DALLAS (SMU) – SMU Men's Swimming & Diving's Francis Brennan, Jack Berube, Luke Sitz and Grant Cates have all qualified to compete at the 2026 NCAA DI Men's Swimming & Diving Championships in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 25-28, announced the NCAA this week. The Mustangs will also compete in 400 free and the 800 free relays.
Cates finished fourth on platform with a cumulative score of 771.00 at the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships, earning a spot to compete on the event at Georgia Tech's McAuley Aquatic Center later this month. The freshman's performance on platform allows him to dive on both 1-meter and 3-meter as well after earning top-12 finishes on the events earlier this week. All-American Luke Sitz secured his place at the NCAA Championships on 1-meter and 3-meter, finishing first on both events at the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships.
Both Brennan and Berube have posted record-breaking seasons.
In his freshman season, Brennan broke SMU's 200 free record twice, first at the 2026 ACC Championships, and most recently, at SMU's Last Chance Meet, where he clocked 1:32.13. Making the cut in the 200 free, the Ontario native has also been invited to compete in the 500 free, which he earned the NCAA standard at the ACC Championships as well, posting a time of 4:17.28. Brennan was a crucial piece for the Mustangs at the conference championships, making the A finals in the 200 free and finishing seventh overall. Brennan is the first SMU freshman to compete at the NCAAs since Robin Andreasson in 2009.
Junior Jack Berube has been dynamic in the 2025-26 season, breaking his own 200 back record on two occasions. After posting a then-personal best of 1:40.15 at the SMU Invite, Berube threw down a new record of 1:39.29 at the ACC Championships. The performance earned him a spot in the A finals, where he placed seventh overall. The Texas native has also been invited to compete in the 100 back with his season-best time of 45.75, just 0.01 short of tying his personal and SMU's program record.
The Mustangs have also earned qualifying standards in two relays: the 800 free and 400 free relays. In addition to Berube and Brennan, Eli Likins, Harold Lockhart, Sage Sungail and Jack Forrest will be traveling for the NCAA Championships to swim in the relays. The Mustangs have broken the program record in both events this season. The squad of Sungail, Likins, Lockhart along with Benjamin Chateigner posted a program-best time of 2:48.72 on Nov. 22 at the SMU Invite. At the 2026 ACC Championships, the 800 free relay was broken by Brennan, Forrest, Sungail and Lockhart, throwing down a time of 6:11.47.
A total of 270 participants (235 swimmers and 35 divers) will compete in the championships. Swimmers qualified for the championships either by winning their conference championship in an event with an established minimum time in that swim or by meeting the established minimum time for the events in which they entered. Divers will be determined by performances achieved at the Zone Diving Championships held March 8-11. The complete lists of all swimmers (athletes by institution, official psych sheet, relays and alternates) competing in the championships is available at usaswimming.org/ncaa. Selected divers will be announced Thursday, March 12.
ESPN+ will provide live digital coverage for preliminary and finals sessions Wednesday through Saturday. Tape-delayed coverage of the men's championships will be on ESPNU at 7 p.m. Eastern time, Monday, March 30.
