A Swim to Second
While an overall finish of second place in an NCAA championship is an amazing accomplishment, for the men’s Longhorn swimming and diving team, it’s no replacement for first. “You would think second would be good enough but it is not,” head coach Eddie Reese said.
High expectations come from a strong record of excellence. The team has finished in the top two for five straight years in previous national championships, claiming a spot in the top five teams in an incredible 32 of the last 33 seasons.
Despite the team’s loss to the California Golden Bears this past weekend in Federal Way, Washington, 14 Longhorn swimmers received All-America or honorable mention All-America honors from their performances. Other exciting weekend accomplishments included the awarding of the NCAA Championships Diver of the Meet to senior Drew Livingston and the CSCAA Diving Coach of the Year to coach Matt Scoggin.
Overall, the weekend’s events brought in five individual national titles for UT, the most since 2004, when the team won seven championships. It is the 11th time in school history the Longhorns have won five or more individual titles in one year.
Like the rest of the team, junior Dax Hill is focused on how to learn from this experience. “When we get back home we are going to work on getting everybody ready to come back next year,” he said.
Senior Jimmy Feigen admitted that even with hopes for a team championship, “it was a great meet all around and couldn’t be happier for it. We did the best we could and ultimately that is all you can ask for.”
Photo by The Associated Press
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