Men's Swimming's Walters takes down Michael Phelps' American record at Texas Invitational
Dec. 5, 2008 AUSTIN, Texas -- University of Texas junior swimmer Dave Walters eclipsed Michael Phelps' American record in the 200-yard freestyle Friday evening in the finals of the Texas Invitational at UT's Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. Walters (Yorktown, Va.) finished the 200-yard freestyle in 1 minute, 31.83 seconds to top the previous American-record mark of 1:32.08 set by Michael Phelps at the same pool on March 3, 2006 at the American Short Course Championships. Walters, a 2008 U.S. Olympic gold medalist along with teammate Ricky Berens in the 800-meter freestyle relay, also holds a share of the American record in the 800-yard freestyle relay. "I wanted to go for it (the American record)," Walters said. "I was in so much pain down the stretch and doubted I could get under the record. I put my head down and dug deep for every ounce of energy I had in me. (UT head coach) Eddie Reese and (UT assistant coach) Kris Kubik both gave me a hug afterward, and that meant a lot, meant more than words." Berens took second in the 200 freestyle in 1:32.82, good for a NCAA automatic-qualifying cut, and senior Michael Klueh took fourth at 1:34.50. Senior Ryan Verlatti placed sixth at 1:35.25, and freshman Jackson Wilcox placed seventh at 1:36.11. "Dave had been talking about breaking this record for a couple weeks," UT coach Eddie Reese said. "So, to do it while swimming all of the events he has been swimming at this meet is really special. He has a lot more in him. Dave is just starting to realize what he can do, and he will be really tough to beat in the future." Sophomore Bryan Collins set a new school record in the 400 IM during the morning preliminary round and nearly rewrote it in the finals. After clocking 3:45.06 to break Michael Klueh's school mark of 3:45.31, Collins took second in the finals with a NCAA provisional-qualifying mark of 3:45.29. Freshman Hayes Johnson took fifth at 3:47.48, and redshirt freshman Austin Stahley took eighth at 4:00.84. Freshman Drew Livingston led a one-two-three Texas finish in the three-meter diving event. Livingston took top honors with 422.70 points, and sophomore Matt Cooper placed second with 420.25 points. Senior Jonathan Wilcox placed third with 375.00 points. Junior Mike Wong placed fifth with 337.10 points, and sophomore Matt Cardell took eighth with 288.45 points. Texas opened with a solid victory in the 200 medley relay, where junior Hill Taylor, senior Agustin Magruder and juniors Ricky Berens and Dave Walters finished in 1:25.56, good for a NCAA automatic-qualifying mark and the fourth-fastest 200 medley relay in school history. Junior Hill Taylor became the fifth-fastest Longhorn in the 100 backstroke, where he claimed the event in a NCAA automatic-qualifying time of 46.41. Sophomore Scott Jostes took fifth in 48.19, and junior Alan Maher placed sixth in 48.44. Senior Scott Trompeter placed seventh in 48.67. Texas scored a NCAA automatic-qualifying mark in the 800 freestyle relay, as Verlatti, Klueh, junior Peter Jameson and Walters finished in 6:20.96. Senior Agustin Magruder took second in the 100 breaststroke in 54.11, good for a NCAA "B" cut, and freshman Eric Friedland took fourth in 54.86. Freshman Matt Hoyland took eighth in 56.26. Day three of the Texas Invitational gets underway Saturday at 10 a.m. Central at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
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