SWIMMING / NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS : Longhorns Outpoint USC, Win 3rd Consecutive Title

Michigan’s Mike Barrowman set the meet’s only individual record, and Texas won its third consecutive team title at the NCAA swimming and diving championships Saturday night at the Indiana University Natatorium.

The Longhorns finished with with 506 points, followed by USC with 423 and Stanford with 354. UCLA was sixth with 244 points.

Barrowman, who holds the world record in the 200-meter breaststroke, passed Kirk Stackle of Texas in the last 75 yards to finish with an NCAA, American and U.S. Open record time of 1:53.77 in the 200-yard breaststroke. The previous record was set by Steve Lundquist of Southern Methodist in 1981. Stackle, who also broke the old record, led Barrowman by nearly half a second at the 100-yard mark.

“I figured if I could stay with him a the 100, I could win,” Barrowman said. “I’ve been thinking about this record for three years.”

In the first event of the session, the 1,650-yard freestyle, Artur Wojdat of Iowa won his second championship of the meet in 14:45.42. Wojdat, who won the 500-yard freestyle Thursday night, passed Alex Kostich of Stanford after 1,200 yards and steadily increased his lead.

“He was setting a great pace, but he knew that at some point in the race I was going to pass him,” said Wojdat, a member of the Polish Olympic team. “I’m satisfied that I won, but I don’t like this race.”

In the 200-yard backstroke, Martin Zubero of Florida passed Jeff Rouse of Stanford in the last 25 yards and held on to win his first championship with a time of 1:43.99.

Brent Lang of Michigan led from the start of the 100-yard freestyle and won in 42.62 seconds. Anthony Nesty of Florida also won his second championship when he held off Bart Pippenger of Nevada Las Vegas and finished in 1:43.46.

Texas sealed its championship by winning the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 2:52.95. USC was second and UCLA finished sixth.

The Trojans took the lead at the 300-yard mark when Greg Larson overtook Doug Dickinson in the last 10 yards of their leg. However, Doug Gjertsen was anchoring for Texas. Gjertsen is 12 for 12 when anchoring for the Longhorns.

“I figured out last night that I was 11-0 in anchoring relays, and I knew I wasn’t going to lose this one,” Gjertsen said.

Going into the final session, the Trojans still had hope of catching the Longhorns. However, Texas never gave the Trojans a chance, outscoring USC in four of seven events.