PREVIEW: NCAA Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships

MINNEAPOLIS – Seventh-ranked Tennessee men's swimming & diving is set to compete in the 2023 NCAA Championships, which is being hosted at the University of Minnesota's Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center on March 22-25.

All meet information, including schedules, tickets, heat sheets/results, streaming links, parking and fan policies, can be found on the 2023 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships Central page.

Every session of the meet will be streamed on ESPN+, and fans can also follow along with live results online or by using the Meet Mobile app.

The Vols boast 13 qualifiers, including 10 swimmers and three divers. Tennessee has scored at the NCAA Championship meet for 53 consecutive years, which is the fifth-longest active streak in the country.

Overall, the Vols enter the meet with a combined nine A finalist performance projections–not including diving–and three B final projections. All five of the Tennessee's relays qualified to compete in this years' championship, including three that are seeded in the top five. The Vols earned the top seed in the 200 medley relay with their nation-best time of 1:21.43. The Big Orange boasts third seed in the 400 free relay (2:46.25), fourth in the 200 free relay (1:15.32) and sixth in the 400 medley relay (3:02.51). Rocky Top will also be represented in the 800 free relay.

Coming off a pair of stellar performances at the 2023 SEC Championships, Co-Commissioner's Trophy winners Jordan Crooks and Bryden Hattie will look to continue their hot streak from the conference meet at the NCAA Championships after each earning two gold and one silver medal in their respective events.

Crooks, the SEC Swimmer of the Meet, enters the meet boasting the No. 1 seed in the 50 free (17.93) and owning the second-best time in both the 100 free (41.17) and 100 fly (44.04). The Cayman Islands native swept the freestyle events at SECs, becoming the second swimmer ever to post a sub-18 second time in the 50 free. His speed also helped push the Vols to gold medals in the 400 free relay and 200 medley relay. At last year's NCAAs, Crooks tied for third in the 50 free and touched the wall for fifth in the 100 free as a freshman.

Hattie, who earned SEC Diver of the Meet honors, qualified in all three events after sweeping the NCAA Zone B Championships and setting a new personal best on the tower (480.20). He also medaled in all three events at SECs, winning the platform and 3-meter to go along with his silver on 1-meter. At the 2022 NCAA Championships, he took home third overall on the platform and will look to break into the finals on the springboards after coming up just short last year.

Having played integral roles in the Vols' first-place finishes in the 200 medley relay and 400 free relay at SECs, Gui Caribe and Björn Kammann also punched their tickets to NCAAs. A freshman phenom, Caribe will make his NCAA Championship debut after hauling in five medals during SECs (2x gold, 2x silver, 1x bronze). The five-time SEC Freshman of the Week holds the fourth-fastest time in the nation in the 50 free (18.79) and is ranked seventh nationally in the 100 free (41.44). Kammann will compete in the 100 fly, an event he finished fourth in with the No. 2 time in Tennessee history (45.32) at SECs.

Along with Caribe, fellow freshmen Martin Espernberger, Nick Simons and Nick Stone will also make their debut appearance at NCAAs. Espernberger is coming off a fourth-place finish in the 200 fly (1:41.91) at SECs and is projected to be a B finalist at NCAAs as the No.16 seed entering the meet. Simons and Stone each punched their ticket in two events, with Simons slated to swim in the backstrokes, while Stone will take on the tower and 1-meter springboard.

Veteran breaststrokers Lyubomir Epitropov, Michael Houlie and Jarel Dillard will also be making the trek up north for NCAAs. After winning bronze at SECs with the fastest mark in UT history (1:51.83), Epitropov is set to swim the 200 breast as the 12 seed in the B finals. Dillard looks to best his 42nd-place finish from last year's 200 breast swim at NCAAs, now seeding at the 29th spot with a personal-best 1:52.91. Houlie will compete in the 100 breast after his 51.90 finish at SECs.

Landon Driggers will represent the Vols in the 400 IM, entering as a projected B finalist with the No. 15 seed. Harrison Lierz will compete in the 100 back. Senior Jack Little punched his ticket in the 1650 free after qualifying with a personal-best 14:50.23 during the Tennessee Last Chance Meet.

Event Schedule
Wednesday – Finals at 6 p.m.
200 Medley Relay
800 Free Relay

Thursday – Prelims at 10 a.m. | Finals at 6 p.m.
500 Free
200 IM
50 Free
1-Meter Diving
200 Free Relay

Friday – Prelims at 10 a.m. | Finals at 6 p.m.
400 IM
100 Fly
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
3-Meter Diving
400 Medley Relay

Saturday – Prelims at 10 a.m. | Finals at 6 p.m.
1650 Free
200 Back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly
Platform Diving
400 Free Relay

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Players Mentioned

Gui Caribe

Jordan Crooks

Jarel Dillard

Landon Driggers

Lyubomir Epitropov

Martin Espernberger

Bryden Hattie

Michael Houlie

Björn Kammann

Harrison Lierz

Jack Little

Nick Simons

Nick Stone

University of Tennessee | Official Athletics Site