Matt Fallon enters the finals at the NCAA Division I men's swimming and diving championships.
Credit: Jean ParkFEDERAL WAY, WASH. — Senior breaststroke specialist Matt Fallon finished in second place in the 200-yard breaststroke finals at the NCAA Division I men's swimming and diving championships, earning a fourth career All-America honor in his last collegiate swim meet.
Coming into the championships, Fallon was a favorite for the NCAA title after previously finishing third and second in this event in the 2022 and 2024 championship meets respectively. The NCAA title has been an accolade missing from Fallon's trophy case, which includes three Ivy League titles, an American record in the 200-meter breaststroke, and a 10th-place finish at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
However, the 200-yard breaststroke field was strong, with veteran fifth-year swimmers comprising half of the field in the championship finals.
From lane three, Fallon got off the blocks to a quiet start, in line with his strong back-half strategy. The Warren, N.J. native split 25.02, good for eighth place at the 50.
Fallon stayed at the back of the pack heading into the 100 mark, splitting 52.74 for the first half of the race.
Notably, Fallon has previously started the race faster. At this year’s Ivy League Championships in February, he split 52.00 for the first 100.
“I'm impressed I was able to take it out that quickly and still bring it home,” he said after that race.
Fallon previously told The Daily Pennsylvanian that he had been working on swimming faster during the first half of the race while maintaining his impressive back-half speed.
Virginia Tech freestyle/breaststroke/individual medley specialist Carles Coll Marti led the NCAA finals race at the halfway mark with a time of 51.72, closely followed by Indiana breaststroke specialist Jassen Yep, who split a 52.00.
Fallon made his move during the third 50. With an increased tempo and stroke rate, Fallon rallied into third place at the 150 mark — behind Yep and Coll Marti.
In the final 50 of his collegiate swim career, Fallon, as usual, made a big final push — pulling slightly ahead of Coll Marti.
However, in the end, Breastroke U prevailed and upset Fallon. Yep, a former walk-on for Indiana, held strong in the final 50 to touch the wall first with a time of 1:48.30 — 0.5 seconds ahead of Fallon. Yep dropped over a second from his newly set personal best at this past Big Ten championships.
Even Fallon's lifetime best — 1:48.48 from 2024 NCAAs — would not have beaten Yep.
While Fallon was the only Quaker at NCAAs, another athlete from the Ancient Eight competed in the final: Brown breaststroke/individual medley specialist Jack Kelly. Kelly competed beside Fallon in lane two and rounded out the field in eighth in the final. This is the second year in a row that both have appeared in the championship final of the 200 breaststroke.
While the result wasn’t gold, Fallon completes his impressive college career with the Red and Blue with many accolades — including being the first Penn swimmer in history to make Team USA — and as arguably one of the greatest Penn swimmers in history.
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