Freshman Ryan Harty notched three victories, and four of his teammates collected two wins apiece as team Orange picked up a 156-120 win over team White in the Longhorns’ annual intrasquad meet Friday afternoon at UT’s Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
Harty opened the meet with a win in the 100 backstroke at 46.45 seconds, while senior Aaron Gustafson followed in second at 48.30. Junior Will Licon, a three-time champion at the 2015 NCAA Championships, claimed the 100 breaststroke at 53.92.
The 100 butterfly matched the defending NCAA champion, sophomore Joseph Schooling, against the runner-up in that same race, junior Jack Conger. Conger edged Schooling at 45.43, and Schooling settled for second at 45.67.
Junior Clark Smith, the 2015 NCAA champion in the 500 freestyle, captured the 1000 freestyle by a fraction of a second over senior Sam Lewis. Smith was victorious at 9:06.05 while Lewis clocked 9:06.18. Freshman Townley Haas, won of the nation’s most highly-decorated newcomers, cruised to victory in the 200 freestyle at 1:34.84.
Schooling added a win in the 50 freestyle at 19.91 before Harty notched his second win of the day in the 200 IM at 1:44.74, ahead of the event’s 2015 NCAA runner-up, Licon.
Senior Cory Bowersox, an All-American in his first three seasons as a Longhorn, claimed the one-meter diving event with 329.35 points and added a win on three-meter at 364.20.
Conger, the American record in the 200-yard butterfly, was victorious in the same event Friday afternoon at 1:42.60.
“There’s a lot I can improve upon right now,” Conger said. “My turns were sloppy and my underwaters (kicks) weren’t great. But, we’ve done zero speed work; all of it has been endurance (training). Everyone’s starting to get in really good shape. The team chemistry is the best it’s been since I’ve been here and everyone’s working hard and training well.”
Senior Matt Ellis claimed the 100 freestyle at 44.23, and Harty notched his third win in the 200 backstroke at 1:42.84. Haas followed with his second win of the day, as he knocked off the NCAA champion Smith in the 500 freestyle at 4:20.89. Licon won the final individual event of the day and claimed the 200 breaststroke in 1:58.01. The El Paso native won the 400 IM and the 200 breaststroke at the 2015 NCAA Championships.
“I thought at this time last year, given how hard we were working in the early going that this meet couldn’t have gone any better,” Licon said. “Given the circumstances now, training harder than we were at this time last year – which we didn’t think was possible – it’s kind of frightening how good we can be. And, the degree that our freshmen are tearing it up right now is incredible.
Team White capped the meet by winning the 200 freestyle relay at 1:18.84.
The 11-time NCAA champion Longhorns kick off the 2015-16 regular season on Oct. 16 when they host Florida and Indiana in a two-day meet at UT’s Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
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Joe Molinari, just fyi 🙂
May Yim Schooling… ??Pretty amazing swim…