Texas Drops American Record from 2009 in 800 Free Relay

2017 MEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, March 22 – Saturday, March 25
• IUPUI Natatorium – Indianapolis, IN
• Prelims 10AM/Finals 6PM (Eastern Time)
• Defending Champion: Texas (results)
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live stream: Wednesday/Thursday Prelims & Finals, Friday/Saturday Prelims / Friday/Saturday finals on ESPN3
• Event Previews
• Live Results

While the Texas Longhorns weren’t able to match NC State’s U.S. Open record in the 800 free relay tonight, their 2nd place finish did set a new American Record in the event.

Jack Conger, Jeff Newkirk, Clark Smith, and Townley Haas combined for a 6:08.61.  The previous mark also belonged to the Longhorns, a time of 6:10.16 from 2009, a squad that include Olympians David Walters and Ricky Berens, along with Scott Jostes and Michael Klueh.

Texas splits, 2017:
Conger – 1:31.54
Newkirk – 1:33.25
Smith – 1:33.40
Haas – 1:30.42

Texas splits 2009 (courtesy of commenter Thezwimmer):
Dave Walters- 1:31.72
Ricky Berens- 1:32.15
Scott Jostes- 1:33.20
Michael Klueh- 1:33.09

Conger’s time about three-tenths faster than what he led off last year, and Haas was about a tenth of a second faster than last year, meaning tonight’s time for him was the fastest split ever.  Haas jumped in well over a body length behind NC State’s anchor Soeren Dahl, and he closed a little, but Dahl was also clutch, splitting 1:30.67, one of the fastest splits ever.

Last year Texas was not eligible for the American Record, despite setting the US Open and NCAA records, because anchor Joe Schooling represents Singapore internationally.  Tonight, NC State’s record setting squad included international swimmers Andreas Vazaios (Greece) and Dahl (Denmark).