Gators Fight to the End and Take Home Third Place

Saturday, March 30

Indianapolis, IN

Prelims - 10 a.m. | Finals - 6 p.m.

Florida Gators

378

Men's Swimming & Diving Championships

Gators Fight to the End and Take Home Third Place

Sunday, March 31, 2024 | Men's Swimming & Diving

Photo Gallery

By: Abby Wisecup

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The final day of the 2024 NCAA Championships highlighted the importance each individual's result has on the team's total outcome. The men put together a team effort to finish third in the Nation with 378 points. The final score marks the second-best finish in program history, trailing 2014's 387.

Programs Top-10 Best NCAA Championship Scores

2014 – 387
2024 - 378
2022 – 374
2023 – 367.5
2021 – 367
2010 – 364
2018 – 347
2016 – 334
1985 – 329
2007 - 321

Saturday's finish marks the 11^th third-place finish in program history, with the last being in 2022. The last time both the men's and women's program finished in the top-three was 37 years ago in 1987. The women's team finished third at their NCAA Championships last week after scoring 364 points. No other swimming and diving program in the country had both teams finish in the top five at this year's NCAA's.

How it Happened
Following an unfortunate disqualification in the 400 Medley Relay Friday night, the Gators sat only 26 points ahead Indiana's fourth-place position. Florida qualified six swimmers to finals including Gio Linscheer and Andrew Taylor who raced in the final heat of the 1650-yard freestyle heat as well as the 400 free relay. Indiana on the other hand, advanced three divers to guarantee anywhere between 36 and 53 points. In addition, the Hoosiers sent seven swimmers to the finals as well as the relay.

The final milers came in clutch, scoring a combined 33 team points. Linscheer dropped 2.77 seconds off his fifth-seeded time (14:38.78) to record the second-best time in Florida history. The sophomore finished in second place with 14:36.01 to merit his first top-three NCAA finish of his career. Following in third was Florida freshman and SEC 1650 Free Champion Andrew Taylor, who went 14:37.80. His finish marks his first NCAA podium and first All-American Honor.

Jonny Marshall nearly dropped one second off his morning prelim time in the 200 back to secure a fourth-place finish after swimming a 1:37.04. The freshman still holds Florida's best time with his 1:36.68 he recorded at SEC's last month.

Josh Liendo defended his title in the 100 Free to cap off his Championship success with a third National Title to sweep his individual events and take home his first 50 Free, 100 Fly and second 100 Free. The sophomore contributed to 154 of Florida's points (60 individual and 94 relay). His three times all sit second-best for their event, while setting nine different records, including the 200Y Medley Relay NCAA, Meet, Pool, U.S Open and program on the opening night of events.

Following the platform finals, Indiana had a 14-point advantage over the Gators heading into the final event of the meet. The 400 free relay team of Liendo, Adam Chaney, Julian Smith and Macguire McDuff won the event last year, and was looking to score between 40 and 22 points. The four were seeded second in the final fourth heat, which is what they would finish with after going 2:44.21 to secure a higher placement then the "home" team and secure 34 points to reclaim third place overall.

Diving

The veteran duo of Skip Donald and Anton Svirskyi climbed the tower for the final diving event of the week. Coming off his 16^th place finish in the 3-Meter yesterday to earn his first second-team All-American Honor, Skip concluded his final diving event with three 50+ scores to register a 297.20. He finishes his collegiate career with his one All-American Honor, two NCAA Championship showings in five events, two SEC Men's Diver of the Week Awards and was a member of the 2023 and 2024 SEC Championship Teams. Svirskyi closed out his time as a Gator as well, finishing with a 272.40 score. He closes out his NCAA career with one All-American Honor on Platform after finishing 15^th at the 2022 NCAA Championships.

By the Numbers
Florida tallied 30 top-16 finishes and recorded 18 top-10 program bests, while 14 Gators earned 39 All-American Honors.

