USC’s O’Brien and UCLA’s Jager Shatter U.S. Records in NCAA Meet

Mike O’Brien of USC and Thomas Jager of UCLA broke American records in the 500- and 50-yard freestyle events, respectively, Thursday night during the 62nd annual NCAA men’s swimming and diving championships.

O’Brien, a 19-year-old freshman, bettered the record time of 4:14.85, set by Florida’s Matt Cetlinski in the afternoon trials.

Olympian George DiCarlo was second in 4:15.26, while Cetlinski was third in 4:16.99.

“I tried to go out controlled and save my legs,” O’Brien said. “I had a good kick and stayed strong. The 500 is becoming a faster-paced race. DiCarlo was coming on at the end.”

Jager, a 20-year-old junior, was clocked in 19.24 seconds in winning the 50 freestyle for the third straight year, beating the mark of 19.32 set by California’s Matt Biondi in Thursday’s preliminaries. Biondi finished second in 19.31. John Sauerland of UCLA was third in 19.86.

“Obviously, I was pleased to win,” Jager said. “I was glad Matt (Biondi) was there to set the pace. He is a tough competitor. I believe this is the fastest pool I have ever competed in.”

Stanford broke its American record in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:10.92, which easily surpassed the Cardinal’s mark of 3:11.93 set in the afternoon trials. The record-setting team was composed of Dave Bottom, John Moffet, Pablo Morales and David Lundberg.

California was second in 3:12.32 and UCLA third in 3:14.81.

The 40 points that Stanford scored by winning the event gave it the lead after the first day with 113 points. Two-time defending champion Florida was tied for second with UCLA at 91 points each. Texas was fourth with 80, followed by USC at 65, California at 63, Arkansas at 57 and Arizona at 52.

Morales won the 200-yard individual medley in 1:46.08, but fell short of a record. Paul Wallace of Florida was second in 1:47.26, and Jens-Peter Berndt, the East German defector now swimming for Alabama, was third in 1:47.43.