ATLANTA — The opening day of the 2026 NCAA swimming and diving championships wrapped up on Wednesday at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the campus of Georgia Tech. On the lightest day of events the Cardinal will compete in, Stanford men’s swimming took part in three events, earning a pair of podium finishes.
The first swimmer to hit the pool for the Card was Liam Custer, swimming in the third heat of the 1650 free. Like the relays that would follow, there was no second swim for Custer, so his finishing time would be grouped together with those who swam in the evening mile. After starting in the back during his heat, Custer pulled into second midway through the mile, getting within a half-second of the lead. That’s where he finished in heat three, with a time of 14:37.28, a season-best and an improvement of six seconds from his time at last year’s NCAA championships.
By finishing seventh, Custer became an All-American for the second time in his career, both times coming from the 1650 free. Last year, he finished 16th.
Stanford got back in the pool for the 200 medley relay to close out the morning portion of day one, sending out Ethan Harrington, Zhier Fan, Rafael Gu, and Jonathan Tan. Despite Tan closing in during the final leg of the relay, Stanford finished in eighth during heat three with a time of 1:23.23. At the end of the morning session, Stanford was in tenth, but ultimately finished 18th outside of All-America status.
Closing out the night was the 800 free relay, where Stanford qualified for the “A” finals based on seed times. Stanford sent out a dangerous lineup of Andres Dupont Cabrera, Ethan Ekk, Jason Zhao, and Henry McFadden. The Cardinal was in the back of the pack for most of the race, in seventh through 200 yards and in sixth heading into the final 200 yards. With McFadden as the anchor, however, good things happen. McFadden posted what would be a school-record split in the 200 free with a 1:29.72, closing the gap all the way to second place for Stanford to earn national-runner-up honors.
The final time of 6:06.39 was not only good enough to earn a second-place finish, but it rewrote the record books. McFadden’s final leg helped give that relay team the fastest 800 free relay time in program history, breaking the previous mark set at last year’s NCAA championship by Stanford. Dupont Cabrera and McFadden were both on that relay team, as well. No Stanford 800 free relay team has placed second in the last decade.
Team scores through three events don’t tell much, but Stanford (46) sits in eighth place overall, and second in the ACC (NC State – 61). Florida and Indiana scored 86 team points to share the lead.
The second day of the 2026 NCAA swimming and diving championships begins at 7 a.m. PT, with six events on tap. There will be prelims in the morning in the 100 fly, 400 IM, 200 free, and 100 breast. Teams will also compete in the 200 free relay, with morning heats followed by the finals in the evening. Stanford will send Gunnar Grubbs to the springboard for 1-meter diving.