Men's Swimming leads NCAA with seven U.S. Olympians
AUSTIN, Texas -- Featuring world record holders Brendan Hansen, Ian Crocker and Aaron Peirsol, The University of Texas leads all schools with seven current, former and future student-athletes earning spots on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Men's Swimming Team. Next in line is USC with three former student-athletes on the team. Peirsol and Crocker will make their third appearances at an Olympic Games after competing at the 2000 Sydney Games and the 2004 Athens Games. Peirsol broke his own 100-meter backstroke record at the U.S. Olympic Trials and tied Ryan Lochte's mark in the 200 backstroke on his way to victory in the event at the trials. Peirsol, who won gold in both events at the 2004 Athens Olympics, will compete in both events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Crocker, who set the 100-meter butterfly world record at the 2005 FINA World Championships in Montreal, Quebec, earned his third trip to an Olympic Games by taking second behind Michael Phelps in the event. Crocker won silver in the event at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Hansen, the world record holder in the 100-meter breaststroke, earned his trip to Beijing by winning that event at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 59.93. Hansen set the world-record mark of 59.13 at the 2006 USA Swimming National Championships. Garrett Weber-Gale secured two spots on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team by winning the 50- and 100-meter freestyle events. Weber-Gale set an American record that was later broken in the 100-meter freestyle before setting another American record in the 50-meter freestyle finals in 21.47. Weber-Gale will compete in both events, as well as the 400-meter freestyle relay, in Beijing. The four Texas Exes will be joined by a couple of current Longhorns in rising juniors Ricky Berens and Dave Walters and future Longhorn Scott Spann, who has transferred to UT after competing at the University of Michigan during the last two seasons. Berens and Walters each earned their Olympic berths by landing top-six finishes in the 200-meter freestyle at the Olympic Trials. Berens took third in 1:46.14 while Walters placed fifth in 1:46.64. Berens and Walters will be in the pool of athletes available to swim in the 800-meter freestyle relay. Spann, the son of Scott Spann, Sr., a former NCAA champion swimmer at UT, punched his ticket to Beijing by winning the 200-meter breaststroke at the Olympic Trials. Spann, who narrowly missed out on an Olympic berth by placing third in the 100-meter breaststroke, placed second in the 200-yard breaststroke while competing for Michigan at the 2008 NCAA Championships. Scott is the brother of UT rising senior women's swimmer Alexi Spann. The seven Texas men's swimmers will be joined in Beijing by former UT men's diver Troy Dumais, who qualified for a third Olympiad on June 21 by winning the three-meter springboard event at the U.S. Olympic Diving Trials. U.S. Olympic Men's Swimming Team Breakdown by School
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