The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA Championships
Men's Swimming and Diving lowers own American record at NCAA Championships
03.22.2017 | Men's Swimming and Diving
A new herd of Longhorns takes rewrites the American record set by Texas at the 2009 NCAA Championships.
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INDIANAPOLIS – Texas senior Jack Conger, sophomore Jeff Newkirk, senior Clark Smith and sophomore Townley Haas lowered UT's own American record in the 800-yard freestyle relay and placed second in the event Wednesday evening at the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.
Conger, who joined Smith and Haas to win gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay at the Rio Olympics, led off the relay in 1 minute, 31.54 seconds before Newkirk split 1:33.25 on the relay's second leg.
Smith picked up the third relay leg in 1:33.40 before Haas anchored in 1:30.42, about a tenth of a second faster than his previous NCAA-record relay split a year ago at the NCAA Championships.
Texas took second place and 34 points with its 6:08.61, which lowers the Longhorns' own American record it had held the last eight years. The 6:08.61 eclipses the previous mark of
6:10.16 set by Dave Walters, Ricky Berens, Scott Jostes and Michael Klueh at the 2009 NCAA Championships.
N.C. State took the win and the NCAA record Wednesday evening in 6:06.53. Florida placed third at 6:09.30 while California took fourth in 6:09.56.
"N.C. State did a phenomenal job, and they were excellent the whole relay," said 39th-year Texas head coach Eddie Reese, who ranks No. 1 all-time with 12 NCAA men's swimming and diving team titles. "The whole field was so much faster than last year. I'm an eternal optimist, so I felt like we would be better on that relay (than last year), and we were not. So, I get full 'credit' for that."
Day two of the NCAA Championships gets underway Thursday at 10 a.m. Eastern with finals set for 6 p.m. ET.
"This is one of those meets where we're going to have to swim into the meet," Reese added. "Last year was the same way, and we got better going into the last day of the meet. I'm assuming that's the way we're going to go."
NCAA Championships – Day 1 of 4
800 Freestyle Relay – Timed Final
2. Texas – Conger (1:31.54), Newkirk (1:33.25), Smith (1:33.40), Haas (1:30.42),
6:08.61 (American record)
Players Mentioned
