Cohen Sets Another Record as She Leads Texas to Title

Tiffany Cohen set an NCAA record in the 1,650-yard freestyle Saturday night as Texas posted a commanding victory in the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship.

Cohen swam the 1,650 freestyle in 15 minutes 53.85 seconds to break the previous NCAA record of 15:58.52 set in 1981 by Kim Linehan, also of Texas.

The NCAA record was the second for Cohen in the three-day championship. On Thursday night, she set an NCAA mark of 4:37.90 in the 100-yard freestyle, bettering the record of 4:38.91 set in 1984 by Marybeth Linzmeier of Stanford.

In another final, Kim Rhodenbaugh of Texas won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:14.92 to break a pool record of 2:17.26 set in 1983 by Kathy Treible of Florida.

Cohen and Rhodenbaugh gave Texas its only two victories in six events Saturday night, but Texas still emerged from the meet with 643 points, far ahead of Florida, its nearest competitor with 400 points.

Stanford finished third with 340 points, followed by California with 283, Southern Illinois with 231, USC with 229, Alabama with 170.5, UCLA with 146, Nebraska with 123 and SMU with 114.

Besides Cohen’s records, the only other NCAA record during the three-day championship was set by California’s Mary T. Meagher Friday night. Meagher swam the 200-yard butterfly in 1:55.13 to break the 1984 record of 1:55.55 set by Tracy Caulkins of Florida.