It wasn’t “like father, like son,” but rather “son better than father” for SMU’s Jack Berube on Friday.
For the second time this season, Berube broke a school record held by his father, Ryan, swimming the 200 backstroke in a time of 1:40.68 at the ACC Championships.
Ryan’s previous record was 1:41.23 set at the 1996 NCAA Championships. It was the oldest record still on the books for SMU”s program and gave him a 13th place finish.
Ryan Berube also anchored Team USA’s gold medal winning team in the 800 freestyle relay at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
In November, Jack Berube broke Ryan’s record in the 100 backstroke, coming in with a time of 46.14 in the prelims of the SMU Invite. That bettered Ryan’s previous record of 46.15.
A sophomore for the Mustangs, Berube is in his first year swimming for the program after transferring from Virginia.
He grew up in Dallas and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School, where he was a two-time Texas 5A medalist in the 200 freestyle and a silver medalist in the 100 free. He set seven school records while at Woodrow Wilson.
Berube actually converted to swimming after growing up in Texas excelling at water polo.
He competed in water polo for Pegasus Aquatics and was thinking about a collegiate career in that sport, but ultimately decided to pursue swimming.
In addition to breaking a second record his father owned, Berube also at the ACC Championships finished 16th in the 100 backstroke in a time of 46.17.
Dad was quick
Pretty cool! I am guessing that a lot of swimmers don’t want to see their records broken. But what could be better than if your own child broke your record after standing all of these years.