NCAA Men’s Swim Meet : Texas Hangs On to Win Title; USC’s Wharton Gets Top Award

Texas held on to win the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. men’s swimming title Saturday, leaving USC in second place as the three-day meet concluded at the Indiana University-Purdue University Natatorium.

Texas finished with 424 points, followed by USC with 369.5. Then came Stanford with 276.5, Cal 250, Michigan 203.5, LSU 164, UCLA 154 and Florida 131.

Eddie Reese of Texas was named coach of the year.

Dave Wharton, a freshman at USC, was named swimmer of the year by a vote of the coaches. On the final night he finished second in the 200-yard freestyle. On the first night he won the 200 individual medley and on the second night he set an American open record in the 400 individual medley.

Dan Jorgensen won the 1,650-yard freestyle, and Vagn Hogholm won the consolation race in the 100-yard freestyle for USC. Mike O’Brien was fifth in the 200-yard backstroke and Dave Cademartori was third in the 200-yard freestyle for the Trojans.

UCLA’s Craig Oppel had a busy night, finishing 11th in the 100-yard freestyle, 13th in the 200-yard butterfly and swimming the third leg on the 400-yard freestyle relay team.

Texas won the relay in American record time, 2 minutes 52.01 seconds. LSU was second, UCLA third and USC fourth.

USC was also second in the meet last year, when Stanford won the title.