John Shebat, Townley Haas, Austin Katz and Jordan Windle Talk Texas Runner-Up Finish (VIDEO INTERVIEW)

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Texas fell short in its bid for a fifth straight team championship at NCAAs this week, but the Longhorns went out with a bang on the meet’s final night. Texas finished 1-2 in the 200 back with John Shebat and Austin Katz, and Jordan Windle won platform diving before the quartet of Daniel Krueger, Shebat, Tate Jackson and Townley Haas ended the meet with a 400 free relay win.

Afterwards, Shebat, Haas, Katz and Windle sat down for a joint interview to discuss their thoughts on finishing the meet on the right note. Shebat and Windle explained the meaning of their landmark individual victories, Katz commented on why he was overjoyed to finish second behind Shebat, and Haas explained why Saturday evening was so important in setting up next year’s Texas team for success.

Recap from 200 back:

Texas senior John Shebat finally came out on top. After finishing second in the 100 and 200 the last two years, he finally broke through for his first individual NCAA title in the 200 back on Saturday night at the 2019 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships in Austin, Texas. Shebat went out hard and swam a 1:36.42 as he held off sophomore teammate Austin Katz (1:36.45). Katz almost ran Shebat down as the two Longhorns went 1-2 in their home pool.

This is the second event in a row that the runner-up the last two seasons ended up breaking through for their first title. Michigan’s Felix Aubock was second in the 1650 in 2017 and 2018 and won his first NCAA title in the preceding event.

Shebat and Katz moved up to second and third all-time in the 200 back with their swims as Shebat was out under Ryan Murphy’s NCAA and American Record pace.

Cal’s Bryce Mefford (1:38.65) finished in third for the Golden Bears as Cal also had Daniel Carr (1:39.33) place fifth in the final.

NC State’s Coleman Stewart (1:38.81), who placed second twice on Friday night, placed fourth for the Wolfpack.

Florida’s Clark Beach (1:39.68), Hawaii’s Kane Follows (1:40.14) and Arizona State’s Zachary Poti (1:40.38) also swam in the A-Final.

Texas now has nine 200 back NCAA titles, the second most of any school. Shebat joins the likes of Rick Carey (1982-84), Doug Gjertsen (1987), Nate Dusing (2001), Aaron Peirsol (2003-04) and Katz (2018) as winners of the event for the Longhorns.

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