Men's Swimming and Diving adds two finals berths on day three at NCAA Championships
MINNEAPOLIS -- No. 2 Texas landed two championship finals berths and three consolation finals bids during the day three preliminary session Saturday afternoon at the 2007 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. The Longhorns landed their highest seed of the evening finals in the 400-yard freestyle, where Texas took third in 2:52.44. Junior Matt McGinnis led off in 43.20 before giving way to junior Jeremy Harris (St. Paul, Minn.), who touched the second leg in 43.45. Sophomore Ryan Verlatti (Tacoma, Wash.) followed in 43.54 before senior Garrett Weber-Gale anchored in 42.25. Weber-Gale (Fox Point, Wis.), the 2006 NCAA 100 freestyle champion, will have the opportunity to defend his title tonight after qualifying for the finals during the preliminary round. Weber-Gale took fifth place in 42.55, and McGinnis (Raleigh, N.C.) reached the consolation final after touching in 43.02. Junior Caleb McDermott (Canyon Lake, Texas) clinched a spot in tonight's 200 backstroke consolation final after clocking a 14th-place time of 1:43.81. Freshman Hill Taylor (Birmingham, Ala.) missed out on the evening finals but did record a new personal best at 1:44.17 for 20th place. Junior Matt Lowe (Minot, N.D.) just missed the consolation final in the 100 breaststroke on Friday but took 13th in the 200 breaststroke preliminary round on Saturday to reach this evening's consolation final. Freshman Ricky Berens (Charlotte, N.C.) took 18th place in the 200 butterfly at 1:46.41. Sophomore Michael Klueh (Evansville, Ind.) is the second seed in tonight's first event, the 1,650 freestyle final, at 14:42.69. A preliminary round was not contested in the event. The platform diving preliminary round, featuring UT junior Brian Smith and freshman Mike Wong, gets underway at 1:45 p.m. Central. NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships 100 Freestyle 200 Breaststroke 200 Butterfly 400 Freestyle Relay
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