SWIMMING NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS : Texas Takes the Lead; USC Second

By the time Doug Gjertsen began the anchor leg of Texas’s 400-yard medley relay, the Longhorns were far enough ahead of the field that Gjertsen could have coasted through his swim. Instead, the Longhorn senior extended his lead and touched in an American, NCAA and U.S. Open record time of 3:09.70.

The Texas time broke Stanford’s record of 3:10.92 which was set in 1985.

That victory, coupled with a Longhorn victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay, gave Texas the lead at NCAA swimming and diving championships at the Indiana University Natatorium Thursday night.

Texas leads second-place USC, 163 points to 146. Michigan is third with 107.5 points. UCLA is sixth with 79 points.

Arthur Wojdat of Iowa won the first individual event when he took the lead in the last 50 yards of the 500-yard freestyle from Marius Podkoscielny of Arizona and held on to win in 4:13.80. Wojdat, who won the event last year, was more than a second over his NCAA record but was happy with his time.

“I didn’t have any strategy. It depended on what the other swimmers were doing,” said Wojdat, who along with Podkoscielny swam for Poland in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

The race pitted the 1987, 1988 and 1989 champions of the event. John Witchel of Stanford, the 1988 winner, took a lead at the 100-yard mark. Wojdat, Podkoscielny and Sean Killion of California traded the lead until Wojdat swam away at the end.

In the next race, the 200-yard individual medley, Dave Wharton of USC won for the third consecutive year with the second-fastest time ever, 1:44.99.

For Wharton, who set the American record at this meet in this pool last year, was pleased with his performance.

“This wasn’t my best time, but I know I can’t do that every time,” Wharton said. “But this time definitely sets me up for the rest of the meet.”

Brent Lang of Michigan, like Wojdat and Wharton, defended the championship he won last year, the 50-yard freestyle. Lang beat Shawn Jordan off the start and held him off, 19.40 seconds to 19.66. Bjorn Zikarsky of USC was fifth and Brian Kurza of UCLA was eighth.

Mark Lenzi of Indiana won the one-meter springboard diving event for the second year in a row.