Produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Jared Anderson.
400 MEDLEY RELAY – PRELIMS
- NCAA Record: Texas, 3:01.23
- American Record: California, 3:01.60
- U.S. Open Record: Texas, 3:01.23
- Pool Record: Texas, 3:04.31
- 2015 Champion: Texas, 3:01.23
Top 3:
- Texas – 3:00.68
- California – 3:01.28
- Louisville – 3:04.73
Texas stayed red-hot through the end of night 2, winning its 5th NCAA title in just 6 swimming events so far. The team of John Shebat, Will Licon, Joseph Schooling and Jack Conger went 3:00.68 to shatter the NCAA and U.S. Open records along with their own pool record from this morning.
The splits were great all around, but particularly absurd was Schooling’s 43.3 on the butterfly. That suggests the sophomore could become the first man ever under 44 seconds in the individual 100 fly tomorrow, or at least challenge the U.S. Open record of 44.18. Schooling represents Singapore internationally, so the Texas relay doesn’t break the American record, just the U.S. Open mark, for the fastest swim ever done on American soil.
The freshman Shebat was 45.36 on the backstroke, with Licon coming off his 200 IM win to split 50.69 and Conger anchoring in 41.29.
California was actually just off the old NCAA and U.S. Open records as well. Ryan Murphy shattered the American 100 back record on the leadoff leg with a mind-numbing 43.51 to put Cal way out in the lead. Josh Prenot came off the 200 IM runner-up spot to split 50.71 on breaststroke, Justin Lynch was 45.03 on fly and Long Gutierrez 42.03 on freestyle. Cal was actually under the American record, but don’t get credited with a new national mark because Gutierrez represents Mexico internationally.
Louisville snuck in for bronze, holding off a hard-charging Missouri team. Grigory Tarasevich was 45.24 on backstroke for Louisville as the Cardinals went 3:04.73. Mizzou made a late charge on a 42.54 from Michael Chadwick on the anchor leg, but couldn’t quite run down Louisville, instead settling for fourth in 3:04.99.
50 free hero Caeleb Dressel split 51.8 on breaststroke for Florida, and a 45.7 backstroke from Jack Blyzinskyj helped the Gators go 3:05.19 for 5th.