{"id":367623,"date":"2019-05-06T04:00:49","date_gmt":"2019-05-06T11:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=367623"},"modified":"2019-05-05T23:37:49","modified_gmt":"2019-05-06T06:37:49","slug":"swimming-world-presents-silver-linings-for-second-place-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-presents-silver-linings-for-second-place-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"Swimming World Presents “Silver Linings For Second-Place Texas”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Silver Linings For Second-Place Texas<\/span><\/h1>\n

Despite entering the NCAA Championships as four-time defending champions and competing in their home pool, the Texas Longhorns never had a realistic chance of challenging Cal for this year\u2019s title\u2014not with their team thinned out after graduating four individual NCAA champions and plenty more key contributors within the past two seasons.<\/p>\n

Texas opened the meet strong, capturing first in the 800 free relay with the fastest time in history (6:05.08), followed by another win in the meet\u2019s first individual event, when senior Townley Haas captured his third NCAA title in the 500 free. In that race, Haas went out at breathtaking pace with a halfway split of 2:00.49 that was nearly three seconds under the 4:07.25 American-record pace, only to fall well off that pace down the stretch, settling for an NCAA and meet record of 4:08.19.<\/p>\n

One day later, in an attempt to capture his fourth straight title in the 200 free, Haas looked gassed, and he ended up settling for fourth, his time of 1:31.80 more than two seconds slower than his fourth, his time of 1:31.80 more than two seconds slower than his personal best.<\/p>\n

Over the course of the meet, the Longhorns showed holes, particularly in butterfly and breaststroke, and as Texas struggled, Cal was thriving, with an A-finalist in every single event and multiple A-finalists in eight out of 13 individual races. Heading into the final day, Cal led Texas by 43 points.<\/p>\n

The Bears ended up nearly doubling that point margin before meet\u2019s end, but two massive efforts on the final night gave Texas swimmers reason to walk away with their heads held high, beginning when senior John Shebat captured his first NCAA title in the 200 back.<\/p>\n

A few minutes after the 200 back, Texas coach Eddie Reese informed Shebat that he was going to swim on the Longhorns\u2019 400 free relay to finish out the meet.<\/p>\n

To read more about the Texas Longhorn’s efforts at the NCAA D1 Champs,
\ncheck out the May 2019<\/a><\/span> issue of Swimming World Magazine<\/em>, available now!<\/p>\n

\"Swimming<\/a><\/p>\n

[PHOTO CREDIT: PETER H. BICK]<\/p>\n

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