Florida Men’s Swim and Dive Memorable NCAA Finish
The No. 4 Gators men’s swim and dive team, expected to finish the 2026 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championship between fourth and sixth place, finished in second last Saturday at McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta.
The silver-medal finish is the program’s best since 1985. The Gators finished the championship with 419 points, trailing Texas’ 445.5 points. It is just the program’s second second-place finish all-time and the highest finish since winning back-to-back national titles in 1983 and 1984.
Senior Josh Liendo became a national champion in three events: the 100-meter butterfly (42.45) and freestyle (39.91) and the 50-meter freestyle (18.60), setting career bests in every event.
In the 100-meter butterfly, Liendo surpassed former Gator and nine-time Olympic gold medalist Caeleb Dressel’s record of 42.80 by posting a time of 42.45 in the meet. He joins Dressel as the only Gator swimmer to sweep all three events twice in their careers.
Liendo was named CSCAA Co-swimmer of the Year.
Joining Liendo as national champions are the distance Tunisian Ahmed duo. Ahmed Jaouadi earned gold in the 1,650-freestyle (14,10.03) in his NCAA debut as a freshman. Surpassing former Gator and three-time Olympic gold medalist Bobby Finke’s (14.12.08) in 2020.
Redshirt Junior Ahmed Hafnaoui also became a national champion in the 500-meter freestyle for posting a time of 4.06.56.
The only Florida diver to podium for the meet was sophomore Jesus Gonzalez, who finished third on platform with a final score of 427.25. Following closely behind Gonzalez were Jesus Agundez-Mora and Conor Gesing, who finished fourth in 1-meter and fifth in the 3-meter, respectively.
Anthony Nesty earned CSCAA head swim coach of the year honors, along with Bryan Gillooly, who earned CSCAA head dive coach of the year honors.
“From our freshman to our seniors to our divers, who scored the most points collectively out of every diving program at the meet,” Nesty said. “Everyone played a role in this historic finish and I am unbelievably proud.”
Category: Gators Swimming and Diving
