2025 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships
Jordan Crooks finished 5th in the 200 free prelims, coming in at 1:30.38 three tenths behind the 1:30.00 mark he set back in November at the Tennessee Invite. His time this morning was already faster than he went at the 2024 NCAA Championships, where he went 1:30.41 in prelims.
How does his 200 freestyle time this year compare to his early college times?
Crooks came into college as a full-on sprinter. He swam his first 200 free at the 2021 Tennessee Invit3 as a freshman, swimming 1:36.28. He also swam the event on a relay at the meet, splitting 1:35.85 from a rolling start. For context, his 50 free was 19.39 at the same meet, so he was still getting his feet underneath him in yards racing.
A few months later he swam the race again at a meet against Carson-Newman. There he went 1:35.04 to win the event.
He swam it just once as a sophomore, dropping a little more than half a second to swim 1:34.30, as the leadoff leg of the 800 freestyle relay at the 2022 Tennessee Invite. At the same meet, his 50 freestyle was 18.27. At this point, it’s clear he had a handle on yards racing, but his 200 free was still very far behind his 50 and 100.
Last year is when he really added the event to his schedule and when he started seeing significant improvement. He first swam it in-season at Tennessee’s dual meet with Texas A&M. He finished in 1:37.38, finishing 2nd. Crooks went on to leadoff the relay at the 2023 Tennessee Invite, where he went 1:32.07. After that race, it ended up on his SEC Lineup where he went 1:31.17 in finals, earning the bronze medal.
At NCAAs last year, he finished 6th in the final, touching in 1:31.03. He had initially qualified 3rd at 1:30.41 which was almost three seconds faster than he went his sophomore year.
This year, he has swam it a few times so far, though none have been faster than the 1:30.00 he went leading off the relay in November. At SECs, he finished 6th in finals, coming in at 1:31.88 after swimming 1:31.10 in prelims. This morning, he was faster than either of those times, touching in 1:30.38.
If he wants to drop tonight, he will need to find his way under the 1:30 barrier. Even if he doesn’t though, he has dropped more than six seconds from his first time swimming it in college.
The times are listed in seconds, not in minutes. 1:30.00 would be exactly 90.00 seconds
