Add one bit of remodeling to the work already done on Texas A&M's Student Rec Center Natatorium with the Aggies hosting the NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships.
The board at the end of the pool listing Texas A&M's school records needs to be updated after sophomore Boris Loncaric broke the program's longest-standing record on the second day of the NCAA Championships. Loncaric swam the 100-yard butterfly in 45.53 seconds during Friday afternoon qualifying. He advanced to the finals, where he finished seventh in one of several record-breaking events on Day 2.
Texas, seeking its first NCAA team title since 2002, won the last event Friday to take the lead from Auburn going into the final day of the championships. The Longhorns grabbed the 800 freestyle relay in NCAA- and American-record time to push their team score to 348 points. Auburn, which had slipped past Texas into first place after the previous event, is in second place at 342.
Stanford remained third in the team standings with 298.5 points.
A&M divers Grant Nel and Eric Sehn finished fourth and sixth, respectively, to join Loncaric in lifting the Aggies one spot to 10th overall with 87 points.
Loncaric, a 20-year-old sophomore from Croatia, smashed the A&M 100 butterfly record of 47.10 that was set in 1986 by two-time NCAA runner-up Chris O'Neil. Loncaric had a previous best of 47.26.
"That record was there when I wasn't even born yet," Loncaric said. "It's really special to break an old record. There's no better feeling than that. [With] a year-old record, it can be just the pool, technology ... stuff like that."
A few hours later, Loncaric swam in the second event of the speedy evening session. The Aggie was slightly over his record pace at 50 yards, but did not have enough left on the second trip up and down the 25-yard pool to set another mark.
"I was hoping I could get better," Loncaric said. "It was definitely harder. My 50 mark was there, but the last 25 was hard. I was glad it was 100 and not 105."
Stanford sophomore Austin Staab won the 100 butterfly in 44.18, breaking the NCAA and American records in the event.
The fact that most international meets are measured in meters rather than yards takes some shine off the records falling this weekend, but Michigan's Tyler Clary made an impression with the name he eclipsed in the 400 individual medley. The sophomore from Riverside, Calif., finished in 3:35.98 to break his own NCAA record and Michael Phelps' American mark of 3:36.26.
Texas and Auburn turned up the heat in the team race Saturday, with the Longhorns piling up points from its freestylers while the Tigers flourished in the backstroke and got a second in diving. Texas held a 30-point lead after the opening day, but Auburn had pulled within six points before the Horns put four swimmers into the final in the 200 freestyle.
Dave Walters and Ricky Berens led a 2-3-7-8 finish that produced 56 points. Later in the 800 freestyle relay, Walters and Berens combined with Scott Jostes and Michael Klueh for a clocking of 6:10.16 that broke the NCAA and American marks already held by Texas teams.
"We had a great relay to put us back up there [in first place]," UT coach Eddie Reese said. "We were not as good as I would have liked to have been tonight, but it was still a real good night. Auburn was great tonight, darn it.
"It's the kind of meet you want to have at a men's NCAAs. It's a shootout. Everybody's just swimming lights-out. It's an incredible feeling to be part of it and to be in the race."
Auburn won five consecutive NCAA championships before Arizona ended the run last year. The Tigers moved into position to reclaim the title with a 100 backstroke performance that was nearly as productive as Texas had in the 200 freestyle. Kohlton Norys won the backstroke and the Tigers also took fourth and sixth for 48 points.
"Auburn is usually devastating on the last day, but we've got people in every event that will score," Reese said. "The question will be who makes the top eight and who just misses."
Tigers co-head coach Brett Hawke agreed that the results of the noon preliminaries will have a major impact on the team race. He wasn't so sure about Reese's preview of Auburn prospects for Saturday.
"I don't know about devastating," Hawke said. "Texas are the favorites. There's no doubt about that. Texas is the best team out here. If we were winning I'd feel pretty good, but we're losing right now."
Aussie freshman Nel and Canadian senior Sehn gave the Aggies two divers in a championship final for the second time in school history and the first since 2005. Nel scored 430.55 points to take fourth and Sehn had 410.20 for sixth. Purdue's David Boudia won with a meet record of 493.10 points.
A&M's 200 medley relay team set a school record of 1:25.51 in the preliminaries. The team of Jason Bergstrom, Nathan Lavery, Loncaric and Casey Strange went slightly slower in the consolation final and finished 11th overall.
Saturday's finals will begin at 7 p.m.
Notice about comments:
TheEagle.com is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. TheEagle.com does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not theeagle.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website.
Full terms and conditions can be read here.
