Swimming

Florida Blitzes 2:58.32 400 Medley Relay As Three Teams Go Under NCAA Record

March 25, 2023

2023 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 22-25, 2023
Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center | Minneapolis, MN
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An electric finale to Friday night’s finals session at the Men’s NCAA Championships resulted in three teams going under the NCAA and U.S. Open Record in the 400 medley relay—a mark that had been on the books for six years.

The University of Florida broke its second straight relay record at the championships, soaring to a time of 2:58.32 to lower the previous NCAA and U.S. Open Record of 2:59.22 by nine-tenths of a second. That old record belonged to the University of Texas, set at the 2017 NCAA Championships.

The Gator squad, comprised of Adam Chaney (44.28), Dillon Hillis (50.23), Josh Liendo (42.91) and Macguire McDuff (40.90), all stepped up with big splits across the board to earn the victory, with Liendo pulling the team into the lead with the fastest fly leg ever before McDuff got the job done with a scintillating anchor.

Florida had neared the record earlier this season, clocking 2:59.48 at SECs.

Split Comparison

TEXAS, 2017 NCAAs	FLORIDA, 2023 SECs	FLORIDA, 2023 NCAAs
John Shebat – 44.58	Adam Chaney – 44.17	Adam Chaney – 44.28
Will Licon – 49.75	Dillon Hillis – 50.63	Dillon Hillis – 50.23
Joseph Schooling – 43.60	Josh Liendo – 43.35	Josh Liendo – 42.91
Jack Conger – 41.29	Macguire McDuff – 41.33	Macguire McDuff – 40.90
2:59.22	2:59.48	2:58.32

Also going under Texas’ previous record was Indiana and Arizona State, who both had jaw-dropping splits of their own.

Brendan Burns followed up his 100 backstroke victory with a 43.82 lead-off for the Hoosiers, and then Josh Matheny (50.31), Tomer Frankel (43.70) and Rafael Miroslaw (41.26) closed things out to place the team second in 2:59.09.

Led off by Jack Dolan in 44.62, under his 100 back best time set in this morning’s prelims (44.78), ASU had Leon Marchand take over on the breaststroke leg, as he dropped the fastest split in history in 49.23 to put the Sun Devils in the lead. Max McCusker (44.55) and Jonny Kulow (40.78) closed things out as they took third in 2:59.18.

Split Comparison

FLORIDA	INDIANA	ARIZONA STATE
Adam Chaney – 44.28	Brendan Burns – 43.82	Jack Dolan – 44.62
Dillon Hillis – 50.23	Josh Matheny – 50.31	Leon Marchand – 49.23
Josh Liendo – 42.91	Tomer Frankel – 43.70	Max McCusker – 44.55
Macguire McDuff – 40.90	Rafael Miroslaw – 41.26	Jonny Kulow – 40.78
2:58.32	2:59.09	2:59.18

The top five teams were under the existing American Record of 3:01.51, set by Cal in 2017, but none of the squads were eligible with at least one international swimmer in their lineup. NC State (3:00.22) placed second with a new ACC Record, while Cal took fifth in 3:00.38.