Florida’s Men’s Swimming & Diving Finish Fourth in the Nation

Last Updated: March 30, 2025By


FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – The Florida’s men’s swimming and diving team brought home hardware for the second-straight season after finishing fourth on Saturday with 315 team points at the 2025 NCAA Division I Championships. The four-day event was held at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington.
 
The Gators’ finish marks the program’s 29th top-five placement and the fifth instance since Anthony Nesty assumed the role of head coach in 2018 that the Gators have secured a fifth-place or better finish.
 

Florida Men’s NCAA Championships finish since 2018:

  • 2018 – 5th

  • 2019 – 6th

  • 2021 – 3rd

  • 2022 – 3rd

  • 2023 – 6th

  • 2024 – 3rd

  • 2025 – 4th  

Texas scored 490 points to outlast national runners-up, California’s 471 total points. Indiana finished ahead of Florida in third with 459 points, while Tennessee had an impressive showing for fifth with 266.5 points.
 
The men won four national titles over the four days of competition, three being individual events and one relay. Junior Josh Liendo won his third-consecutive 100 free title and defended his title in the 100 fly, while Julian Smith became the first Gator in history to win the 100 breast. The two were also part of Florida’s 400 medley relay who won the program’s third national title in record-time. Sophomore Jonny Marshall and freshman Alexander Painter help set a new NCAA Meet record on Friday night after going a 2:56.10 to come short of their NCAA record time of 2:55.66.
 
Additionally, Liendo swam personal-bests in two of his individual events, becoming just the third person ever to go under 40.00 in the 100 free with a 39.99. The Paris Olympic silver medalist also shaved .01 seconds off his 100 fly time for a 43.06.
 

Despite their unfortunate disqualification in their very first win of the week in the 200 medley relay, Florida posted 19 top-16 finishes. The Gators also recorded 12 top-10 program times, with Jonny Marshall updating his 100 back program record of 43.73 to 43.22.  
 
Liendo and Smith both finished with six First-Team All-American honors, while freshman Alexander Painter had an impressive showing in his NCAA Championship debut, earning four relay First-Team honors and two Second-Team All-American individuals. Conor Gesing represented Gator diving on the list, earning his first one-meter All-American accolade after placing 14th.
 
SATURDAY RECAP
Four Gators competed in the 1650 free heats on Saturday afternoon prior to the last finals session. Jonny Marshall, Josh Liendo and Aleksas Savickas represented Florida in three of the to the four individual final events.
 
1650 Freestyle
Three of Florida’s four swimmers recorded personal bests, as Gio Linscheer highlighted the event for the Gators in heat four. The junior shaved 12 seconds off his seed time to go 14:33.10 and reset the second-fastest time in program history that he recorded at last year’s NCAA Championships (14:36.01). Although his time would have earned him a runner-up for a second-straight year, his phenomenal race just missed the top-eight podium spots for ninth.
 
Eric Brown got things started in heat one. The junior dropped nearly six seconds off his seed time to go 14:51.00 for 22nd. His teammate Josh Parent finished next to him in 23rd with 14:51.11. Oskar Lindholm saved his fastest time for his last collegiate event, as the senior cut over seven seconds off his personal-best to go 14:47.54 for 19th overall.
 

200 back
Marshall just made it into the Championship Final after earning the eighth seed in morning prelims with his 1:38.07. The sophomore collected his second First-Team All-American honor in the event and finished better than his 2024 time of 1:37.04. He finished fifth this year with a 1:37.00.
 

100 Free
In what has become an exciting race to watch between Florida’s Josh Liendo and Tennessee’s Jordan Crooks, Saturday’s finals session became even more nerve-racking following morning prelims. Crooks put down a 39.83 to beat Caeleb Dressel’s seven-year record and head into the final’s session as the top seed. Liendo, the two-time defending champion in the event, had never gone under 40 seconds prior to Saturday night, but smashed a 39.99 to earn his third-straight title in the event. He is the only Gator besides Dressel to win the event, with both now claiming the title three-straight times.
 

200 Breast
Savickas, who holds the program record in the 200 breast, advanced to the Consolation Final as the third seed. The junior earned his third-straight All-American honor in the event after improving from his morning time of 1:50.84 to place 11th with a time of 1:50.34.
 
PLATFORM DIVING
Jesus Gonzalez was the lone Gator diver to represent Florida in the final diving event of NCAA Championships. The 2025 SEC Platform Champion had an early setback in round two after scoring a 37.40. Gonzalez fought back with a 63.00 score in round three and an impressive 75.90 in round four to slowly climb back into finals contention. The freshman sat in the 19th-through-21st spots and ultimately finished in 19th overall with a total score of 334.70. He concluded his first NCAA Championships appearance as the only diver to represent Florida in all three events.
 
