SWIMMING / NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS : Relay Rally Gives Texas Lead Over USC, 360-291

Texas extended its lead over USC at the NCAA swimming and diving championships when Doug Gjertsen passed Dan Jorgensen in the last leg of the 800-yard freestyle relay Friday.

After two days, Texas leads USC, 360-291. Stanford is third with 231 points. UCLA is sixth with 175.

Texas led the relay until the 600-yard mark, when Dave Wharton of USC passed Matt Stahlman of Texas. Wharton made up more than one second on his leg. But Gjertsen was waiting.

Gjertsen, who earlier won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:33.15, caught Jorgensen with 100 yards left and held on for the victory.

“I was confident that I could have swum faster in the relay, but I have a lot of swims tomorrow,” Gjertsen said.

Texas entered the session with a 17-point lead, but USC overtook the Longhorns for the team lead, 204-201, after three events.

Princeton opened the evening by winning the 200-yard medley relay in an NCAA, American, and U.S. Open record time of 1:27.31. UCLA finished second, also under the old record.

USC made its move in the 400-yard individual medley when Dave Wharton won for the third year in a row. Ray Looze, also of USC, was second. Wharton’s time of 3:43.62 was well off his record.

Wharton led by a body length after 100 yards and steadily pulled away. Looze’s time of 3:47.08 was a lifetime best.

In the 100-yard butterfly, Anthony Nesty of Florida pulled away from the field to win with a time of 46.62 seconds. Although Shaun Jordan of Texas finished second, USC continued to hold an advantage because Erik Ran finished fourth and Brad Bailey was 12th.

Nesty, who won the 100-meter butterfly at the Seoul Olympics, trailed Ran at the 50-yard mark and pulled ahead at 75 yards.

However, the Trojans’ advantage was short lived. Texas won the next two events, Gjertsen the 200-yard freestyle and Kirk Stackle the 100-yard breaststroke.

In the next event, the three-meter springboard, Donie Scott of Southern Methodist defeated Thursday night’s one-meter champion Mark Lenzi of Indiana, 974.55-663.90.