By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
2025 ACC Swimming and Diving Championships
- February 18-22, 2025
- Greensboro Aquatic Center — Greensboro, North Carolina
- Full Event Schedule (pre-scratch timeline)
- Championship Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Live Streaming
- Day 1 Finals Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap |Day 2 Finals Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Recap | Day 3 Finals Recap
U.S. Olympian Brooks Curry was expected to swim at the ACC Championships at the time the meet’s psych sheets were released, but the NCAA found something else they wanted to look into regarding his eligibility shortly after they dropped, Cal associate head coach David Marsh told SwimSwam on Thursday.
Marsh said that the NCAA wanted to look further into Curry’s involvement in the Athlete Partnership Agreement, a program from USA Swimming that pays modest stipends to National Team athletes.
While college athletes are now allowed to receive money from their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), there are still restrictions on earning prize money from competition and salaries or wages to participate in sports.
The lines for what money is, and is not, allowed is still a bit fuzzy and the subject of ongoing litigation.
Curry swam his first four seasons of eligibility at LSU, where in 2022 he was the NCAA Champion in the 50 yard free (18.56) and 100 yard free (40.84). He was eligible for five years of eligibility because of the bonus year of COVID eligibility awarded to all swimmers who participated in the 2020-2021 collegiate season.
Curry entered the transfer portal in 2024, but at the time he wasn’t expected to swim at Cal, with that entry being so that the two could discuss the possibility.
Since that time, Curry has been training at Cal as a pro athlete.
Curry was on the U.S. Olympic Team at both the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games. He won two relay medals: gold in the 400 free relay in Tokyo, and silver in the 800 free relay in Paris. In both events, he contributed as a prelims performer.
At his last NCAA Championship meet in 2023, he finished 4th in the 200 free, 4th in the 50 free, and 5th in the 100 free, scoring 44 individual points. It would be speculative to guess Curry’s current training condition, given that he hasn’t raced since the Olympics, a 50-60 point impact on Cal’s NCAA Championship meet, including on relays, would be a reasonable expectation for him.
Those points could be crucial to Cal’s outcome in an anticipated tight three-team race with Indiana and Texas.
Even without Curry, Cal has added a couple of big names late in the season to pitch in to their post-season push. Lucas Henveaux, who broke the ACC Record in the 500 free earlier this week in 4:08.83, in his return to the Golden Bears in January; as did French backstroker Mewen Tomac, who was 4th at the Olympics in the 200 free last year.
It is still unclear whether Curry will pursue an NCAA qualification via a last chance meet, or if this will mean the official end of his NCAA career.
The Cal men, competing in their first ACC Championships, take a lead into Friday’s competition.
Team Standings After Day 3:
- Cal – 633.5
- Stanford – 565
- UNC – 517
- NC State – 501
- Louisville – 449.5
- VA Tech – 331
- UVA – 306
- Florida State – 305.5
- Pitt – 255.5
- SMU – 239
- Georgia Tech – 233
- Duke – 105
- Boston College – 62
- Miami – 52
- Notre Dame – 19
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Brooks Curry Was Supposed to Swim at ACCs, But NCAA Raised New Questions