Gophers ranging from underclassmen to seniors swam and dove their way to various individual accolades at the 2025 NCAA Championships. 

For the second year in a row, the University of Minnesota sent 10 athletes to this year’s championships in Federal Way, Washington, finishing in 28th place. 

Freshman swimmer Jacob “JJ” Johnson, Olympic swimmer Bar Soloveychik and diver Drew Bennett all received All-American honors. 

Other Gophers competing at the championships were swimmers Daniel Eichel, Joey Tepper, Joe Rudd, Kaiser Neverman, Casey Stowe, Joe Polyak and diver YuTong Wang. 

JJ paves his way in first season

Minnesota head swimming coach Mike Joyce and fellow swimmers refer to Johnson as “JJ,” but the nickname stemmed from a completely different sport. 

“My football coach started calling me JJ in third grade,” Johnson said. “There were several Jacobs in my class and going by JJ just made things easier.”

Johnson, who broke Minnesota’s school record in the 200 fly at the NCAA championships with a time of 1:39.96, improved his ability to handle pressure as the season progressed.

Johnson said breaking a school record is no easy feat, despite accomplishing it numerous times his inaugural season in Minnesota. 

“A school record isn’t just a time that anybody can break,” Johnson said. “It’s something that is really hard to get, so I view the 200 fly record as a major personal accomplishment.”

Joyce said despite Johnson’s age, he can see the signs of dominance in his future. 

“Although he is entering only his sophomore year, he will definitely be a force to be reckoned with,” Joyce said. 

High “Bar” set by Soloveychik

In his final season representing the maroon and gold, Soloveychik completed the year by breaking his own personal and school record in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 14:36.91. 

“At this point, I’m lowkey breaking my own records,” Soloveychik said. 

Joyce said the team will certainly miss Soloveychik, but he met his freshman year goals by competing and scoring at the NCAA Championships and finaling at the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

Soloveychik, who competed for the Israeli national team, said the pressures of performing on a championship level are much different than the pressures of performing at the Olympics. 

“Representing my country at the Olympics, I felt nervous that my entire country was watching me,” Soloveychik said. “NCAA championships are easier because they are not as big.” 

Joyce called Soloveychik one of the hardest workers he has ever seen in the pool, and he hopes his swimming legacy lives on after he graduates. 

“You can’t replace a Bar,” Joyce said. “You just got to hope that the future team learned from him, and I’m sure they did.” 

A bright future ahead

While Soloveychik’s collegiate swimming career may be over, both Joyce and Johnson are eagerly anticipating the upcoming season and beyond. 

Johnson is primarily focusing on his upcoming season, but he has not ruled out training to compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. 

“I’m focusing on my next three years and I’ll see what happens at the trials,” Johnson said. “Either trials or LA 2028 will be the grand finale of my swimming career.” 

Joining Johnson this upcoming season is a recruiting class Joyce said consists of seven athletes from across the country who will compete in a variety of events. 

“When you add that to our current freshmen, I’d imagine that we’d have one of the best underclassmen teams in the country,” Joyce said.