North Carolina State and Texas both set meet records in winning the first and second events of the NCAA men's swimming and diving championships on Wednesday night at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center.
The Wolfpack, third a year ago, had a time of 1 minute, 20.67 seconds in the 200-yard medley relay, edging Arizona State (1:21.07) and defending event champion Florida (1.21.14). The Gators set the previous record of 1:21.13 last year.
The host Gophers, with a lineup of Corey Stowe, Max McHugh, Kaiser Neverman and Lucas Farrar, were 19th (1:23.43), setting a school record by more than half a second.
McHugh, a three-time NCAA breaststroke champion, tied for the second fastest time ever in the 50-yard breaststroke leg (22.39 seconds) of the medley relay with Alabama's Derek Maas. Arizona State's Leon Marchand's split of 22.27 in a following heat was the fastest ever.
For the fourth year in a row, the Longhorns won the 800 freestyle relay (6:03.42), followed by Arizona State (6:05.08) and California (6:06.41).
Texas broke its own record in the event of 6:03.89 set last year.
"It's obviously great to get a win," said Luke Hobson, who led off Texas' relay with a team-best 1:29.63 split, in a post-race NCAA interview. "Get the points for Texas and create some momentum for the rest of the meet."
Asked what Texas coach Eddie Reese told relay members, anchor Carson Foster said, "He just said, 'Let's get this one right.' And we bounced back in that relay."
