NCAA Men’s Championships: Tennessee Wins 200 Free Relay, First Men’s Crown Since 1996
When you put the fastest 50 freestyler in the country on a relay with the third-fastest, chances are good that you have something cooking.
Tennessee did that simple math Thursday night, and it summed to the school’s first NCAA men’s relay title since 1996.
Jordan Crooks, Gui Caribe, Lamar Taylor and Nikoli Blackman went 1:12.84, just .04 off the NCAA record the Volunteers set at the SEC Championships and the meet record.
Crooks, who won the 50 free in 17.93, assembled his sixth career sub-18 swim in 17.82. Caribe, third in the 50, followed in 17.81. Blackman (18.67) and Taylor (18.54) held off the charging horde to get the win.
“I think this relay has been, even outside of the pool, one of the closest relays that I’ve been part of,” Caribe said. “We created really good connections since the beginning of the season, and we’ve been thinking a lot about SECs, NCAAs – How do you want to execute the relay, the best that we can. And as Jordan said, we had in our minds, have fun, swim fast, and do the best that we can. We did that today, and we won.”
Arizona State was second, a spot higher than last year, in 1:13.05. Jonny Kulow’s 18.14 nearly chased the Volunteers down. Ilya Kharun led off in 18.39, with everyone front-loading.
Florida, in its bid for a third straight crown, was third in 1:13.37, behind an 18.24 from 50 free runner-up and Josh Liendo and 18.25 from Julian Smith.
California was fourth, two spots up on Texas, but in their weakest relay, the Longhorns retain a tidy cushion in the team race.
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 7 1. Texas 190 2. California 159.5 3. Indiana 146 4. Tennessee 114 5. Arizona St 111 6. Florida 101 7. Georgia 92 8. NC State 90 9. Stanford 81 10. Michigan 43 10. Alabama 43 12. Texas A&M 39.5 13. Ohio St 38 14. Florida St 34 15. Southern Cal 32 16. Virginia Tech 29 17. Louisville 24 18. Georgia Tech 19 18. Purdue 19 20. Lsu 18 21. UNC 16 22. University of Utah 15 23. Auburn 14 23. Wisconsin 14 25. Smu 12 26. Miami (Fl) 11 27. Yale 9 28. Virginia 8 29. Kentucky 6 29. Missouri 6 31. Army 4 32. Arizona 1
Crooks has been indisputably outstanding individually, his gold in the 50 free his second individual gold and ninth career individual top-six finish. But he had never been part of a Volunteers relay that had finished better than fourth. They hit that spot in the 200 free relay in 2023, then dropped a spot to fifth last year. When Crooks was a freshman in 2022, his two relays finished 16th and 17th.
“Just to see how far we’ve come since my freshman year, it’s awesome,” Crooks said. “These guys have played a major role in that, and I’m just super grateful to be a part of it.”
Now, the international affair – all four swimmers hail from different countries, none of them the U.S. – is atop the podium, with the Caymanian lead the charge.
A night after seeing a winning Florida relay get DQed, the Vols played it safe late — .33 on the pickup for Blackman, .41 for Taylor.
“Right before that race, Jordan was like, listen, ‘we don’t need any heroes. Just play it safe and touch the wall, jump and swim,'” Taylor said. “That’s basically what I did.”
“I knew I was going to get a bit of a lead,” Blackman said. “And the officials have been very strict with like 15 (yards) and the reaction times. So I just thought to myself, it’s not going to be a low reaction time, but the race is going to start when I’m in the water.”
The math worked out pretty seamlessly. Tennessee had the first-, third- and 17th place finishers in the 50, plus Blackman, who struggled to 48th in the morning, perhaps saving himself for the relay. ASU had the guys who finished fourth, seventh, 25th and 26th. Florida’s guys came in second, ninth and 23rd, plus Smith, who swam the 200 IM. Cal had fifth, 11th, 29th and Destin Lasco, while Texas drafted in three non-sprinters to back Chris Guiliano.
