The 2016 Senior Circuit Championships competed in Mansfield, Texas this past weekend gave us something you don’t see very often: college teams breaking long course national relay records. Texas A&M teammates Juan Rocha, Mauro Castillo, Mateo Gonzalez, and Angel Martinez combined to break the Mexican national record in the 400 meter medley relay last weekend with a final time of 3:41.93. The previous record was 3:42.77, set at the Pan American Games last summer.
Here’s the split comparison between the old and new records. Remarkably, there is no crossover between the old and new relays, despite being set just one year apart:
Old record:
Daniel Torres – 57.48
Miguel Alejandro de Lara – 1:00.99
Long Gutierrez – 53.34
Luis Campos – 50.96
New record:
Juan Rocha – 56.54
Mauro Castillo – 1:01.05
Mateo Gonzalez – 53.34
Angel Martinez – 51.00
With the dead-even fly legs from Cal Bear Long Gutierrez and A&M sophomore Gonzalez, and breaststroke and freestyle legs that were essentially a wash, Rocha’s backstroke leg that was nearly a full second clear or Torres’ made the difference.
The A&M quartet were successful individually in their respective strokes, as well. Rocha won both backstrokes, Castillo (an individual scorer for the Aggies this past season) dominated both breaststrokes (including a very solid 2:13:50 in the 200), and Gonzalez touched first in the 100 fly.