The tri-meet featuring host Texas and challengers Indiana and Florida is taking on an exciting format, with the first day of the meet running the usual dual meet schedule in long course meters. The second day of the meet will feature the same events, but in short course yards.<\/p>\n
With teams putting a slightly heavier focus on short course yards, even in the Olympic year, it was expected that the times on the scoreboard not drop any jaws. But many of the races were exciting to the final strokes, setting up even more thrilling matchups for the second day of competition. In attendance were NCAA champions Jack Conger, Caeleb Dressel, Clark Smith<\/strong> and <\/strong>Will Licon<\/strong> on the men\u2019s side, while the women\u2019s meet featured All-Americans Natalie Hinds<\/strong> and Madisyn Cox<\/strong> as well as USA Swimming national team member Lilly King<\/strong>.<\/p>\n After one day of competition, the Texas men are beating Indiana 201-98 and routing Florida 179-121. Florida has a narrow edge over Indiana going into the second day of the meet, 1571-43. In the women\u2019s meet, Texas has a 168-130 lead over Indiana and a 171-129 advantage over Florida. Indiana is leading the Florida women by 20 points, 159-139.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most exciting race of Friday\u2019s session was the men\u2019s 100 backstroke, where the top four all finished within three tenths of each other. Leading the way was Florida\u2019s Corey Main<\/strong> with a 56.98. Right behind in second through fourth place \u2013 and separated by just eight hundredths of a second \u2013 were Indiana\u2019s Bob Glover<\/strong> (57.19), Texas\u2019 Ryan Harty<\/strong> (57.24) and Florida\u2019s Jack Blyzinskyj<\/strong> (57.27).<\/p>\n Main was one of five double winners on the men\u2019s side, as he also won the 200 back in another close race with a 2:05.15 to lead a 1-2 finish for Florida. Blyzinskyj was second in 2:05.63, while Harty took third with a 2:05.89.<\/p>\n Texas\u2019 Clark Smith<\/strong>, the reigning 500 free NCAA champion, won the long course version of that event with a 3:55.11 in the 400 free. Earlier in the session, he won the 800 free handily with an 8:13.16, using a 27.35 in the final 50 to widen his gap over Florida\u2019s Arthur Frayler<\/strong>, who took second with an 8:16.66.<\/p>\n Indiana\u2019s Blake Pieroni<\/strong> stayed an arm\u2019s length ahead of Texas\u2019 Townley Haas<\/strong> through the 200 free race, and that helped him secure the win, 1:49.94 to 1:50.35. That same strategy paid off for Pieroni in the 100 free, where he beat Dressel by four tenths, 49.93 to 50.38.<\/p>\n Dressel won the 50 free at the NCAA championships last March as a freshman and followed it up with a long course national title in August. He won the 50 free today with a 22.94, then followed it up with a bit of an upset in the 100 fly. NCAA champion and world championship bronze medalist Joe Schooling<\/strong> of Texas led at the 50-meter mark, but Dressel surprisingly ran him down and took the narrow victory, 53.99 to 54.15.<\/p>\n Licon, the NCAA champion in the 200 breast and 400 IM, had easy victories in long course racing. He took the 100 breast with a 1:03.41 ahead of the 1:03.85 from Indiana\u2019s Tanner Kurz<\/strong>, and followed it up in the 200 breast in 2:20.76, beating Kurz by two seconds.<\/p>\n Conger is the current American record holder in the 200-yard fly and national runner-up in the long course version, and he was able to win the event today in 2:01.01, beating teammate John Martens<\/strong> by more than a second.<\/p>\n Mark Szaranek<\/strong> was able to give Florida a win in the men\u2019s 200 IM with a 2:16.42 to win by two seconds.<\/p>\n On the women\u2019s side, Madisyn Cox<\/strong> was the only double winner in a meet that saw all three teams notch strong victories. Cox won the 200 free with a 2:01.58 as Texas went 1-2 in the event. Quinn Carrozza<\/strong> placed second with a 2:03.40.<\/p>\n Carrozza would win the 200 backstroke in 2:13.66 as one of three other individual event wins for the Texas Longhorns in the women\u2019s meet. Rebecca Millard<\/strong> won the 50 free with a 26.28, beating out the 26.49 from Florida\u2019s Natalie Hinds<\/strong>. Joanna Evans<\/strong> held off Florida\u2019s Jessica Thielmann<\/strong> in the women\u2019s 800 free, posting an 8:54.12 to Thielmann\u2019s 8:55.80.<\/p>\n