NCAA Men’s Championships: Maximus Williamson Adds 200 IM Title
The promise has long been bubbling for the University of Virginia, once its talented class of young swimmers got there. Maximus Williamson has only stoked the flames of that potential this week.
Williamson started the final night of the NCAA Championships at Georgia Tech with his second national title, a feverish final 100 to take the 200 individual medley title away from Owen McDonald by .09 seconds.
Williamson went 1:38.48 to McDonald’s 1:38.57. The Indiana senior was up by .68 seconds at the midway point, but Williamson outsplit him in breaststroke at 29.05, then took out a half-second coming home, his 23.72 the fastest in the race. Williamson won the 200 free earlier in the week.
McDonald was denied in what has been a long wait for him. He finished second as a sophomore at Arizona State behind Destin Lasco’s American record, then third last year behind Hubert Kos and Texas and Lasco. This seemed like his time, but it wasn’t to be, despite a best time that was more than six tenths quicker than his performance last year.
The event is a major boon for Texas in its chase of the NCAA title. Baylor Nelson finished third in 1:40.08, followed team teammate Will Modglin in fourth in 1:40.94. Campbell McKean also scores in ninth and Nate Germonprez in 14th. Florida did not have a swimmer in the event, the Gators dropping 52.5 points behind the Longhorns.
Indiana bolsters its top-three case, with Arizona State having Ilya Kharun and its spring depth later in the night. In addition to McDonald, the Hoosiers had freshmen Josh Bey finished seventh and Noah Cakir eighth.
In between was a pair of NC State swimmers. Arsenio Bustos finished fifth in 1:41.02, .01 up on teammate Daniel Diehl.
The event underwent massive change from last year, when it was part of Thursday’s schedule. Kos won the event in 1:37.91 last year, edging Lasco by .07 seconds. But the Texas senior opted for the 200 back on Saturday. McDonald, who finished third, was the only other underclassmen among the seven scorers in 2025, with Modglin disqualified in the final after qualifying seventh out of prelims.
Into that void are three freshmen – Williamson, Cakir and Bey, plus McKean in ninth.
There’s an amazing amount of variance year to year in this event. Germonprez, for instance, was seventh as a freshman then 31st last year. Diehl was 28th last year. Nelson, in his last three season with Texas A&M was 14th last year, eighth in 2024 and 10th in 2023.
Event 16 Men 200 Yard IM
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NCAA: N 1:36.34 3/23/2023 Leon Marchand, ASU
Meet: M 1:36.34 3/23/2023 Leon Marchand, ASU
American: A 1:37.91 3/28/2024 Destin Lasco, California
U. S. Open: O 1:36.34 3/23/2023 Leon Marchand, ASU
Pool: P 1:37.69 3/24/2022 Leon Marchand, ASU
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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=== Championship Final ===
1 Williamson, Maximus FR Virginia 1:40.06 1:38.48 20
r:+0.60 21.47 45.71 (24.24)
1:14.76 (29.05) 1:38.48 (23.72)
2 McDonald, Owen SR Indiana 1:39.48 1:38.57 17
r:+0.57 20.94 45.03 (24.09)
1:14.33 (29.30) 1:38.57 (24.24)
3 Nelson, Baylor SR Texas 1:40.82 1:40.08 16
r:+0.61 21.33 46.16 (24.83)
1:15.16 (29.00) 1:40.08 (24.92)
4 Modglin, Will JR Texas 1:40.79 1:40.94 15
r:+0.64 21.85 46.17 (24.32)
1:15.97 (29.80) 1:40.94 (24.97)
5 Bustos, Arsenio 5Y NC State 1:41.22 1:41.02 14
r:+0.64 21.01 45.66 (24.65)
1:15.29 (29.63) 1:41.02 (25.73)
6 Diehl, Daniel JR NC State 1:41.20 1:41.03 13
r:+0.65 21.39 46.64 (25.25)
1:15.85 (29.21) 1:41.03 (25.18)
7 Bey, Josh FR Indiana 1:41.17 1:41.98 12
r:+0.65 22.33 46.99 (24.66)
1:16.31 (29.32) 1:41.98 (25.67)
8 Cakir, Noah FR Indiana 1:40.94 1:42.23 11
r:+0.68 21.79 47.20 (25.41)
1:16.65 (29.45) 1:42.23 (25.58)
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