Swimming

Florida Freshman Josh Liendo Splits Fastest 100 Fly Leg Ever During Gators’ 400 MR Win

By

on

By Riley Overend on SwimSwam

2023 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Florida freshman Josh Liendo became the first swimmer to ever post a sub-43 split on the 100 butterfly leg during the Gators’ record-breaking win in Friday night’s 400 medley relay. 

The 20-year-old Canadian Olympian recorded a split of 42.91, nearly half a second faster than Joseph Schooling’s 43.34 while at Texas in 2016. Liendo split 43.35 at last month’s SEC Championships, missing Schooling’s mark by just .01 seconds. 

Splits Comparison

Josh Liendo, 2023 NCAAs Joseph Schooling, 2016 NCAAs
50 Fly 19.54 19.83
100 Fly 42.91 (23.37) 43.34 (23.51)

Florida ended up finishing in 2:58.32, the fastest of three teams in this race under the old NCAA record of 2:59.22 set by Schooling’s Texas squad back in 2017. Liendo was joined by Adam Chaney (44.28), Dillon Hillis (50.23), and Macguire McDuff (40.90). 

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

Liendo’s relay performance came after he placed second in the individual 100 fly event with a 43.40 behind Virginia Tech’s Youssef Ramadan (43.15). He’ll have another shot at individual NCAA title on Saturday night in the 100 free, where’s seeded third (41.22) behind Tennessee’s Jordan Crooks (41.17) and Cal’s Bjorn Seeliger (40.90). 

 

400 YARD MEDLEY RELAY — TIMED FINALS

  • NCAA Record: 2:59.22 — Texas (J. Shebat, W. Licon, J. Schooling, J. Conger), 2017
  • Meet Record: 2:59.22 — Texas (J. Shebat, W. Licon, J. Schooling, J. Conger), 2017
  • American Record: 3:01.51 (R. Murphy, C. Hoppe, M. Josa, M. Jensen), 2017
  • U.S. Open Record: 2:59.22 — Texas (J. Shebat, W. Licon, J. Schooling, J. Conger), 2017
  • Pool Record: 3:01.07 — Indiana (G. Fantoni, I. Finnerty, V. Lanza, B. Pieroni), 2017
  • 2022 Champion: Cal (D. Lasco, R. Whitley, T. Julian, B. Seeliger) — 3:00.36

Top 8:

  1. Florida (A. Chaney, D. Hillis, J. Liendo, M. McDuff) — 2:58.32 (NCAA Record)
  2. Indiana (B. Burns, J. Matheny, T. Frankel, R. Miroslaw) — 2:59.09
  3. Arizona State (J. Dolan, L. Marchand, M. McCusker, J. Kulow) — 2:59.19
  4. NC State — 3:00.22
  5. Cal — 3:00.38
  6. Tennessee — 3:02.05
  7. Virginia Tech — 3:02.53
  8. Texas — 3:03.00

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 (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.

SwimSwam: Florida Freshman Josh Liendo Splits Fastest 100 Fly Leg Ever During Gators’ 400 MR Win

Related Items

You must be logged in to post a comment Login