BALTIMORE – Loyola University Maryland junior
Joe Hayburn became the fourth Greyhounds student-athlete in school history to qualify for an individual NCAA Championships event in any sport on Wednesday when he was named to the field of the 2026 Men's Swimming & Diving Championships.
Hayburn will compete in the 100 backstroke on Friday, March 27 in the meet hosted by Georgia Tech at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta. He will also swim in the 200 backstroke that will take place the following day.
He is the second Loyola men's swimmer to earn qualification to the NCAA Championships, following the path of Ben Cono, '19, who competed in both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes in 2017, 2018 and was 17th in both as a senior in 2019.
Hayburn will be the fourth Loyola student-athlete to reach NCAA Championships competition as an individual. Kiera Harrison, '12, qualified for an ran in the 2013 NCAA Women's Cross Country Championship, and Senna Ohlsson, '21, raced in the 800 meters at the 2021 NCAA East Preliminary Championship, reaching the quarterfinal round.
The native of Bowie, Maryland, entered the 2025-2026 season as the school-record holder in the 100 backstroke after swimming 46.29 seconds at last year's Patriot League Championships, and he lowered that time on three occasions during the year.
He first went 46.06 in November 2025 at the H2ounds Invitational to reset his school standard. He then took more than a second off his best by going 44.81 seconds in February during the leadoff leg of the 400 medley relay at the Patriot League Championships.
Hayburn, who would go on to finish second in the event at the Patriot League meet, again lowered his time to 44.69 seconds to win the 100 bacsktroke at the ECAC Championships last month where he was named the Men's Swimmer of the Meet.
He enters the NCAA Championships with the 19th-fastest time in NCAA Division I in the event.
The 100 backstroke will be contested on the third day of the 2026 NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships, Friday, March 27. Trials in the event will start that morning at 10 o'clock with finals beginning that evening just after 6 o'clock. The same schedule will take place Saturday, March 28, for the 200 backstroke.
