Hosted by the Golden Gophers, the competition begins Wednesday night with two relay heats. The remainder of the championships will have heats each day at 10am CT, with the finals scheduled for 6pm. ESPN+ will have streaming coverage of each session. A full schedule with heatsheets, results and more can be found at NCAA Championships home page.
fifth grader Max McHughjuniors Chris Nagy And Emperor Nevermansecond grader Bar Soloveychik and newbie Drew Bennett were all selected to compete as singles players for Minnesota while juniors Luke Farar And Casey Stowesecond grader Chris Morris and newbie Alberto Hernandez will all be part of gopher relays.
The nine people are the most the team has sent to the NCAAs since 2017, when they sent 10. The Gophers also had nine representatives in 2019.
McHugh is targeting his third straight 100 breast title and also has his eye on a second career 200 breast championship. McHugh, who won the breaststroke title for the third consecutive year at last month’s Big Ten championships, is No. 2 on the 100 breaststroke at 50.80, just 0.07 from the top seeds. He comes in 1:50.20 as a national third in the 200 chest.
With three NCAA championships already in hand, another would make McHugh the fifth all-sport gopher to achieve four individual NCAA titles, while a breaststroke would join him with three others for Minnesota’s most all-time.
Soloveychik earned his way into the 1650’s for free. His time of 14:50.93, which ranks 22nd in the nation, earned him the silver medal at last month’s Big Ten Championships. He is also eligible to compete in the 200 Free (1:34.38) and 500 Free (4:14.45) thanks to the preliminary cuts he made during the season.
Like Soloveychik, Nagy 1650 qualified for free. His personal best of 14:52.62, good for 25th place nationally, was set at this year’s Minnesota Invite and he finished fourth in the event at this year’s Big Ten Championships. Thanks to his “B” average of 4:19.75, he is also eligible to compete in the 500 Free.
Neverman earned his place in the 200 Fly by beating his own school record at the Gophers Last Chance Meet earlier this month. His time of 1:42.56, .40 better than the program record he set at the Minnesota Invite earlier this year, ranks him 27th in attendance at the NCAAs. He can also compete in the 100 fly (46.40) and 200 IM (school record 1:43.91) based on his times from that year.
Bennett earned his spot with the NCAAs at the Zone Diving Championships earlier this month. He finished third on the platform with a score of 764.05, becoming the first gopher male to earn a spot on the platform at the championships since Alan LeBlang and Jeremy Moser in 2019. Because of his 10th place finish (717.60) Bennett also qualified for the 3m.
The other four Gophers all qualified as part of relay teams, and Minnesota can compete in the 200-medley relay and 800-free relay Wednesday night.
The 200m medley relay is 22nd after a time of 1:24.21 at this year’s Big Ten Championships, while the 800m free relay is 18th thanks to a school record time of 6:16.25.
Below is a full breakdown of the dates of the Minnesota events and the individual student-athletes participating in them, along with their seeding and qualifying time/scores at each event.
Wednesday – March 22nd
200 Medley Relay: 22nd, 1:24.21
800 free relay: 18th, 6:16.25
Thursday – March 23rd
500 Free: Bar Soloveychik (32., 4:14.45), Chris Nagy (46., 4:19,75)
200IM: Emperor Neverman (43rd, 1:43,91)
Friday – March 24th
100 flies: Emperor Neverman (47th, 46.40)
200 Free: Bar Soloveychik (47., 1:34,38)
100 chest: Max McHugh (2nd, 50,80)
3 meter diving: Drew Bennett (10th in Zone D, 717.60)
Saturday – March 25th
200 chest: Max McHugh (3rd, 1:50,20)
200 flies: Emperor Neverman (27., 1:42,56)
platform diving: Drew Bennett (3rd in Zone D, 764.05)
1650 Free: Bar Soloveychik (22., 14:50.93), Chris Nagy (25., 14:52.62)