HEAR FROM THE WINNING GATORS
Junior Josh Liendo
On becoming only the third man to ever break the 40 second mark in the 100 free and what the moment represents to him…
“It means the world. I have been working a lot on this event, and you saw the field I was racing against. It wasn’t a perfect race by any means, but I’m just happy to get my hand on the wall. It a testament to the guys that im with. It’s hard to execute when there’s those big boys racing against so much talent. So yeah, I’m just really happy.”

On his strategy coming into the last 25 yards…

“It was a game time decision. I wasn’t really clean on the other stuff, but its never going to be perfect. I just wanted to execute on that last 25 and that last turn. I mean its that type of a race, just a coin toss and I am just really happy right now.”

 

On what’s it like to see 39.99 when he touched the wall…

“It feels pretty good, yeah.” (with a big smile on his face)

 

FINAL TOP-10 NATIONAL TEAM STANDINGS

  1. Texas – 490

  2. California – 471

  3. Indiana – 459

  4. Florida – 315

  5. Tennessee – 266.5

  6. Arizona State – 248

  7. Georgia – 238.5

  8. Stanford – 216

  9. NC State – 178

  10. Virginia Tech – 107.5

FLORIDA’S FULL TALLY
National Champions

All-Americans
First-Team

Second-Team

Records
NCAA Meet

  • 400 Medley Relay – Marshall, Smith, Liendo, Painter – 2:56.10

Program

Program Top-10 Times set at NCAA’s













50-Yard Freestyle 1. Caeleb Dressel (2018) – 17.63

2. Josh Liendo (2024) – 18.07

3. Alexander Painter (2025) – 18.60
100-Yard Freestyle 1. Caeleb Dresel (2018) – 39.90

2. Josh Liendo (2025) – 39.99

3. Scotty Buff (2025) – 43.95
1650-Yard Freestyle 1. Bobby Finke (2020) – 14:12.08

2. Giovanni Linscheer (2025) – 14:33.10
100-Yard Butterfly 1. Caeleb Dressel (2018) – 42.80

2. Josh Liendo (2025) – 43.06

3. Scotty Buff (2025) – 43.95
200-Yard Butterfly 1. Josh Liendo (Nov. 2024) – 1:39.14

2. Jan Switkowski (2018) – 1:39.55

3. Marcin Cieslak (2012) – 1:40.19

4. Shaune Fraser (2009) – 1:40.75

5. Maxime Rooney (2019) – 1:40.87

6. Sebastien Rousseau (2014) – 1:41.07

7. Joaquin Gonzalez Pinero (2024) – 1:41.33

8. Jace Crawford (2022) – 1:41.38

9 Mason Laur (2025) – 1:41.70
100-Yard Backstroke 1. Jonny Marshall (2025) – 43.22
200-Yard Backstroke 1. Jonny Marshall (2025) – 1:35.85

2.Ryan Lochte (2006) – 1:37.68

3. Kieran Smith (2022) – 1:38.99

4. Clark Beach (2019) – 1:39.37

5. Omar Pinzon (2009) – 1:39.50

6. Aiden Norman (2025) – 1:39.69

7. Rex Tullius (2009) – 1:39.88

8. Clark Beach (2021) – 1:40.02

9. Caleb Maldari (2025) – 1:40.05
100-Yard Breaststroke 1. Julian Smith (2025) – 49.51

2. Caeleb Dressel (2018) – 50.03

3. Dillon Hills (2021) – 50.96

4. Aleksas Savickas (2025) – 51.01
200-Yard Freestyle Relay 1. Liendo, Painter, Fullum-Huot, Buff (2025) 1:13.29

2. Liendo, Chaney, Friese, McDuff (2023) 1:13.35

3. Liendo, Smith, Painter, Buff (2025) 1:13.37
800-Yard Freestyle Relay 1. Painter, Liendo, Smith, Mitchell (2025) 6:02.50

2. McDuff, Liendo, Smith, Mitchell (2024) 6:06.36

3. Painter, Smith, Mitchell, Lindholm (2025) 6:06.96

Saturday Results

FOLLOW THE GATORS
SOCIAL: X | Facebook | Instagram
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators




Source link

editor's pick

latest video

Sports News To You

Subscribe to receive daily sports scores, hot takes, and breaking news!

you might also like