- Texas – 6:07.25
- California – 6:08.68
- Texas A&M – 6:10.79
Texas took the first event of the meet, winning the 800 free relay. The Texas team consisted of Drew Kibler (1:30.65), Austin Katz (1:33.02), Carson Foster (1:31.55), and Jake Sannem (1:32.03).
200 free relay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7iLmXtCO0Q&list=WL&index=17
Top 3
- California – 1:14.36
- Florida – 1:14.48
- Alabama – 1:15.62
California too their first win in the 200 free relay. Cal took the early lead, and Senior Nate Biondi (19.07) held of Florida’s Eric Friese (18.38) to finish first. In addition to Biondi, the Cal team consisted of Bjorn Seeliger (18.72), Ryan Hoffer (18.06), and Daniel Carr (18.51).
500 free
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3rb_jPYT0Q&list=WL&index=16
Top 3
- Jake Magahey (Georgia) – 4:07.97
- Kieren Smith (Florida) – 4:08.07
- Brooks Fail (Arizona) – 4:09.54
Jake Magahey led NCAA record-holder Kieren Smith by almost a second going into the last 50. Smith kicked into another gear during the final 50 but came up short by a tenth. Smith later qualified for the Olympics in the 400 free, while Magahey finished 9th at trials.
200 IM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljVq5kebpDE&list=WL&index=15
Top 3
- Shaine Casas (Texas A&M) – 1:39.53
- Hugo Gonzalez (California) – 1:39.99
- Destin Lasco (California) – 1:40.01
Shaine Casas earned his first NCAA title, which was also Texas A&M’s first NCAA swimming title, in the 200 IM.
50 free
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJewhRxJbeY&list=WL&index=14
Top 3
- Ryan Hoffer (California) – 18.33
- Bjorn Seeliger (California) – 18.71
- Adam Chaney (Florida) – 18.88
Ryan Hoffer defended his 2019 title in the 50 free, coming in well ahead of Cal teammate Bjorn Seeliger. Hoffer’s time was the #2 ranked performance ever in the 50 free, but still .70 off of Caeleb Dressel’s 17.63 NCAA record.
400 medley relay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzmRs-qFy1M&list=WL&index=13
Top 3
- Texas – 3:00.23
- California – 3:00.73
- Florida – 3:01.51
Texas earned its first title of the meet in the 400 medley relay. The Texas team consisting of Chris Staka, Caspar Corbeau, Alvin Jiang, and Daniel Krueger outsplit runner-up Cal in the back, breast, and free legs, with Cal’s Ryan Hoffer evening things up in the fly. The 400 medley was one of only two events, along with the 800 free relay, that team champions Texas would win at the meet.
400 IM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6NzYA7D0DE&list=WL&index=12
Top 3
- Bobby Finke (Florida) – 3:36.90
- Carson Foster (Texas) – 3:38.25
- Sean Grieshop (California) – 3:38.73
Carson Foster led the first 300, but Bobby Finke showed off his now famous closing speed to win the 400 IM, continuing Florida’s distance dominance.
100 fly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qKQB9xahCI&list=WL&index=11
Top 3
- Ryan Hoffer (California) – 44.25
- Nicolas Albiero (Louisville) – 44.32
- Camden Murphy (Georgia) – 44.42
Ryan Hoffer followed up his 50 free title with a title in the 100 fly.
200 free
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veKhnG3bVRI&list=WL&index=10
Top 3
- Kieren Smith (Florida) – 1:30.10
- Drew Kibler (Texas) – 1:30.39
- Trenton Julian (California) – 1:31.55
Kieren Smith won his first NCAA title in the 200 free. Drew Kibler was out fast (he took the first 50 out in 20.60) and led at the midway point, but it was a Florida swimmer once again chasing down a Texas swimmer on the back half in this race.
100 breast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5EUj3_fYKc&list=WL&index=9
Top 3
- Max McHugh (Minnesota) – 50.18
- Dillon Hillis (Florida) – 50.96
- Reece Whitley (California) – 51.03
Max McHugh from Minnesota came in first in the 100 breast, leading from start to finish in a dominating performance.
