The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Clark Smith selected as National Swimmer of the Week
01.17.2017 | Men's Swimming and Diving
Rio Olympics gold medalist Clark Smith earns second national swimmer of the week award as a Longhorn.
AUSTIN, Texas – CollegeSwimming.com selected Texas All-America senior Clark Smith as its National Division I Men's Swimmer of the Week Tuesday after the Rio Olympics gold medalist won all four of his events last week.
Smith, the son of former Longhorn and U.S. Olympic swimmer Tori Trees and former NCAA champion Texas swimmer John Smith, collects the second honor of his career from CollegeSwimming.com, his first since Dec. 15, 2015.
Smith opened the Longhorns' victory over Auburn (Jan. 12) by winning the 1,000-yard freestyle in 9 minutes, 6.65 seconds. He added a victory in the 500 freestyle, an event in which he claimed the 2015 NCAA title, in 4:27.26.
Smith took on a traditionally-strong Georgia distance contingent two days later in the Bulldogs' home pool and came away with two more wins. He claimed the 1,000 freestyle in 8:57.86, nearly 14 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor from UGA, before adding a one-two Texas finish alongside fellow U.S. Olympian Townley Haas in the 500 freestyle at 4:19.70.
Smith ranks No. 1 in the nation this season in both the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyle events. He holds the American record in the latter event and holds a personal best that falls a fraction of a second shy of the U.S. mark in the former event.
Smith and the Longhorns resume dual-meet competition next Friday when they host Arizona for a two-day dual meet.
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