The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
North Carolina
No. 1 Men’s Swimming and Diving Preview: No. 12 North Carolina and No. 5 N.C. State
11.12.2015 | Men's Swimming and Diving
Defending national champion Longhorns commence first road trip of the season, take on pair of top-15 opponents.
WHAT: No. 1 Texas (4-0), the defending and 11-time overall NCAA champion, takes its first road trip of the season and meets a pair of top-15 foes in No. 12 North Carolina and No. 5 N.C. State.
WHEN/WHERE
No. 1 Texas at No. 12 North Carolina
Friday, Nov. 13 – 3 p.m. CT
Koury Natatorium – Chapel Hill, N.C.
LIVE RESULTS: Available at GoHeels.com just prior to the meet
No. 1 Texas at No. 5 N.C. State
Saturday, Nov. 14 – 10 a.m. CT
Willis R. Casey Aquatic Center – Raleigh, N.C.
LIVE RESULTS: http://sportstiming.com/live-results-n-c-state-university-vs-texas-am/
LAST TIME OUT
Texas took on Florida and Indiana in long-course and short-course meets on consecutive days (Oct. 16-17) in Austin and won all four meets.
PRE-MEET COMMENTS
Texas head coach Eddie Reese
Both of these teams are really good and they're only going to be a week out from their invitational meet. So, they're going to be further along as far as being rested for their invitational. Our invitational is two weeks later. UNC and N.C. State are going to be real good, real fast. Both teams are very balanced. N.C. State might be a little bit stronger on the free sprints and the distance frees, but both have really strong swimmers in every event. This weekend is going to be a good test for us. I like to put our guys in these kinds of situations. We always let the other teams choose the order of events, and if there's anything they want to do special, we'll do. That puts us at risk. We need to pay attention to that and go race.
TOP-25 NATIONAL RANKINGS
50 Freestyle
20. Brett Ringgold, 20.22
100 Freestyle
18. Townley Haas, 44.42
22. Jack Conger 44.53
200 Freestyle
4. Townley Haas, 1:36.55
23. Jack conger, 1:37.84
500 Freestyle
2. Clark Smith, 4:21.95
13. Townley Haas, 4:25.38
1000 Freestyle
6. Townley Haas, 9:04.17
14. Clark Smith, 9:09.87
100 Backstroke
18. John Shebat, 48.08
200 Backstroke
6. Ryan Harty, 1:43.87
100 Breaststroke
19. Will Licon, 54.91
200 Breaststroke
T8. Will Licon, 1:58.84
100 Butterfly
1. Joseph Schooling, 46.97
12. Jack Conger, 47.55
200 Butterfly
10. Joseph Schooling, 1:45.78
12. Jack Conger, 1:46.00
21. John Martens, 1:47.46
400 IM
T2. Ryan Harty, 3:50.26
17. John Martens, 3:56.80
MORE ON THE LONGHORNS
- Texas returns 22 swimmers and divers, including 14 All-Americans, from the 2014-15 squad that captured the Longhorns' 11th NCAA team title.
- Head coach Eddie Reese begins his 38th season with the Longhorns. Texas boasts more NCAA team titles (11) and NCAA top-two finishes (22) than any other men's swimming and diving program since Reese's arrival at UT prior to the 1978-79 season. Reese has secured top-three finishes at 29 of 37 NCAA Championship meets with the Longhorns.
- Last March, Reese tied former Ohio State coach Mike Peppe for No. 1 all-time in NCAA men's swimming and diving titles (11). Reese is the only coach in the sport's history to win NCAA team titles in four separate decades (1981, '88, '89, 1990, '91, '96, 2000, '01, '02, 2010, '15). Associate head coach Kris Kubik has been by Reese's side for every NCAA team title.
- Texas won five individual events at the 2015 NCAA Championships and returns all three swimmers responsible for the five titles.
- Junior Clark Smith became UT's first NCAA champion in the 500-yard freestyle. Smith, the son of former Texas swimmers John Smith and Tori Trees, knocked off defending champion Cristian Quintero of USC and won the event in 4 minutes, 9.72 seconds
- Junior Will Licon, the 2015 Big 12 Swimmer of the Year, returns as the defending NCAA champion in the 400 individual medley and the 200 breaststroke. The El Paso native became the first Longhorn to claim a national title in the 400 IM last March. Notably, Licon was Texas' sport-wide nominee for 2015 Big 12 Men's Athlete of the Year.
- Joseph Schooling won NCAA titles in the 100 and 200 butterfly. He became the first Texas freshman to win two NCAA individual swimming titles at the same meet since Brendan Hansen in 2001. The Singaporean also became the first Texas swimmer to win both the 100 and 200 fly in his Longhorns career. Schooling broke Ian Crocker's 14-year-old school and Big 12 records in the 100 butterfly (44.51). He went on to win 9 gold medals for Singapore at the Southeast Asian Games in June and won bronze in the 100m butterfly at the FINA World Championships.
- Texas returns five of the six swimmers who accounted for its two NCAA relay titles last season. All-America junior Jack Conger swam on the victorious 200 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay. Seniors Matt Ellis and John Murray joined Conger on the 200 free relay, while Licon and Schooling joined Conger on the 400 medley relay. Former Longhorn Kip Darmody competed on both NCAA champion relays last season as a senior.
- No fewer than four Longhorns are featured on the 2015-16 USA Swimming National Team. Jack Conger earned a berth on the team in four events (100m free, 100m back, 100m fly, 200m fly), while Will Licon posted top-six national titles in the 200m breast and 200m IM to earn his place on the team. Clark Smith and freshman Townley Haas made the team in the 400m freestyle.
- As is the norm, Texas features a formidable group of divers. Senior Cory Bowersox earned All-America honors on one-meter in his first three seasons as a Longhorn, and he has twice been honored as an Academic All-American. Junior Mark Anderson, the 2015 Big 12 Diver of the Year, was the only Big 12 diver to score on all three boards at the 2015 NCAA Championships, where he earned his second consecutive All-America finish on platform. Diving coach Matt Scoggin also returns junior Sean O'Brien from a redshirt season.
- Texas welcomes the nation's No. 1 recruiting class, per SwimSwam.com. The aforementioned Haas ranks No. 2 nationally among incoming freshmen while Ryan Harty ranks ninth. Harty won three events in September at the annual Orange-White intrasquad meet.
Players Mentioned
