Yamato Okadome, Nate Germonprez Lead Resurgent NCAA Men’s Breaststroke Fields
The upcoming NCAA Men’s Championships, set to take place in Atlanta at the end of the month, will see significant turnover in the breaststroke events compared to the 2025 season. Six of last year’s eight A-finalists from both 100 and 200 breast have graduated, and that list includes the top two finishers in the 100-yard race plus the five best men in the 200. But this season has already seen a surge from new names along with the few returning standouts, with Texas’ Nate Germonprez and Cal’s Yamato Okadome leading the way.
Germonprez placed third in the 100 breast at last year’s national meet, although he was well off the pace as Florida’s Julian Smith became the fastest swimmer in history. Smith won that final in 49.55, only four hundredths behind the American and NCAA records he had set at the SEC Championships, while Germonprez went 50.29. Now, though, Germonprez is the fourth-fastest man ever in the event, having gone 49.71 at the Texas Invite in November before backing that up with a 49.92 performance at the SEC Championships.
The Texas junior looks like the big favorite to win an NCAA title in the event, but the field has reloaded nicely following last season’s mass graduations. Already, nine men have gone under 51 seconds (compared to 13 all of last season). The chase pack includes Florida’s Koen de Groot at 50.22, Okadome at 50.32 and Germonprez’ Texas teammate Campbell McKean at 50.37. Perhaps one of those men could get close to the 50-second barrier while in pursuit of Germonprez in the national final.
As for the 200, this season already has two swimmers under 1:49 with three more under 1:50. No surprise, at the front of the pack are Okadome and Germonprez. Okadome swam a time of 1:48.87 at the ACC Championships to become the ninth-fastest performer in history while Germonprez clocked 1:48.94 at the SEC meet for 11th on the all-time list. The only swimmers to surpass those times at the 2025 NCAAs were Jassen Yep and Matt Fallon, both gone from the college ranks.
Joining the contenders this past weekend was Michigan’s Luka Mldenovic, who clocked 1:49.34 at the Big Ten Championships for 14th all-time. The freshman from Austria had been solid throughout his first season in Ann Arbor, but that performance was his best time by more than 2.5 seconds.
The others to crack 1:50 include Texas’ Will Scholz and North Carolina’s Ben Delmar; both swam their best times at midseason before entering conference championship meets secure in their national standing heading toward March. Nine more swimmers have recorded times in the 1:50-range, including the Indiana trio of Josh Bey, Noah Cakir and Toby Barnett that chased Mladenovic at the Big Ten meet. Tennessee’s Gabe Nunziata has looked strong in his freshman campaign while the 200 breast is another event in the wheelhouse for versatile Texas senior Baylor Nelson.
Thanks to these performances around the country in November and February, a pair of potentially weaker events on this season’s lineup have some budding stars and strong depth entering the NCAA Championships.