INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Ithaca College first-year Jack Wadsworth finished his rookie campaign at the 2021-22 NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championship in February. His trip to the NCAA championship was successful as the first-year was crowned national champion n the 100-yard backstroke and he garnered All-America accolades in two other events with a national runner-up showing in the 400 individual medley and placing third in the 200-yard backstroke.
In the 100-yard backstroke, Wadsworth won his heat and was seeded first following the morning preliminary races and he followed that up with a record-breaking performance in the evening's final. Wadsworth (22.69) was in second behind Whitman's Tanner Fillion (22.66) after the first 50-yards of the championship race, however Wadsworth gained the lead after the turn and never looked back, winning the event in 46.45 seconds, shattering his personal best, Ithaca's program record as well as the Liberty League and NCAA records in the 100 back.
Wadsworth is the Bombers' Men's Swimming & Diving first National Champion since 1996, when Collin Herlihy achieved the feat in 1996.
For his runner-up finish in the 400-yard individual medley, Wadsworth started off by winning his heat and finishing as the top qualifier in the preliminaries with a time of 3:51.71. In the evening's final, he reset his program record, Liberty League record and personal best by touching the wall behind Kenyon's Bryan Fitzgerald in 3:49.26.
He opened the 2022 NCAA Championship by competing in the 200-yard backstroke. During the preliminary race, he recorded a time of 1:44.07, good for the third seed in the finals. Kenyon's Yurrii Kosian set a new NCAA record for the event in his preliminary heat to setup a showdown in the final between him, Tanner Fillion (Whitman) and Wadsworth. Fillion was the event champion, boasting a new NCAA championship record timeof 1:41.49. Kosian finished second at 1:42.90 and Wadsworth was third (1:44.44).