Texas won three of the five individual swimming events Friday night at the NCAA championships in Federal Way, Wash., to stay atop the team standings, and Florida claimed the other two.
Florida’s Josh Liendo, of Toronto, defended his title in the 100 butterfly with a personal-best 43.06 — the second-fastest time in history.
Fellow Canadian Ilya Kharun, of Montreal, finished just behind Liendo for second place.
The two Canadians both won medals in the same event at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games this past summer, with Liendo taking silver and Kharun earning the bronze.
Rex Maurer of Texas held off Ohio State’s Tristan Jankovics to win the 400-yard individual medley in a personal-best time of 3:34.00 for his second individual title this week.
Luke Hobson got ahead of the field to win his third straight NCAA title in the 200 freestyle, breaking his own NCAA, American, and school record at 1:28.33. His Texas teammate Chris Guiliano came in second. Two years ago, Hobson finished in 1:30.43.
Texas’ Hubert Kos edged Florida’s Jonny Marshall at the wall by two one-hundredths of a second to win the 100 backstroke in a world record time of 43.20. Marshall gave the Gators their best finish in the event in 20 years.
Julian Smith backed up his SEC Tournament title in the 100 breaststroke with a winning time of 49.55. He’s the first Gator to win the event in program history.
Carson Tyler edged his Indiana teammate Quentin Henninger for his second 3-metre diving national title.
In the final event of the night Florida and Texas went 1-2 in the 400 medley relay, with the Gators winning at 2:56.10.
Texas is leading the team standings with 368 points after Day 3. California is second at 312.5 and Indiana third with 304.
