The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Big 12 Championships
Men's Swimming & Diving leads going into final day of Big 12 Championships
02.24.2012 | Men's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 24, 2012
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Texas Men's Swimming & Diving team leads the field after three days of the Big 12 Championships as they have 684.5 points.
"Today there was some good swimming," said head coach Eddie Reese. " Texas A&M did a nice job and is giving us a great run. We got better tonight than we were the first couple of days."
Nick D'Innocenzo swept the individual medley events at the Big 12 Championships. On Friday he touched the wall at 3:45.77 to give him the conference title in the event for the second straight year. He won the 200 IM on Thursday. Also in the 400 IM, Austin Surhoff came in third and Hayes Johnson sixth.
Dax Hill also won for the second straight year as he earned a title in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:34.55. The Longhorns' Clay Youngquist and Kyle McNeilis rounded out the top three as Youngquist was second, tying a season best 1:35.30 and McNeilis had a 1:36.05.
"It was a really good 200 free," said Reese. "Those guys did a real nice job. Dax (Hill) stayed in front the whole way. Clay (Youngquist) was right on him and is getting better every session. He has really grown over the course of this year."
Cole Cragin and Kip Darmody were the top two finishers in the 100 backstroke. Cragin improved his time of the prelims by almost two seconds and swam a 46.90. Darmody swam a 47.37 to finish right behind Cragin.
Five of the top eight finishes in the 100 butterfly went to UT swimmers. Neil Caskey came in second with a 46.79 and was joined in the finals by Jimmy Feigen (3rd), Tripp Cooper (4th), Kip Darmody (6th) and Cole Cragin (8th).
Eric Friedland picked up a third place finish in the 100 breaststroke. He clocked a 54.64 in the event.
Heading into the day Texas had recorded a first place finish in all seven events over the course of the first two days. The streak came to an end in the first event as the Longhorns placed second in the 400 medley relay behind Texas A&M. The four UT swimmers included Cole Cragin, Eric Friedland, Neil Caskey and Jimmy Feigen and posted a time of 3:09.44.
Friday will feature seven events with prelims at 10 a.m. and the finals at 5 p.m. The events scheduled to take place include the 400 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 3-meter diving.
