The Gophers knew that if they wanted another top-15 finish at the NCAA championships, they had to earn as many points as possible in the last event of the meet. With that in mind, the 400-yard freestyle relay team -- Michael Richards, Curt Carlson, Zach Bolin and Derek Toomey -- swam their fastest time this season in Saturday's preliminaries to secure a spot in the championship final.
They couldn't quite match that in the finals, but their eighth-place finish gained them enough points to place in the top 15 in the team standings for the 20th year in a row. The Gophers entered the final day of competition in 14th place with 68 points. The 400 free relay team followed its time of 2 minutes, 51.76 seconds in the qualifier with a 2:52.66 in the finals, which put the Gophers into 15th place with 91 points.
Senior Drew Brown also contributed Saturday, finishing 16th in platform diving.
"The streak continues," Gophers coach Dennis Dale said. "We weren't quite as good in the final of the 400 free relay, but I'm really proud of our performance in [the preliminaries]."
In other events for the Gophers on Saturday, freshman Kyler Van Swol finished 26th in the 200 butterfly with a career-best time of 1:46.54. Kevin Baseheart was 30th, and Nadav Kochavi placed 36th. Carlson swam a season-best 43.31 to finish 20th in the 100 free, and Ivan Gutesa finished 21st in the 200 breaststroke.
Happy return Michael McBroom wasn't sure he would get the chance to swim for Texas this season. After competing for the Gophers last year as a freshman, he chose to transfer, and he thought he might have to sit out a year because of NCAA rules.
The U released him from his scholarship, allowing McBroom to swim for the Longhorns immediately. Saturday, he won the 1,650 freestyle in a career-best time of 14:32.86, dropping 18 seconds off his previous top time.
McBroom said he originally signed with the Gophers because he was born in the Twin Cities and still has relatives in the area. His family moved from Golden Valley to the Woodlands, Texas, eight years ago, and he now feels more Texan than Minnesotan. "That's where my heart was," he said of Texas.