All-American Tracker

200 Medley Relay – Adam Chaney, Julian Smith, Josh Liendo, Macguire McDuff

800 Freestyle Relay – Macguire McDuff, Julian Smith, Oskar Lindholm, Jake Mitchell

200 Freestyle Relay – Josh Liendo, Adam Chaney, Julian Smith, Macguire McDuff

400 Freestyle Relay - Josh Liendo, Adam Chaney, Julian Smith, Macguire McDuff

50 Freestyle: Josh Liendo

400 IM – Mason Laur and Giovanni Linscheer

100 Butterfly: Josh Liendo

100 Breaststroke: Julian Smith

100 Backstroke: Adam Chaney and Jonny Marshall

1650 Freestyle: Giovanni Linscheer and Andrew Taylor

100 Freestyle: Josh Liendo

200 Backstroke: Jonny Marshall

Honorable Mention All-American Tracker

500 Freestyle: Jake Mitchell and Giovanni Linscheer

200 IM: Julian Smith

50 Free: Adam Chaney and Ed Fullum-Huot

400 IM – Joaquin Gonzalez Pinero

100 Butterfly: Scotty Buff

200 Freestyle: Jake Mitchell and Macguire McDuff

100 Breaststroke: Aleksas Savickas

100 Backstroke: Scotty Buff

200 Breaststroke: Aleksas Savickas

100 Freestyle: Macguire McDuff

Top 16 Finishes

1^st Place	200 Medley Relay – Chaney (20.29), Smith (22.55), Liendo (18.97), McDuff (18.34) - 1:20.15 200 Free Relay – Liendo , Chaney (, Julian Smith, Macguire McDuff 50 Freestyle - Josh Liendo 100 Butterfly – Josh Liendo – 43.07 100 Freestyle – Josh Liendo – 40.20
2^nd Place	1650 Freestyle - Giovanni Linscheer - 14:36.01 400 Free Relay - Liendo (41.28), Chaney (40.80), Smith (41.30), McDuff (40.83) – 2:44.21
3^rd Place	100 Backstroke – Adam Chaney – 43.99 1650 Freestyle - Andrew Taylor – 14:37.80
4^th Place	800 Freestyle Relay – McDuff (1:31.82), Smith (1:32.78), Lindholm (1:32.51), Jake (1:30.89)- 6:08.00 200 Backstroke – Jonny Marshall - 1:37.04
6^th Place	400 IM – Mason Laur – 3:37.98
7^th Place	400 IM – Giovanni Linscheer – 3:39.90 100 Breaststroke – Julian Smith – 51.18
8^th Place	100 Backstroke – Jonny Marshall – 44.86
9^th Place	500 Freestyle - Jake Mitchell – 100 Breaststroke – Aleksas Savickas – 51.06
10^th Place	500 Freestyle - Giovanni Linscheer – 200 Freestyle – Macguire McDuff – 1:31.78
11^th Place	200 IM - Julian Smith
12^th Place	100 Butterfly – Scotty Buff – 44.88
13^th Place	50 Freestyle - Ed Fullum-Huot – 200 Freestyle – Jake Mitchell – 1:31.92
14^th Place	1-Meter Diving – Peyton Donald – 349.25
15^th Place	50 Freestyle - Adam Chaney – 19.15 200 Breaststroke - Aleksas Savickas – 1:52.74
16^th Place	400 IM - Joaquin Gonzalez Pinero – 3:43.01 100 Backstroke – Scotty Buff – 45.33 100 Freestyle - Macguire McDuff – 41.93 1-Meter Diving - Skip Donald – 355.30