Event 7 Men 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
==================================================================================
NCAA: N 1:12.80 2/19/2025 Tennessee
J Crooks, G Caribe, L Taylor, N Blackman
Meet: M 1:13.35 3/23/2023 Florida
J Liendo, A Chaney, E Friese, M McDuff
American: A 1:14.11 3/24/2022 Florida
A Chaney, J Friese, W Davis, K Smith
U. S. Open: O 1:12.80 2/19/2025 Tennessee
J Crooks, G Caribe, L Taylor, N Blackman
School Seed Finals Points
==================================================================================
1 Tennessee 1:12.80 1:12.84M 40
1) Crooks, Jordan SR 2) r:0.14 Caribe, Guilherme JR
3) r:0.33 Blackman, Nikoli SO 4) r:0.41 Taylor, Lamar 5Y
r:+0.59 8.57 17.82 (17.82)
26.00 (8.18) 35.63 (17.81)
44.41 (8.78) 54.30 (18.67)
1:03.17 (8.87) 1:12.84 (18.54)
2 ASU 1:13.93 1:13.05M 34
1) Kharun, Ilya SO 2) r:0.17 Palmer, Tommy JR
3) r:0.19 Sammon, Patrick SR 4) r:0.18 Kulow, Jonny JR
r:+0.62 8.96 18.39 (18.39)
26.78 (8.39) 36.56 (18.17)
45.16 (8.60) 54.91 (18.35)
1:03.45 (8.54) 1:13.05 (18.14)
3 Florida 1:13.29 1:13.37 32
1) Liendo, Josh JR 2) r:0.27 Smith, Julian SR
3) r:0.19 Painter, Alexander FR 4) r:0.07 Buff, Scott SO
r:+0.63 8.80 18.24 (18.24)
26.86 (8.62) 36.49 (18.25)
45.07 (8.58) 54.89 (18.40)
1:03.54 (8.65) 1:13.37 (18.48)
4 California 1:15.10 1:14.12 30
1) Alexy, Jack SR 2) r:0.20 Seeliger, Bjorn 5Y
3) r:0.18 Jensen, Matthew 5Y 4) r:0.25 Lasco, Destin 5Y
r:+0.67 8.88 18.34 (18.34)
26.96 (8.62) 36.75 (18.41)
45.42 (8.67) 55.41 (18.66)
1:04.25 (8.84) 1:14.12 (18.71)
5 NC State 1:14.29 1:14.37 28
1) McCarty, Quintin SO 2) r:0.18 Salls, Drew JR
3) r:0.19 Fox, Jerry SO 4) r:0.13 Miller, Luke 5Y
r:+0.62 9.03 18.79 (18.79)
27.39 (8.60) 37.22 (18.43)
45.90 (8.68) 55.74 (18.52)
1:04.41 (8.67) 1:14.37 (18.63)
6 Texas 1:14.94 1:14.66 26
1) Guiliano, Chris SR 2) r:0.29 Kos, Hubert JR
3) r:0.22 Modglin, Will SO 4) r:0.32 Hobson, Luke SR
r:+0.60 8.92 18.62 (18.62)
27.46 (8.84) 37.18 (18.56)
46.08 (8.90) 56.16 (18.98)
1:04.97 (8.81) 1:14.66 (18.50)
7 Indiana 1:15.33 1:14.67 24
1) Brooks, Finn SR 2) r:0.17 King, Matthew JR
3) r:0.16 Lee, Mikkel SO 4) r:0.16 Smiley, Dylan SO
r:+0.62 9.05 19.06 (19.06)
27.71 (8.65) 37.48 (18.42)
46.23 (8.75) 56.13 (18.65)
1:04.82 (8.69) 1:14.67 (18.54)
8 TAMU 1:15.86 1:15.25 22
1) Foote, Connor JR 2) r:0.23 Scholl, Benjamin SO
3) r:0.19 Reno, Seth JR 4) r:0.14 Sytsma, Ben FR
r:+0.63 9.07 18.93 (18.93)
27.47 (8.54) 37.42 (18.49)
46.06 (8.64) 56.29 (18.87)
1:05.13 (8.84) 1:15.25 (18.96)
.jpg "2025 NCAA Division I Men's Championships - logo"){kind=logo}