The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Defining Moments: Hall of Honor inductee Ian Crocker
09.27.2017 | Men's Swimming and Diving
Longhorn legend Ian Crocker won 10 NCAA titles, 24 All-America honors and was a three-time Olympian during his illustrious career.
by Ryan Tewes
Ian Crocker had a sense that something special was taking place with Texas Swimming during his recruiting trip to the Forty Acres.
"I noticed there was something different about this team compared to the others I had visited," Crocker said. "The team seemed like they were focused on trying to win national championships. It just seemed like a close family of guys that were not just here to have fun, but that they were also here for excellence."
Crocker's perception of that Longhorn team was accurate. During his senior year of high school, the Longhorns won the 2000 National Championship, the first of three straight team titles, with Crocker playing a crucial role in both the 2001 and 2002 team championships.
Exhausted from traveling for previous recruiting trips, the Portland, Maine native almost canceled his initial trip to Austin. His decision to visit The University of Texas would lead to one of the greatest swimming careers in collegiate history.
A three-time Olympian, Crocker competed as a member of the 2000 United States Olympic Team – after winning the 100m butterfly at the Olympic Trials – before ever swimming for Texas. Over the next four years, Crocker would claim 10 NCAA titles, including four consecutive NCAA titles in the 100 butterfly, 24 All-America honors, 21 Big 12 championships and became the third Longhorn to be named NCAA Swimmer of the Year following his senior season in 2004.
Crocker was just the third swimmer, joining Olympic legends Mark Spitz and Pablo Morales, to win four consecutive NCAA titles in the 100 butterfly, registering NCAA and American records in 2002, and claimed his fifth individual NCAA title with a victory in the 100m freestyle during his senior campaign. In the relays, Crocker took part in Texas' NCAA and American record-setting title-winning squads in the 400 freestyle and 400 medleys as a freshman and the 200 and 400 medleys as a junior. He picked up a fifth relay title his senior year as part of the 400 medley crew.
Despite the individual accolades and record-setting performances, Crocker identifies being a part of the national championship team in 2001 as his defining moment as a Longhorn.
"Growing up in Maine, I was on a small team with only a handful of people that I would train with. I was the only person in the state that had national-level meet cuts, so it was just my coach and I that would travel," Crocker said. "Through my freshman year, I still didn't quite understand what it meant to be part of a Division I team, but when we won the national championship there was a shift that happened for me where I realized just how special it was to a part of a team like Texas.
"Winning NCAAs my freshman year as a team and coming home with that banner was a big turning point for me and my understanding of what it meant to not just go out there and do it for myself, but to fight for the team and that really helped my swimming in general going from there."
Crocker's successes at UT mirrored his achievements on the national and international stage. At the 2000 Olympics, he won gold swimming the butterfly leg of the 400-meter medley relay and placed fourth in the 100m butterfly, setting the American record in the process. At the 2003 World Championships, Crocker set the 100m butterfly world record with a time of 50.98, the first person to best 51 seconds in the event, defeating rival Michael Phelps, who had established the record in the championship semifinal.
At the 2004 U.S. Olympics Trials, Crocker lowered his world record time to 50.76, claiming the gold ahead of Phelps. In the 2004 Olympics, Crocker helped the United States to a world record in the 4x100m medley relay to earn the gold. He picked up a silver in the 100m butterfly, finishing a fraction of a second behind Phelps for the gold, and added a bronze as a member of the 4x100m freestyle relay. Crocker lowered his 100m butterfly world record a third time with a mark of 50.40 at the 2005 World Championships, winning the gold ahead of Phelps yet again.
Representing the United States for a third time at the 2008 Olympics, Crocker won gold in the 4x100m medley relay and placed fourth in the 100m butterfly. Crocker was just the fifth Longhorn to swim for Team USA in three different Olympic games.
Today, Crocker, a 2017 inductee to the International Swimming Hall of Fame, is a swimming coach at Western Hills Athletics Club in Rollingwood, Texas and participates as a Mutual of Omaha BREAKOUT! Swim clinician after previously serving three seasons as a volunteer assistant coach with the Texas women's swimming team.
Induction into the Longhorn Men's Hall of Honor adds to his Longhorn legacy, but Crocker is quick to note that it is the camaraderie developed among his Texas teammates and the bonds established that are among his lasting impressions of his time at UT.
"I get to see some of the guys that still live here in Austin on a fairly regular basis and have the opportunity to go back and talk about our experiences," Crocker said. "I always explain to people that when you're in the pool, going through the challenging workouts day-to-day, even if they're people that you wouldn't have otherwise become friends with, you end up forming really strong bonds because you're going through something physically, mentally and emotionally challenging every single day together, so you really get to the meat of what these people are made of.
"Being a part of a team at Texas, it's not just about going up there and performing, it's also about taking care of each other outside of the pool."