Swimming

NCAA-Record 20 Men Have Been Under 19 Seconds in 50 Freestyle So Far This Season

March 11, 2024

College swimming has seen unprecedented levels of depth in the sprinting department so far this season as an NCAA-record 20 men have already been under 19 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle — with the national championships still to come later this month.

Sub-19 second times have been required to make the A-final at the past two NCAA Championships, but it might take sub-19 to even earn a B-final swim this time around.

Sub-19 50 Free

Shifting trends in training and coaching philosophy have ushered in this sprinting renaissance along with a resurgence of top international talent trickling through the NCAA pipeline.

Of the 20 swimmers under 19 seconds in the 50 free this season, nine hail from outside the United States: Cayman Islands’ Jordan Crooks (17.99), Canada’s Josh Liendo (18.55), Brazil’s Gui Caribe (18.70), New Zealand’s Tai Torepe-Ormsby (18.76), Egypt’s Youssef Ramadan (18.79), Egypt’s Abdelrahman Elaraby (18.82), Canada’s Ilya Kharun (18.82), Sweden’s Bjorn Seeliger (18.88), and Croatia’s Jere Hribar (18.99).

They’re following in the footsteps of international sprinting greats such as Brazil’s Cesar Cielo, France’s Fred Bousquet, and Australia’s Matt Targett, who helped bring about an NCAA sprinting revolution from 2005-09. In 2005, Bousquet became the first man under 19 seconds in the 50 free at any meet (18.74 at NCAAs). It took another decade before Caeleb Dressel became the first man to go sub-19 during the fall semester with an 18.77 at the 2015 Ohio State Invitational.

Six programs combined to produce 14 of the 20 sub-19 swimmers this season. Arizona State (Jack Dolan, Kharun, and Jonny Kulow) and Florida (Liendo, Macguire McDuff, and Adam Chaney) lead the way with three apiece while Tennessee (Crooks and Caribe), NC State (Quintin McCarty and Drew Salls), Cal (Seeliger and Jack Alexy), and Notre Dame (Chris Guiliano and Elaraby) also boast multiple swimmers on the list.

Other sub-19 swimmers this season include Virginia senior Matt Brownstead (18.74), Auburn senior Logan Tirheimer (18.95), and Texas A&M sophomore Connor Foote (18.97). Kharun and Hribar are the only true freshmen under 19 seconds this season.