Jordan Crooks Wraps Up NCAA Championships With New Records
Jordan Crooks of Cayman Islands celebrates after competing in the 50m Freestyle Men Heats during the ... More short course World Aquatics Swimming Championships 2024 at Duna Arena. Budapest (Hungary), December 14th, 2024 Jordan Crooks won his heat with a new world record time. (Photo by Andrea Masini/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
Jordan Crooks successfully concluded his NCAA career by setting new records on the final day of the 2025 Men's Division I NCAA Championships. During the prelims session of the men's 100 free, Crooks posted a time of 39.83 seconds to qualify for the final event. The 22-year-old's performance helped him take down Caeleb Dressel's record of 39.90 set in 2018. He is now the second person to break the 40-second barrier in the 100-yard free.
This is certainly not the first time Crooks has challenged Dressel's enduring records. In the 2024 SC Championships, Crooks broke Dressel's 20.16 record by touching the wall in 19.90 seconds during the 50 free semi-finals. Crooks' time has helped him become the first man to break the 20-second mark. Notably, something Dressel remained shy of despite his multiple attempts in 2020 while wearing the fastest swimsuit in an unofficial meet.
Fast forward to 2025, on the second day of the men's NCAA championships, in the quest to claim his second individual national title, Crooks posted a time of 17.91 in 50 free. Despite Dressel's NCAA record continuing to stand, Crooks became the second swimmer, alongside the nine-time Olympic gold medalist, to split below 18 seconds at the NCAA championships.
However, on the fourth day of the event, Crooks, who had previously struggled to drop time despite performing well in the heat rounds, caught up with him again. During the 100 free finals, he managed to touch the wall in 40.06. But Florida's Josh Liendo, his longtime rival, beat him by 0.07 seconds to achieve a three-peat in the event in 39.99.
Interestingly, despite failing to claim his third individual national title, Crooks still managed to seal his NCAA career legacy with a victory in the last meet of the championships.
In the 400 free relay, Crooks anchored the Tennessee Vols to claim a record-breaking win with the fastest 100 free split in history. He posted a time of 39.36 to take down the previous record of 39.52 set by him in February. With this performance, Crooks now holds four finishes under the 40-second mark.
As Gui Caribe led a split of 40.57, followed by Lamar Taylor and Nikoli Blackman's efforts, Crooks anchored Tennessee to claim another national title in 2:42.30. Following this, the Vols managed to break their own NCAA and U.S. Open record of 2:42.41 set by the same squad at the SEC Championships in February. They also took down the meet record of 2:43.40 set by Arizona State in 2024.
'I couldn't have asked for a better relay to go out on,' Jordan Crooks said. 'We came together, four guys from different walks of life, and we just made it work.'
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