The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Georgia
No. 1 Men's Swimming and Diving powers past No. 3 Georgia, 170-125
01.09.2016 | Men's Swimming and Diving
Defending national champions remain unbeaten, pick up two wins apiece from Townley Haas, Will Licon, Jack Conger and Cory Bowersox.
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 1 Texas (8-0) won 12 of 16 events and put on another impressive all-around performance to defeat No. 3 Georgia by a 170-125 count Saturday afternoon at UT's Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
All-America junior Clark Smith, the NCAA and American record holder in the 1,000-yard freestyle, cruised to victory in the same event Saturday in 8 minutes, 57.18 seconds. Sophomore Jonathan Roberts and senior Sam Lewis helped solidify a one-two-three finish for Texas with their marks of 9:09.83 and 9:11.01.
Georgia trimmed the Longhorns' lead with its win in the 200 medley relay, but freshman Townley Haas put Texas back in the win column with his gutsy swim in the 200 freestyle. Haas trailed UGA's Jay Litherland at 150 yards but took over the lead in the final 25 yards and won in 1:35.77.
Georgia answered by winning the 100 backstroke, though freshmen Ryan Harty and John Shebat posted second- and third-place marks of 46.77 and 48.68. Texas put some distance between itself and Georgia with its first, second and fourth-place showings in the 100 breaststroke.
All-America junior Will Licon took the win at 54.56 while sophomore Austin Temple took second at 56.03. Senior Matt Ellis added a fourth-place mark of 57.57. All-America junior Jack Conger led from start-to-finish in the 200 butterfly, an event in which he holds an American record, and cruised to victory in 1:43.65. All-America junior Will Glass added three points with his third-place mark of 1:46.89.
Georgia claimed the 50 freestyle, but Texas' Brett Ringgold and John Murray helped to stave off the Bulldogs' point gain with their second- and third-place finishes at 20.33 and 20.35. Ringgold returned after a short layoff and captured the 100 freestyle at 44.39.
Harty, who joins Haas as the only two freshmen in the country with top-four national marks, put away a strong field in the 200 backstroke and won handily in 1:43.38, good for an NCAA "B" cut. Licon completed his sweep of the breaststroke events and dominated the 200 breaststroke from start-to-finish, as he won by over five seconds in 1:56.40.
Haas added a win in the 500 freestyle to go with his victory in the 200 freestyle and eclipsed the field by about a second in 4:24.85.
Conger finished off his sweep of the butterfly events and led a one-two Texas finish at 47.14. Glass added a second-place mark of 48.17. Three-time All-America senior Cory Bowersox effectively put away the Texas victory with his sweep of the diving events.
He opened the meet by leading a one-two-three Longhorns finish atop the final one-meter standings with 384.45 points. Junior Mark Anderson took a close second at 382.28, and redshirt junior Sean O'Brien took third at 377.25.
Bowersox, Anderson and O'Brien managed the same finish on the three-meter board with Bowersox taking the win at 439.43.
Texas declined its remaining points given that it had secured the team victory. The Horns won the day's final event, the 400 freestyle relay, where UT's Murray held off UGA's Michael Trice at the final wall. Texas took the win in 2:56.15.
POST-MEET COMMENTS
Texas head coach Eddie Reese
On his team's performance: They did a real good job. We hope, 'knock on wood,' that we're getting though all the illnesses we've had. We've had about seven or eight guys sick off and on, some more seriously than others. But, they're staying in there. That was a good meet for us. They did a lot of good things.
On where the team is training-wise after these last two meets: It looks like we have gone harder first semester and over the Christmas break, and you have to put on the brakes out here somewhere soon. Luckily, we've got some time. Some of them are going real fast anyway.
Players Mentioned
