The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Georgia
No. 4 Men's Swimming & Diving tops No. 12 Georgia, 132-109
01.12.2013 | Men's Swimming and Diving
Jan. 12, 2013
ATHENS, Ga. - No. 4 Texas (2-2) used big points from its distance and diving groups to claim a 132-109 victory at No. 12 Georgia Saturday afternoon on the Bulldogs' Senior Day at UGA's Gabrielsen Natatorium.
"We were much better in all phases of the game," UT head coach Eddie Reese said. "We had a little more speed than at Auburn, and we were a lot better at racing. We're three days from our hard workouts during winter break, so we were a little bit better than Thursday when we were one day way. This surprised me. I didn't know if we could beat them. Georgia is really good."
Texas kicked off the meet by rallying to victory in the 400-yard medley relay. Seniors Cole Cragin and Austin Surhoff and sophomores Tripp Cooper and Clay Youngquist took the victory in 3 minutes, 15.93 seconds. Georgia took the lead on the relay's breaststroke leg, but Cooper erased nearly all of the Bulldogs' lead with a 47.77 butterfly split. Youngquist anchored the relay to victory in 43.75.
Senior All-American Michael McBroom took on the traditionally-strong Georgia distance group and came away with his first of two wins on the day in the 1000 freestyle. McBroom took the win in 9:03.10, while Georgia's Andrew Gemmell placed second in 9:07.60. Texas freshman Sam Lewis continued his solid first season as a Longhorn by finishing ahead of Georgia's Will Freeman in 9:10.03. Lewis out- split Freeman by nearly a second in the final 50 yards to edge Freeman by 17 one-hundredths of a second.
"Sam just works hard at everything," Reese said. "Sam works hard at swimming and works hard in school. He's a type of guy who will succeed at a high level in both."
Texas sophomore Jake Ritter paced the Horns in the 200 freestyle by taking second in 1:39.29. Junior Charlie Moore took a close second in the 50 freestyle and finished in 20.46. Georgia's Nicolas Fink claimed the win in 20.45. Texas notched a one-two- three finish in the one-meter diving event with freshman Sean O'Brien leading the way with 347.63 points. Sophomore Will Chandler took second with 344.77 points, and junior William McCraney placed third with 319.35 points.
UT freshman John Martens added a second-place finish in the 200 butterfly at 1:49.35. Sophomore Tripp Cooper took third in 1:50.87. Sophomore Clay Youngquist posted a key win in the 100 freestyle and was victorious in 44.52. Senior Dax Hill placed third in 45.06. Sophomore Kip Darmody added a second- place showing in the 200 backstroke in 1:47.28.
McBroom notched his second win of the day and fourth on the Horns' road trip by taking the 500 freestyle in 4:25.18. Texas once again registered a one-two-three finish, this time in the three-meter diving event. McCraney took top honors with 369.30 points, and O'Brien took second with 351.00 points. Chandler placed third with 329.48 points.
Texas closed out the meet with a win in the 400 freestyle relay, as Moore, senior Austin Surhoff, junior Madison Wenzler and Hill finished in 2:58.80.
Texas resumes competition on Friday, Jan. 25 when it visits TCU.
