By Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam
2025 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships
- March 26-29, 2025
- Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center, Federal Way, Washington
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- Pre-Selection Psych Sheets
With the conclusion of conference championships and Last Chance meets, the NCAA has released the pre-selection psych sheets for the 2025 Men’s NCAA Division I Championships. These pre-selection psych sheets don’t tell us exactly who is invited to the championships, which take place from March 26-29 in Federal Way, Washington. Rather, they show which events swimmers have opted to enter as they pursue an NCAA berth, allow us to score out the meet, and project where the cut line will fall.
The official psych sheets, complete with the cut line, are typically released on Wednesday afternoon.
There aren’t any entries that are off the map, but notable entries include:
- Jordan Crooks (Tennessee) — 50 free, 100 free, 200 free
- Gabriel Jett (California) — 500 free, 200 free, 200 back
- Hubert Kos (Texas) — 200 IM, 100 back, 200 back
- Luca Urlando (Georgia) — 200 IM, 100 fly, 200 fly
- Ilya Kharun (Arizona State) — 50 free, 100 fly, 200 fly
- Lucas Henveaux (California) — 500 free, 400 IM, 1650 free
For the second year in a row, Jordan Crooks has opted against the 100 butterfly in favor of an all sprint freestyle lineup of the 50/100/200 freestyle. He made the ‘A’ final in all three events last year, finishing second in the 50 free, fourth in the 100 free, and sixth in the 200 free. This year, Crooks heads to Federal Way as the top seed in the 50/100 freestyle (17.85/40.26) and second in the 200 freestyle (1:30.00). His season-best 100 butterfly ranks third in the league this season (43.77), behind Josh Liendo and Luca Urlando.
Liendo and Crooks will still see plenty of each other at the NCAA Championships, though, as they are set to face off in the 50 and 100 freestyle. After dabbling with the 200 butterfly during the regular season, Liendo locked back into his 50 free/100 butterfly/100 freestyle lineup in the postseason and aims to defend his NCAA title in each of his three individual events. All three of these events will be must-see television, especially after Crooks and Liendo tied for the SEC title in the 100 freestyle last month.
Another top-ranked swimmer we won’t see in the 100 butterfly at NCAAs is Hubert Kos. The reigning 200 backstroke Olympic champion has pulled butterfly duty on Texas’ medley relays this season. He’s also done well in the individual event, posting a 44.005 at the Eddie Reese Showdown that ranks fifth in the league this season. But as he did at the SEC Championships, Kos has stuck with the 200 IM/100 back/200 back lineup this year.
Even without Crooks and Kos, the men’s 100 butterfly will be stacked, as Liendo is joined by Urlando and Ilya Kharun. This will be the first head-to-head for Urlando and Kharun at the NCAA Championships, as they are also slated to face off in a highly anticipated 200 fly showdown to close out the individual event slate at the meet.
One of the most interesting event lineup changes this year is Gabriel Jett‘s switch to the 200 backstroke on day four of the meet. Jett has typically raced the 200 fly on the last day and finished third in the event last year. But, he’s made massive strides in his backstroke this season, which culminated in him winning the 200 backstroke ACC title in a lifetime best 1:37.19. The time ranks him fourth on the psych sheet and lets Cal maintain its multi-pronged attack in the event for another season. Defending NCAA champion Destin Lasco has yet to show his cards this season and sits 17th on the psych sheet in the 200 IM, 24th in the 100 backstroke, and 6th in the 200 backstroke.
TOP SEEDS IN EACH EVENT
- 200 Medley Relay – Tennessee, 1:20.22
- 800 Free Relay – Florida, 6:02.50
- 500 Free – Rex Maurer, Texas, 4:04.45
- 200 IM – Julian Smith, Florida, 1:39.38
- 50 Free – Jordan Crooks, Tennessee, 17.85
- 200 Free Relay – Tennessee, 1:12.80
- 400 IM – Rex Maurer, Texas, 3:34.19
- 100 Fly – Josh Liendo, Florida, 43.23
- 200 Free – Luke Hobson, Texas, 1:29.34
- 100 Breast – Julian Smith, Florida, 49.51
- 100 Back – Jonny Marshall, Florida, 43.73
- 400 Medley Relay – Florida, 2:55.66
- 1650 Free – David Johnston, Texas, 14:26.00
- 200 Back – Hubert Kos, Texas, 1:35.72
- 100 Free – Jordan Crooks, Tennessee, 40.26
- 200 Breast – Matt Fallon, Penn, 1:48.85
- 200 Fly – Luca Urlando, Georgia, 1:37.17
- 400 Free Relay – Tennessee, 2:42.41
INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS
The NCAA invites the same number of overall swimmers every year. 270 men and 322 women make the meet annually. Depending on how many of those 270/322 athletes qualify in multiple events, the numbers can range some as to how many entries in each event get invited.
The simple part: “A” qualifiers get in automatically. Hit an “A” cut, and you’re set. Then the NCAA fills in the remaining spots with the next-fastest “B” cuts.
Here’s a step-by-step process for how the NCAA selects the 270 men and 322 women for each year’s invite list:
1. 35 of the men’s spots and 41 of the women’s spots are set aside for divers, who qualify for the meet at zone competitions closer the NCAA Championships. That leaves 235 men’s spots and 281 for the women.
2. Every “A” cut put up this season is added.
3. The next fastest swimmers in each event are added until every event has the same number of entries. For example, if the 50 free were to have the most “A” cuts of any event with 10, then every other event would get swimmers with the top 10 fastest times in.
4. Finally, one entry is added to each event to keep the entries per event even. This process is repeated until all of the swimming spots (235 for men, 281 for women) are filled. Keep in mind that as more rows are added, swimmers will start to double and triple up. The #1 seed in the 200 back might be the #15 seed in the 100 back – as the 15th row of swimmers is added to each event, he’ll be added to the 100 back list, but won’t take up another one of the 281 invite spots, as he already has his official invite.
5. The final row of swimmers added won’t come out exactly even. In the final row, the swimmers with entry times closest to the NCAA “A” cut will get added first, and when the 235th man or 281st woman is added, the process stops. So the 100 fly could have 38 men and the 200 fly 39 men – that would mean the 39th 200 flyer was closer to the NCAA “A” than the 39th 100 flyer and therefore won the ‘tie-breaker’ for the final spot.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: NCAA Releases Pre-Selection Psych Sheets For 2025 Men’s NCAA Division I Championships