GREENSBORO, N.C. – BYU’s Tanner Nelson earned the team’s first championship victory Thursday, securing a time of 3:44.46 in the 400 individual medley.
“This is huge for us, our program is only going upwards from here,” Nelson said, speaking of his championship performance. “Super exciting to show the rest of the world what we got.”
2026 Big 12 Championship Day Three Standings
| Place | Team | Score |
| 1. | Arizona State | 1032.5 |
| 2. | Arizona | 868.5 |
| 3. | Utah | 838 |
| 4. | TCU | 474 |
| 5. | BYU | 447 |
| 6. | Cincinnati | 361 |
| 7. | West Virginia | 351 |
Alongside Nelson’s performance, the team put up four top-10 program performances. Darwin Anderson earned the seventh-fastest finish in the 400 individual medley at 3:50.47. Lucca Ferreira set the eighth-fastest time in BYU history in the 200 freestyle at 1:36.35, and Jacob Ballard (46.97) and Jake Aina (46.98) secured the seventh- and eighth-fastest program finishes in the 100 butterfly.
Prelims
Thursday’s competition opened with the 100 butterfly, where Jake Aina, Jacob Ballard, Tanner Edwards and Max Kleinman qualified for finals. Kleinman led the way, taking 14th with a time of 47.13. Ballard (47.37), Aina (47.38) and Edwards (47.49) followed in 18th, 19th and 20th.
Tanner Nelson gave the Cougars their first-place finish of the meet, finishing the 400 individual medley at 3:46.29 and qualifying for finals as the top time. Four other Cougars — Darwin Anderson, Tyler Edlefsen, Chas Jones and Dane Weber — also qualified for finals in the event. Anderson’s time of 3:50.47 earned him ninth and marks the seventh-fastest 400 individual medley performance in BYU history.
The final individual event of the preliminary round was the 200 freestyle, where all three BYU competitors qualified for finals. Payton Plumb earned 12th with a 1:35.51 finish, Lucca Ferreira took 22nd at 1:36.66 and Joshua Reed hit the wall at 1:36.75, placing 24th.
Finals
The Cougars secured first and second in the bonus round of finals in the 100 butterfly, with Ballard hitting the wall at 46.97 and Aina at 46.98. The times mark the seventh- and eighth-fastest performances in BYU history. Kleinman competed in the consolation round, taking seventh at 47.25.
Nelson took first in the championship round of finals, marking the Cougars’ first championship win of the meet. Despite trailing through the first three legs of the event, Nelson shot forward in the final freestyle leg, overtaking the previous leader from Arizona State and securing his win at 3:44.46. Anderson competed in the consolation round, where he took sixth, while Weber and Jones earned fourth and sixth in the bonus round.
The 200 freestyle event saw Ferreira take fifth in the bonus round at 1:36.35, the eighth-fastest performance in BYU history. Reed followed in seventh in the bonus round and Plumb took sixth in the consolation round, securing a 1:35.67 finish.
The 400 medley relay closed out finals, where the men’s team, represented by Kleinman, Peter Etzold, Ballard and Nelson, took fifth at 3:09.39.
Diving
BYU diving competed in the 1-meter event Thursday, with Martí Llop leading the team with an eighth-place finish in prelims, scoring 312.45 and qualifying for finals. Freshmen Ashton Sparks and Elijah Baker also competed, with Sparks in 19th at 223.20 and Baker scoring 190.10, putting him 21st.
In finals, Llop earned a total score of 352.65, giving him seventh overall.
Up Next
Day four of the Big 12 Championship continues Friday as Cougars look to move up the scoreboard, with streaming available ESPN+.