100 back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLPVmQ8hgCE&list=WL&index=8
Top 3
- Shaine Casas (Texas A&M) – 44.20
- Kacper Stokowski (NC State) – 44.37
- Destin Lasco (California) – 44.49
Shaine Casas took home his second individual title in the 100 back, holding off Polish Olymian Kacper Stokowski from NC State.
200 medley relay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCRoz5SXvZE&list=WL&index=7
Top 3
- Louisville – 1:22.11
- Florida – 1:22.41
- California – 1:22.43
Louisville won their first relay NCAA title in program history in the 200 medley relay. The Louisville team consisted of Mitchell Whyte (20.72), Evgenii Somov (22.87), Nicolas Albiero (20.07), and Haridi Sameh (18.45). Second through fifth places were separated by only .15 in a close race.
1650 free
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqcyJRKy7bQ&list=WL&index=6
Top 3
- Bobby Finke (Florida) – 14:12.52
- Jake Magahey (Georgia) – 14:28.69
- Ross Dant (NC State) – 14.31.17
Bobby Finke easily won the 1650 in his meet record performance. Finke held a consistent 25 high/26 low pace for the whole race, not needing his top gear final sprint this time.
200 back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U5fKmEu_gA&list=WL&index=5
Top 3
- Shaine Casas (Texas A&M) – 1:35.75
- Destin Lasco (California) – 1:35.99
- Bryce Mefford (California) – 1:38.31
Shaine Casas took home his third individual title with the 200 back. He was also only .02 off of Ryan Murphy’s NCAA record in the event.
100 free
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czyhxukdq6w&list=WL&index=4
Top 3
- Ryan Hoffer (California) – 40.89
- Drew Kibler (Texas)/Daniel Krueger (Texas) – 41.59
Ryan Hoffer followed up Casas by also earning his third individual title of the meet, this time in the 100 free. Texas teammates tied Kibler and Krueger tied for second.
200 breast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX1KErmebDo&list=WL&index=3
Top 3
- Max McHugh (Minnesota) – 1:49.02
- Reece Whitley (California) – 1:49.54
- Hugo Gonzalez (California) – 1:51.20
Max McHugh completed a sweep of the breast with his win in the 200.
200 fly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JyYZVKcqDU&list=WL&index=2
Top 3
- Nicolas Albiero (Louisville) – 1:38.64
- Trenton Julian (California) – 1:38.85
- Antanti Ivanov (VT) – 1:39.26
Nicolas Albiero earned the second win of the meet for Louisville, this time in the 200 fly. Albiero was also second in the 100 fly, and part of Louisville’s winning 200 medley relay.
400 free relay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzqBKa1kWMQ&list=WL&index=1
Top 3
- California – 2:46.60
- Florida – 2:46.88
- Louisville – 2:47.98
The meet finished the same way that it started: California and Florida going 1-2 in a free relay. The Cal team consisting of Bjorn Seeliger (42.22), Ryan Hoffer (40.86), Destin Lasco (41.74), and Hugo Gonzalez (41.78) held off Florida by just under three tenths.
Would love to see a list of which finalists are coming back for 2022 NCAAs
Mchugh is jacked.
It’s funny how Texas dominated but didn’t win one single individual race
Depth
Forgot that’s when we first saw someone get “Finke’d”
Foster’s closing split was 25.98. Put this into the Swimswam converter, I get 29.63 in LCM. Add just under a second for an open turn (vs Foster’s foot touch) you get something pretty close to 30.69.
I known, but this scoring system doesn’t award winners at all, one 7th + one 8th gets more points than one win for the team. Crazy.
Easy solution, let’s incorporate jackpot points
Coleman loves math, he can run the numbers for us
I kinda personally prefer that though, it rewards being able to get multiple swimmers into that top tier of NCAA swimming rather than relying on one or two superstars to do really well. Even with Harvard a couple years ago when they finished 8th off of Dean’s insane meet, they had Brennen Novak score individually, four other guys qualify for the meet, and score like 70 points in relays.
Diving
Nice. Where’s the 800 free relay?
Added!