NCAA Men’s Championships: Jordan Crooks Anchors in 39.36 as Tennessee Finishes With 400 Free Relay Record
A historic era in sprint freestyle would conclude Saturday evening as the college career of Jordan Crooks concluded. Over the past three seasons, Crooks has achieved legendary times over 50 and 100 yards, joining Caeleb Dressel as the only men to break the 18 and 40-second barriers in the two events. While he could not knock off the NCAA record in the 50, he took down Dressel’s seven-year-old mark in the 100 free Saturday morning.
Crooks could not quite hold off longtime rival Josh Liendo in the 100 free final, but he had one final swim remaining, and it would result in a national title at the expense of Liendo and his Florida Gators. Diving into the pool to anchor the Tennessee Volunteers’ 400 free relay four tenths behind Florida, Crooks responded with the fastest split in history, a mark of 39.36 beating his own previous best of 39.52. Crooks entered the race as the only swimmer to ever split below 40 seconds, and he has now done so four times.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better relay to go out on,” Crooks said. “We came together, four guys from different walks of life, and we just made it work.”
That effort helped Tennessee to a national title, adding to a win in the 200 free relay two days earlier. The quartet competing was the same, with Gui Caribe leading off in 40.57 before Lamar Taylor and Nikoli Blackman handled the middle legs. Tennessee finished in 2:42.30, clipping the NCAA and U.S. Open records of 2:42.41 set by an identical quartet at last month’s SEC Championships. Tennessee also annihilated the meet record set by Arizona State last year, swimming a full second faster than the 2:43.40 which was at the time the quickest mark in history.
“We talked about going out with a bang. We set a big goal. It was a tough goal to get to, but we surpassed that at SECs then brought it home at NCAAs,” Taylor said.
It has been the goal all along.
“It is really special. I think you could see us crying. We have a really good connection together as a team. We make fun of each other, and it makes everything lighter,” Caribe said.
It is a relay the Volunteers – and the swimming world – won’t soon forget.
“This is our last time as a relay together – our last time with Jordan and Lamar. We talked about this being the last time we had a relay like this and throughout the season we made the most of it,” Blackman said.
Arizona State also went under the old meet record, with the team of Ilya Kharun, Patrick Sammon, Tommy Palmer and Jonny Kulow clocking 2:43.22. Kulow came home in 39.93, becoming the second swimmer to ever split 39 on a relay, and that inspired anchor leg was needed to put the Sun Devils ahead of Florida for the second spot.
Florida finished third in 2:44.02, with Liendo leading off in 40.42 before Julian Smith, Alex Painter and Scotty Buff finished off the squad. Cal, led off by Jack Alexy in 40.55, finished fourth in 2:44.59. Finishing one spot ahead of Indiana meant the Golden Bears would finish second in the team standings for the 15th consecutive NCAA Championships.
Texas would lock up the national championship by completing the race legally and recording a seventh-place result. The team of Chris Guiliano, Hubert Kos, Rex Maurer and Luke Hobson clocked 2:45.12.
Event 21 Men 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
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NCAA: N 2:42.41 2/22/2025 Tennessee
G Caribe, N Blackman, L Taylor, J Crooks
Meet: M 2:43.40 3/30/2024 Arizona St
L Marchand, J Dolan, P Sammon, J Kulow
American: A 2:44.31 3/24/2018 NC State
R Held, J Ress, J Molacek, C Stewart
U. S. Open: O 2:42.41 2/22/2025 Tennessee
G Caribe, N Blackman, L Taylor, J Crooks
School Seed Finals Points
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1 Tennessee 2:42.41 2:42.30N 40
1) Caribe, Guilherme JR 2) r:0.23 Taylor, Lamar 5Y
3) r:0.14 Blackman, Nikoli SO 4) r:0.21 Crooks, Jordan SR
r:+0.58 19.28 40.57 (40.57)
59.68 (19.11) 1:21.59 (41.02)
1:40.95 (19.36) 2:02.94 (41.35)
2:21.29 (18.35) 2:42.30 (39.36)
2 ASU 2:44.03 2:43.22M 34
1) Kharun, Ilya SO 2) r:0.15 Sammon, Patrick SR
3) r:0.18 Palmer, Tommy JR 4) r:0.14 Kulow, Jonny JR
r:+0.65 19.65 41.24 (41.24)
1:00.22 (18.98) 1:21.79 (40.55)
1:40.99 (19.20) 2:03.29 (41.50)
2:22.08 (18.79) 2:43.22 (39.93)
3 Florida 2:43.60 2:44.02 32
1) Liendo, Josh JR 2) r:0.31 Smith, Julian SR
3) r:0.25 Painter, Alexander FR 4) r:0.34 Buff, Scott SO
r:+0.66 19.11 40.42 (40.42)
59.63 (19.21) 1:21.38 (40.96)
1:40.77 (19.39) 2:02.56 (41.18)
2:22.04 (19.48) 2:44.02 (41.46)
4 California 2:44.81 2:44.59 30
1) Alexy, Jack SR 2) r:0.25 Seeliger, Bjorn 5Y
3) r:0.24 Jensen, Matthew 5Y 4) r:0.03 Lasco, Destin 5Y
r:+0.67 19.36 40.55 (40.55)
59.91 (19.36) 1:21.84 (41.29)
1:41.32 (19.48) 2:03.14 (41.30)
2:22.76 (19.62) 2:44.59 (41.45)
5 Indiana 2:45.62 2:45.08 28
1) McDonald, Owen JR 2) r:0.13 King, Matthew JR
3) r:0.30 Smiley, Dylan SO 4) r:0.26 Miroslaw, Rafael SR
r:+0.58 19.93 41.41 (41.41)
1:00.55 (19.14) 1:22.19 (40.78)
1:42.06 (19.87) 2:03.96 (41.77)
2:23.13 (19.17) 2:45.08 (41.12)
6 NC State 2:45.43 2:45.09 26
1) McCarty, Quintin SO 2) r:0.28 Fox, Jerry SO
3) r:0.21 Miller, Luke 5Y 4) r:0.22 Hoover, Sam SR
r:+0.63 19.61 41.58 (41.58)
1:00.81 (19.23) 1:22.63 (41.05)
1:42.18 (19.55) 2:03.96 (41.33)
2:23.45 (19.49) 2:45.09 (41.13)
7 Texas 2:46.65 2:45.12 24
1) Guiliano, Chris SR 2) r:0.42 Kos, Hubert JR
3) r:0.47 Maurer, Rex SO 4) r:0.36 Hobson, Luke SR
r:+0.62 19.48 40.84 (40.84)
1:00.56 (19.72) 1:22.19 (41.35)
1:42.10 (19.91) 2:04.23 (42.04)
2:23.69 (19.46) 2:45.12 (40.89)
8 VT 2:47.18 2:46.21 22
1) Ramadan, Youssef 5Y 2) r:0.27 Whitfield, Brendan SO
3) r:0.32 Coll Marti, Carles 5Y 4) r:0.22 Molla Yanes, Mario SR
r:+0.58 19.86 41.44 (41.44)
1:00.72 (19.28) 1:22.48 (41.04)
1:42.35 (19.87) 2:04.59 (42.11)
2:24.05 (19.46) 2:46.21 (41.62)
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