The 2026 chapter of Florida men’s swim and dive came to a close Saturday, but not without a surplus of historic accolades to be accounted for and its best finish since 1985.
The No. 4 Gators fell victim to Texas’ back-to-back national championship bid, all the while remaining neck and neck with the Longhorns throughout the four-day competition. Florida emerged in second place in the NCAA Championships after a highlight-reel performance from a slew of Gators.
Florida earned five national titles, 14 additional podium finishes and 25 All-America honors.
Leading the pack was senior Josh Liendo. The two-time Olympian had already etched his name into Florida’s history books on more than one occasion but extended his famed career at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta.
Liendo completed the sweep of the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly, joining just Caeleb Dressel as the only Gators to achieve the feat twice. Liendo’s 60-point contribution earned him seven All-America honors to go along with his record-breaking swims.
The 100-yard butterfly record had been lowered during the preliminary rounds by Liendo. The same record was then shattered just hours later, also by Liendo.
“I welcome the pressure, and I love competing. I live for these moments,” he said.
The Toronto native became the fastest swimmer to ever compete in the 100-yard butterfly as his 42.49 time discarded the NCAA, program, meet and U.S. Open records. Liendo came out of preliminaries with a 42.54, but shaved 0.05 seconds off en route to his seventh-career national title.
The final 25 yards were crucial for Liendo as he was trailing for the better 75% of the race. He split 11.44 to grab gold and snap Dressel’s record.
“Ever since I got to Florida, the coaches always said how Caeleb goes no breath on the last 25,” Liendo said. “I’ve been building on that and working at it, just getting better every time.”
Liendo had already proven successful in the 100-yard butterfly; he marked his third consecutive national title in the event after Friday’s performance.
Joining Liendo in the Florida chronicles was Ahmed Jaouadi. The freshman had quickly made a name for himself as a Gator, coming off a gold-medal mile performance in the SEC Championships.
The NCAA Championships were no different for the Tunis native. Jaoaudi nabbed gold in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 14:10.03. His first-place finish marked just the second instance a Gator stole the title. The previous mark of Bobby Finke’s 14:12.08 was widely broken to reset the NCAA, U.S. Open, meet and program records. Jaoaudi swam a 22.17 in the final 50-yard stretch to pass Zalan Sarkany, Indiana’s two-time defending champion in the event.
Jaouadi also claimed silver in the 500-yard freestyle and found the No. 3 program time in the event at 4:06.90. His 20 earned points from the mile swim propelled Florida to the top of the standings after the first day of competition.
Diving head coach Bryan Gillooly’s crew also played a major role in Florida’s historic NCAA run. Conor Gesing, Jesus Agundez and Jesus Gonzalez combined for 58 points.
Agundez closed out his wildly successful freshman campaign with 15 points on the 1-meter dive. He made his NCAA Championships debut after he became a finalist in the event and a member of the second-place team at SEC’s in February.
Gesing carried the majority of the weight for the Gators, bringing in 27 total points to Florida’s 419. The 5-foot-7 junior finished in sixth place in the 1-meter, an event he became a 2025 conference champion in. Gesing also grabbed fifth place in the 3-meter competition.
Florida’s runner-up result was also the sixth top-five finish under head coach Anthony Nesty. The Gators had yet to sniff second place since 1985 when they closed out their back-to-back national title run in 1983-84.
“This is a very special group of men who just finished the season as the national runner-up,” Nesty said. “From our freshmen to our seniors to our divers who scored the most points collectively out of every diving program at the meet. Everyone played a role in this historic finish, and I am unbelievably proud. It’s great to be a Florida Gator.”
Contact Riley Orovitz at rorovitz@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @rileyorovitz.
Riley is a sophomore sports journalism student in her second semester at The Alligator. She is the beat reporter for Gators Gymnastics and Swim & Dive while also contributing to the Gators Football Beat. She previously served in the same role in her first semester with the newspaper. Riley is an avid South Florida sports fan and enjoys playing/following all sports in her free time.
