Texas Four Peats: How Did We Fall For It Again?

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

By Andy Ross.

For the fourth year in a row, the Texas Longhorns are the kings of men’s swimming. It wasn’t as dominating as it has been the last three years, but the Longhorns were champions once again, this time by 11.5 points.

But how did they fool us once again?

Texas has always seemed to come into the NCAA Championships vulnerable. Last year they lost to Indiana and NC State in duel meets. This year they lost to Indiana and NC State again, as well as Florida and home state rival Texas A&M in the fall. And again in the spring to Arizona State.

But of course what followed in 2017 was one of the greatest performances from a single team in NCAA history. Texas placed at least one person in every single championship final in the swimming pool at the meet in Indianapolis. They won four of the five relays and set three NCAA relay records.

The one relay they didn’t win, they set the American Record in a loss to NC State.

But that 2017 team was different. It was led by three college swimming legends in Will Licon, Clark Smith and Jack Conger. It had at least one person in every championship final with Licon, Smith, Conger, Townley Haas, Jonathan Roberts, Brett Ringgold, Joseph Schooling and John Shebat all scoring big points in the meet. And again, it had three NCAA records in relays alone.

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The 2018 team wasn’t as stacked at the top with senior points as it was the year prior and it wasn’t as deep as the 2017 team. The team didn’t give any indication in the regular season they would be national champions in March.

They lost to Florida. They lost to IU. They lost to Arizona State. They didn’t have a breaststroker. They didn’t have depth.

But what did they have?

They had one of the most clutch swimmers in the NCAA this decade, Townley Haas. They had a freshman who is destined for big things in the sport, Austin Katz. They had one of the greatest coaches the sport has ever seen, Eddie Reese.

And they had diving.

The sport is called “swimming AND diving” for a reason. Last year’s Texas team set the standard so high that it almost seems like you need to score 542 points to win an NCAA team title, because we have been so used to Texas dominating the men’s meet. But diving scores points too, and the team capitalized on that this year, proving you don’t need to blow everyone else out of the water to win the meet.

“They don’t have a breaststroker.”

Well, that didn’t stop David Marsh’s Auburn teams after Mark Gangloff graduated in 2004. They won three straight titles from 2005-2007 without a premiere breaststroker on their medley relays. Auburn also won all those titles without any dominant distance freestyler or a top three 800 free relay.

How? Because the Tigers capitalized on two of the most important strokes in college swimming: sprint freestyle and diving. So they loaded up on the backs of Fred Bousquet, George Bovell and divers Steven Segerlin and Caesar Garcia throughout the 2000’s decade.

“They don’t have the relays they did last year.”

The Florida women’s team in 2010 won the national title after only winning one relay. The Texas men’s team in 2010 also only won one relay. What did both those teams have in common?

Diving.

It has saved teams in the past, like the 2006 Auburn men, who only won the 200 free relay to begin the meet. They then watched Arizona gain momentum as the team won the rest of the relays in the meet and won individual titles from Simon Burnett and Lyndon Ferns. The Wildcats led by legendary coach Frank Busch were showing signs of dethroning the Tigers, something no team had done since 2002. The meet was tight going into the last day, but it was diver Steven Segerlin who was there to save the day as he won the 10m title on the last night.

Auburn won the meet by 40 points. Segerlin scored 52.

Flash forward 12 years later, and the NCAA men’s meet was almost a mirror image of itself. A Florida senior (Ryan Lochte, Caeleb Dressel) was throwing up mind boggling times in his final college meet, seven total NCAA records were broken, and the three-time defending NCAA team champions (Auburn, Texas) were in danger of losing the team title, but diving saved the day.

Of course no one could predict that what happened in 2006 would happen in 2018. But one could predict that diving could save Texas as they had freshman Jordan Windle, who was fourth in the 10m at the 2016 Olympic Trials.

As the 2018 meet started, a four-peat wasn’t looking too promising for the Longhorns. They missed the final in the 400 medley relay. John Shebat was pulled at night in favor for Austin Katz in the relay. Joseph Schooling almost didn’t score in the 50, and Jonathan Roberts missed the A-final in the 200 IM.

There were positives out of that morning from freshman Sam Pomajevich and junior Townley Haas who reached the A-Final in the 500, the former dropping some eleven seconds off his seed.

Haas won the 500 final that night in a very gutsy swim, and then all of a sudden you couldn’t count Texas out.

The aforementioned Windle was also clutch as he placed in the top eight in all three boards, including finishing the meet as runner-up in the 10m.

Texas scored 81 points in diving alone, Windle scoring 45 of them. They won the team title for the fourth straight year. They didn’t win any relays. They didn’t score points in breaststroke.

How did we think they couldn’t do it?

How did we think John Shebat was only as good as his 14th and 31st seeds in his backstroke events? How did we think Townley Haas was actually going to lose the 200 free? How did we think Texas was going to lose this season?

We fell for it. Again.

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Yeah they lost to Florida and Indiana. Yeah they lost to Texas A&M. But when have duel meets ever mattered?

Katz had been consistent 1:47’s all season in the 200 back, as he only won one duel meet, when he swam a 1:45 against North Carolina. Haas was consistently 1:37 and 1:38 all season in the 200 free in duel meets, most notably finishing three seconds behind Blake Pieroni and Khader Baqlah in an IU-Florida tri-meet in October.

But when it mattered the most, Katz and Haas, as well as the rest of the Texas team, saved their best swims for the last meet. Katz dropped a 1:37 on Saturday’s final and Haas became the second man to break 1:30 on Friday.

The Purdue Boilermakers men’s basketball team, my favorite team, defeated Michigan twice this season and yet the Wolverines are in the national title game tonight and Purdue is going to be watching at home. What they did in the regular season doesn’t matter since they couldn’t get it done in March.

All this goes to show is that Eddie Reese knows what he is doing, saving the best swims for the end of the year. The great ones always figure it out.

Caeleb Dressel hasn’t been considered a great duel meet swimmer. Neither has Kevin Cordes. But both of those guys always knew how to put on a show at the NCAA Championships, even if their swims in October were less than impressive.

There comes the old adage, “you can’t count out the champs” (or something like that). Just because a team isn’t lights out in the regular season, doesn’t mean they aren’t going to be ready to go when the time comes.

Every single NBA season, the narrative is “should we worried about (LeBron James’ team)?” Nope, because they have LeBron.

The New England Patriots lost their home opener in 2017. “Should we be worried?” Nope, because they have Tom Brady. And yet, they still made the Super Bowl.

Should we ever be worried about Texas? Well, as long as Eddie is in charge, never.

The 2018 Texas men’s swimming and diving team moved in to prestigious territory as they became the seventh Division I team to win at least four consecutive men’s NCAA team titles. They joined Michigan (1937-1941), Southern California (1963-1966; 1974-1977), Indiana (1968-1973), Texas (1988-1991) and Auburn (2003-2007) in the elite category.

They have won four straight national titles, and are picking up five star recruits Drew Kibler and Daniel Krueger next year. So when you’re filling out your picks for the 2019 NCAA’s, remember two things: the meet is in Austin, Texas. And second, the Longhorns haven’t lost the NCAA meet since 2014, so nobody on that team knows how to lose in March.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

Name*

Email*

2 Comments

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Anonymous

6 years ago

Congrats to Eddie and all the team members. Most importantly, they’re a team working towards a singular goal. congrats also to all the support staff and parents. Kudos UT. Be proud. Awesome accomplishment

Roger Karns

6 years ago

Alexander Hamilton was killed in a DUEL. Two teams competing against each other are swimming a DUAL meet.