Florida All-Time Top-10 Men's Times

50-Yard Freestyle	1. Caeleb Dressel (2018) – 17.63 2. Josh Liendo (2024) – 18.07 3. Adam Chaney (2022) – 18.75 4. Brad deBorde (2014) – 18.86 5. Macguire McDuff (2024) – 18.87 6. Eric Friese (2021) – 18.90 7. Will Davis (2022) – 18.99 8. Ed Fullum-Huot (19.07)
100-Yard Freestyle	1. Caeleb Dresel (2018) – 39.90 2. Josh Liendo – 40.20
200-Yard Freestyle	1. Kieran Smith (2021) – 1:29.48 2. Macguire McDuff (2024) – 1:30.64 3. Jake Mitchell (2024) – 1:31.55
500-Yard Freestyle	1. Kieran Smith (2021) – 4:06.32 2. Alfonso Mesture (2022) – 4:09.74 3. Mitch D'Arrigo (2016) – 4:09.98 4. Jake Mitchell (2024) – 4:10.48 4. Dan Wallace (2015) – 4:10.48 6. Bobby Finke (2021) – 4:11.11 7. Conor Dwyer (2011) – 4:11.36 8. Giovanni Linscheer (2024) – 4:11.84
1650-Yard Freestyle	1. Bobby Finke (2020) – 14:12.08 2. Giovanni Linscheer (2024) – 14:36.01 3. Andrew Taylor (2024) – 14:37.80
100-Yard Butterfly	1. Caeleb Dressel (2018) – 42.80 2. Josh Liendo (2024) – 43.07
100-Yard Backstroke	1. Adam Chaney (2024) – 43.99 2. Jonny Marshall (2024) – 44.12 3. Ryan Lochte (2005) – 44.60 4. Kacper Stokowski (2019) – 44.90 5. Scotty Buff (2024) – 45.20
100-Yard Breaststroke	1. Caeleb Dressel (2018) – 50.03 2. Julian Smith (2024) – 50.94
200-Yard IM	1. Caeleb Dressel (2018) – 1:38.13 2. Jan Switkowski (2018) – 1:39.54 3. Mark Szaranek (2017) – 1:40.27 4. Bradley Ally (2009) – 1:40.49 5. Ryan Lochte (2006) – 1:40.55 6. Marcin Cieslak (2013) – 1:40.58 7. Kieran Smith (2020) – 1:41.72 8. Julian Smith (2024) – 1:41.87
400-Yard IM	1. Mark Scaranek (2017) – 3:36.31 2. Robert Finke (2022) – 3:36.83 3. Kieran Smith (2020) – 3:37.31 4. Conor Dwyer (2011) – 3:37.75 5. Mason Laur (2024) – 3:37.98 6. Ryan Lochte (2006) – 3:38.15 7. Bradley Ally (2009) – 3:38.20 8. Dan Wallace (2014) – 3:38.96 9. Giovanni Linscheer (2024) – 3:39.26
200-Yard Freestyle Relay	1. J. Liendo, A. Chaney, E. Friese, M. McDuff (2023) – 1:13.35 2. J. Liendo A. Chaney, J. Smith, M. McDuff (2024)– 1:13.49
800-Yard Freestyle Relay	1. M. McDuff, J. Liendo, J. Smith, J. Mitchell (2024) – 6:06.36 2. M. McDuff, J. Smith, O. Lindholm, J. Mitchell (2024) – 6:08.00
200-Yard Medley Relay	1. J. Liendo, A. Chaney, J. Smith, M. McDuff (2024) – 1:20.15

Saturday's Complete Results
Results from Friday's Finals and Prelims can be found below.

Saturday, March 30 Prelims Results – Top 16 advance to Finals
Men's 200 Yard Backstroke	4. Jonny Marshall – 1:37.84 (Added +1.16)
Men's 100 Yard Freestyle	2. Josh Liendo - 40.73 (Dropped -0.09) 13. Macguire McDuff - 41.55 (Added +0.25) 20. Adam Chaney - 41.89 (Dropped -0.28) 31. Ed Fullum-Huot - 42.18 (Dropped -0.20)
Men's 200 Yard Breaststroke	15. Aleksas Savickas – 1:52.62 (Added +2.20) 23. Peter Bretzmann – 1:54.08 (Added +1.03)
Men's 200 Yard Butterfly	23. Mason Laur – 1:42.24 (Added +0.24) 24. Joaquin Gonzalez Pinero – 1:42.25 (Added +0.92)
Men's Platform Diving	Skip Donald \| 31^st Place Round 1 – 45.00 Round 2 – 50.40 / 95.40 Round 3 – 37.50 / 132.90 Round 4 – 55.50 / 188.40 Round 5 – 51.20 / 239.60 Round 6 – 57.60 / 297.20 Anton Svirskyi \| 40^th Place Round 1 – 14.85 Round 2 – 34.65 / 49.50 Round 3 – 47.60 / 97.10 Round 4 – 34.50 / 131.60 Round 5 – 67.20 / 198.80 Round 6 – 73.60 / 272.40
Saturday, March 30 Finals Results
Men's 1650 Yard Freestyle	2. Giovanni Linsheer – 14:36.01 3. Andrew Taylor – 14:37.80 22. Eric Brown – 14:50.70 23. Oskar Lindholm – 14:50.78 33. Jake Mitchell – 15:07.57
Men's 200 Yard Backstroke	4. Jonny Marshall – 1:37.04
Men's 100 Yard Freestyle	1. Josh Liendo – 40.20 16. Macguire McDuff – 41.93
Men's 200 Yard Breaststroke	15. Aleksas Savickas – 1:52.74
Men's 400 Free Relay	2. Liendo (41.28), Chaney (40.80), Smith (41.30), McDuff (40.83) – 2:44.21