NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships : Mitchell Leads Texas to Fifth Straight Title

The Texas Lady Longhorns, led by Olympian backstroker Betsy Mitchell, splashed to a record fifth consecutive NCAA women’s swimming and diving championship Saturday night before an enthusiastic home pool crowd.

Mitchell, a senior from Maritta, Ohio, added the 200-yard backstroke to her 100-yard backstroke first place medal that she won Friday night at Texas Swimming Center. Her time was a pool record 1:57.21.

She won the silver medal at the 1984 Olympics in the 100-meter backstroke.

Texas scored 661 points to 542.5 points for second-place Florida. Stanford was third with 419 points, followed by California with 241 and Clemson with 218.5.

Florida’s Tami Bruce and Julia Gorman were triple winners.

Bruce, a junior from San Diego, who earlier won the 500 and 200-yard freestyles, won the 1,650-yard freestyle in an NCAA record 15:50.86, erasing the old standard of 15:53.85 by Tiffany Cohen of Texas in 1985.

Gorman, a junior from Baltimore, Md., won the 200-yard butterfly in 1:56.08 to go with previous victories in the 200 and 400-yard individual medley.

Teammate Dara Torres also eclipsed an NCAA record, winning the 100-yard freestyle for the Lady Gators in 48.26. The old mark was 48.40 by Tammy Thomas of Kansas in 1983.