The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Georgia
No. 2 Men's Swimming and Diving overpowers No. 7 Georgia, 180-114
01.14.2017 | Men's Swimming and Diving
Longhorns win the first 14 events in a meet laden with Rio Olympians.
ATHENS, Ga. – No. 2 Texas (4-3) won the first 14 events and deflected a formidable challenge from No. 7 Georgia, as the Longhorns claimed a meet loaded with Rio Olympians and posted a convincing 180-114 victory at UGA's Gabrielsen Natatorium.
Saturday's meet featured six U.S. Olympians – UT's Townley Haas, Clark Smith and Jack Conger & Georgia's Chase Kalisz, Jay Litherland and Gunnar Bentz - plus Singapore's Olympic gold medalist in the 100m butterfly, Texas junior Joseph Schooling. The Longhorns set the tone from the outset by way of their 200-yard medley relay. Sophomore John Shebat led off in 21.75 seconds before six-time NCAA champion senior Will Licon split 24.06 seconds on the breaststroke leg and put the Horns in the lead.
Schooling out-split UGA's Pace Clark by eight-tenths of a second with a 20.54 butterfly leg, and he gave way to All-America junior Brett Ringgold who anchored in 19.42 and delivered the win for Texas by over two seconds.
Smith, the American record holder in the 1,000 freestyle, blew away the field in the same event Saturday and won going away in 8:57.86. The Denver native held 27-second splits throughout the race and, behind a powerful kick, came home in an impressive 23.85 seconds in the 50 yards. He defeated his nearest competitor, UGA's Aidan Burns, by nearly 13 seconds.
Haas, the NCAA and American record holder in the 200 freestyle, won the same event in 1:35.69 while teammate Jonathan Roberts followed closely behind in second at 1:35.87. Shebat added a win in the 100 backstroke at 46.85, and Licon, who earlier joined Shebat on the medley relay, claimed the 100 breaststroke at 52.67.
Conger, the American record holder in the 200 butterfly, led a one-two Texas finish in the event Saturday at 1:44.82. His classmate Will Glass followed in second at 1:46.60. Schooling led a one-two Texas showing in the 50 freestyle and edged Ringgold for the win at 19.93.
All-America senior Mark Anderson completed a sterling week of competition and swept the diving events. The Californian claimed the one-meter board with 384.08 points and secured the win on three-meter with 423.53 points.
Ringgold added a win in the 100 freestyle in 43.95 to go with his runner-up swim in the 50 freestyle. Roberts and Shebat paced a one-two Texas showing in the 200 backstroke, where Roberts was victorious at 1:43.25. Licon, the two-time defending NCAA champion as well as the NCAA and American record holder in the 200 breaststroke, won the same event Saturday in 1:54.38 and topped Kalisz, a U.S. Olympian in the 400m individual medley.
The 500 freestyle yielded a one-two Texas finish from the last two NCAA champions in the event. Smith took the win at 4:19.70 while Haas placed second at 4:25.05. Conger gave Texas a sweep of the butterfly events with his 47.15 at 100 yards.
Texas resumes dual-meet competition on Friday, Jan. 27 when it hosts Arizona in a two-day meet at UT's Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
Players Mentioned
