Men’s NCAA Championships, Day One: Texas Hooks an Awesome World Record in the 400m Medley Relay

By Phillip Whitten

EAST MEADOW, New York, March 25. AUBURN was dominating the meet and the Tigers had qualified first in the 400 meter medley relay, but the Smart Money was on the #4 qualifier Texas.

There’s a reason why it’s called the “Smart Money.”

Texas simply shattered the world record with a time of 3:25.38. The previous record was 3:28.12 set by Australia in 2002.

The splits for the Texas team:
Backstroke Aaron Peirsol 51.28
Breaststroke Brendan Hansen 57.82
Butterfly Ian Crocker 48.62
Freestyle Garrett Weber-Gale 47.97

In fact, the first three teams broke the former world record. Auburn was second in 3:27.19 and Stanford followed in 3:27.74.

Stanford’s Peter Marshall gave the Cardinal the lead, leading off in 50.79 seconds for the 100m backstroke. The time was an NCAA and US Open record.

Hansen had the fastest breaststroke split – 57.82 — but Auburn’s Mark Gangloff was only 3-hundredths slower. Two other swimmers split 58s and seven others swam 59s.

Ian Crocker’s 48.62 – easily the fastest fly split in history — takes him to an entirely new level. “He might even have been faster had he held back a bit in the first 50,” said his coach Eddie Reese, who noted that Crocker split 21.9 for the first two laps. Stanford’s Matt McDonald was second fastest, but his 50.62 was two full seconds behind Crocker.

Texas freshman Garrett Weber-Gale completed the record swim with a fine 47.66-second anchor leg. Auburn’s George Bovell was fastest at 46.58, followed by Carlos Jayme of Florida, who went 46.99. Cal’s Duje Draganja (47.85) and Stanford’s Andrew Schnell (47.97) also swam under 48 seconds.

“It was good to have a little rookie on the relay team,” said Peirsol of Weber-Gale. The three of us are used to it. It was good to see Garret get excited. And, of course, it didn’t hurt when Crocker swam out of his head.”

FINALS RESULTS
EVENT: 6 MEN's 400 Meter Medley Relay

NCAA Record: 3:31.23 Texas 2000
World Record: 3:28.12 AUSTRALIA 2002
American Record: 3:29.00 USA 2002
US Open Record: 3:31.23 Texas 2000
QUALIFYING FOR "A" Cut: 3:12.36
QUALIFYING FOR Meet Qualifying: 3:12.77

RESULTS of FINALS

RANK TEAM PRELIM TIME

CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

1) TEXAS 3:31.95 3:25.38**
1) PEIRSOL, AARON SO :51.28 3) CROCKER, IAN SR :48.62
2) HANSEN, BRENDAN SR :57.82 4) WEBER-GALE, GARRETT FR :47.66
** NCAA Record: World Record: American Record: US Open Record:
2) AUBURN 3:31.58 3:27.19
1) HUNT, BRYCE SR :51.67 3) BOUSQUET, FRED JR :51.09
2) GANGLOFF, MARK SR :57.85 4) BOVELL, GEORGE SO :46.58

3) STANFORD 3:30.95 3:27.74
1) MARSHALL, PETER SR :50.79++ 3) McDONALD, MATT JR :50.62
2) MARSHALL, GARY JR :58.36 4) SCHNELL, ANDREW SR :47.97
** NCAA Record: US Open Record:

4) CAL. BERKELEY 3:31.92 3:30.82
1) LIM, ALEX SR :51.81 3) CAVIC, MILORAD SO :52.25
2) ROWE, CALEB JR :58.91 4) DUJE, DRAGANJA JR :47.85

5) FLORIDA 3:33.68 3:31.53
1) KELLAM, CHRIS SR :53.15 3) MANGABEIRA, GABRIEL JR :51.68
2) MRAZEK, BILL FR :59.71 4) JAYME, CARLOS SR :46.99

6) NORTHWESTERN 3:34.20 3:32.00
1) GREVERS, MATT FR :52.05 3) HAMMING, MARK SR :52.76
2) ALEXANDROV, MIKE FR :59.02 4) SWANSON, TONY SR :48.17

7) ARIZONA 3:32.78 3:34.13
1) BURNETT, SIMON SO :52.81 3) VELOZ, JUAN SR :53.06
2) OWEN, GREG SR 1:00.02 4) LaFLEUR, ERIC SR :48.24

8) MICHIGAN 3:33.64 3:34.61
1) DeJONG, CHRIS SO :53.19 3) TARWATER, DAVIS SO :52.18
2) VANDERKAAY,CHRISTIA JR 1:00.63 4) KETCHUM, DAN SR :48.61

CONSOLATION FINAL

9) VIRGINIA 3:35.04 3:34.61
1) WAGNER, LUKE SR :53.95 3) RAAB, MICHAEL JR :52.33
2) ROGULJ, VANJA FR :59.76 4) KERPELMAN, ADAM SR :48.57

10) TEXAS A&M 3:35.71 3:35.75
1) ROSE, MATT SR :53.69 3) NEWMANN, SCOTT SO :52.92
2) ALFREDO, JACOBO JR 1:00.08 4) ANDREW, SULLIVANT SO :49.06

11) TENNESSEE 3:35.50 3:36.14
1) FULTON, JOSH JR :54.54 3) GRAVES, JAMIE SR :52.99
2) BREE, ANDREW SR :59.79 4) GUSTAFSON, TYLER SO :48.82

12) INDIANA 3:36.54 3:36.19
1) LEACH, MATT SR :54.99 3) HALASZ, MURPH JR :53.10
2) SWANDER, KEVIN SO :59.68 4) RUSSELL, COLIN FR :48.42

13) LOUISIANA STATE 3:35.34 3:36.46
1) MARTINEC, EVAN SR :52.87 3) LOWE, NEIL SR :54.01
2) CLAUSEN, CHRISTIAN JR 1:00.20 4) STANCZYK, CHRIS SR :49.38

14) WASHINGTON 3:37.75 3:36.81
1) ROSE, DEREK SR :54.17 3) ADRIAN, JUSTIN SR :52.36
2) DAVIS, PHIL SR :59.12 4) EKHOFF, LUKE SR :51.16

15) GEORGIA 3:38.44 3:36.87
1) OSBORN, PETER JR :55.04 3) VERHOEF, PETER SO :52.91
2) SALYARDS, KYLE SR :59.78 4) LABAN, JOSH JR :49.14

16) HAWAII 3:37.39 3:36.93
1) THEW, PETER SO :54.41 3) PALMA, NIMROD JR :53.27
2) BLOCH, CHEYNE SR 1:00.30 4) BOEHM, KURT SR :48.95

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