Reported by Robert Gibbs.
2018 MEN’S NCAA SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, March 21 – Saturday, March 24
- Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center – Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Prelims 10 AM / Finals 6 PM (Central Time)
- Defending champion: Texas (3x) (results)
- Psych Sheet
- Championship Central
- Event-by-Event Previews
- Team Power Rankings: Final Edition
- Saturday finals heat sheets
- Live Stream
- Live Results
It was a wee bit closer than it’d been the past three years, but the Texas Longhorns won their 4th-straight title at the 2018 Men’s NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving Championships tonight. They won by 11.5 points, easily their narrowest margin of victory in this current streak of victories, and their 2nd-smallest margin of victory ever. They won by 193 points in 2017, 190.5 points in 2016, and 129 points in 2015.
This is the 2nd four-peat for Eddie Reese, the legendary Longhorns coach who has helmed the Longhorns since 1978. It’s the 14th overall victory for Reese and the Texas men, given them two more than any other men’s swimming & diving program.
Unlike previous years, the Longhorns had to battle a little more this meet for this win. A few of their key swimmers were off, and their highest relay finish was 3rd after winning four last year, but there was enough depth and grit to win out in a very tight race over Indiana and California.
Junior Townley Haas won the 500 and 200 free, and came in 6th in the 100 free, to lead the Longhorns with 53 individual points. Freshman Austin Katz was the only other Longhorn to win a swimming event, earning 35 points with a win in the 200 back and a 4th place finish in the 100 back.
Ryan Harty, Tate Jackson, Jeff Newkirk, Sam Pomajevich, Brett Ringgold, Jonathan Roberts, Joseph Schooling, and John Shebat all also earned individual points swimming for Texas.
Ringgold, Roberts, and Schooling formed the core of a senior class that went undefeated at the NCAA championships, with all three swimmers playing a key role, individually or on relays, each year.
Also unlike previous years, it was Texas’s divers who provided the margin of victory. Jordan Windle earned 45 points Grayson Campbell, and Jacob Cornish earned a combined 81 points on the boards for the Longhorns.
The perfect finish would have had Windle off the platform and Cornish/Campbell off the 1/3 meter
for their entry in the pool to celebrate. Their 81 points
were a huge part of the 4-peat!
Texas has it so much easier than other schools because they can swim through their conference meet and still win. This somehow makes Eddie look like a genius, when it really is just so much easier as a coach to hit one taper at ncaa’s.
I mean Cal somewhat does the same thing. I think it has way more to do with consistently getting the top recruits than how often you taper.
Then you need to swim faster earlier in the year so your not waiting until the last meet to qualify. If you go back and look at when most of the Texas swimmers qualified for the meet. You’ll see that alot were done in November, December, and even January. That way they can swim through Conference without a full taper.
The majority of swimmers do not just “swim through their conference meet”. Most need to rest and taper to qualify for NCAAs because they are not as concerned about making cuts during the season. Very few on Texas had cuts prior to conference meets. Even Haas, Jackson, and Ringgold had to rest before conference. Eddie’s ability to do this year after year more than any coach in history absolutely makes him a genius with an instinct for the sport second to none. What most don’t appreciate is that for Eddie and the coaches at Texas, it’s not about the “win”. They are driven by making swimmers the best that they personally can be and seeing them achieve academically. Those coach… Read more »
Haven’t seen any interviews with Eddie yet. Anything forthcoming?
There was one on Sunday: https://swimswam.com/eddie-reese-i-never-talk-about-winning-an-ncaa-championship-video/