NCAA Men's Division I Championships: Auburn Sets NCAA, U.S. Open Record to Win 200 Medley Relay, Texas Sets American Record - ON-DEMAND VIDEO AVAILABLE -- March 27, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 27. WITH the crowd exploding, Auburn raced to an NCAA and U.S. Open record in the 200-yard medley relay to open the second night of the NCAA Division I Men's Championships.
The Auburn foursome of Jared White (20.97), Michael Silva (23.36), Matt Targett (19.66) and Gideon Louw (18.37) completed the record-setting swim in 1:22.36. The effort cleared the 1:22.58 that Auburn set during prelims.
The win gave Auburn its third straight in the event and an NCAA-leading seventh overall. The Tigers won the event in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2007, 2008 and now 2009.
California's Guy Barnea (21.22), Damir Dugonjic (22.96), Graeme Moore (20.09) and Nathan Adrian (18.23) ripped off a second-place 1:22.50 to make it a close contest. Not quite as close as the .05 seconds that separated Arizona (1:27.01) from Stanford (1:27.06) in 1993, but exciting nonetheless.
Stanford's Eugene Godsoe, John Criste, Jason Dunford and Alex Coville took third in 1:23.14.
Texas' Scott Jostes (21.44), Agustin Magruder (23.92), Hill Taylor (20.12) and Jimmy Feigen (18.49) finished fifth in 1:23.97 to break the American record of 1:24.00 set by Longhorn Aquatics back in 2006.
Texas remained in the lead with 199 points, while Auburn moved into second with 181 points. Stanford (162), California (137) and Florida (129) completed the top five in the team race.
