The pool configuration inside the Lee and Joe Jamail swimming center Saturday was different from Friday, but the result was still the same — two Texas victories.
Men’s swimming and diving won 154-108 against Indiana and 162-100 against Florida in short course events Saturday to cap off a 4-0 weekend. Texas beat Indiana 201-98 and Florida 179-121 in the long course on Friday.
Only half of the pool was used for the short course events and was measured in yards instead of meters.
“Middle of October is really a tough time to have a meet because we’re in the middle of heavy training,” head coach Eddie Reese said. “In fact, we call October ‘Rock-tober’ because I rock them with hard practices.”
Texas wasn’t as dominant as Friday, but started strong with wins in the 200-yard medley relay and and 1,000-yard freestyle. The Longhorns managed to stay ahead of Florida, but Indiana pushed Texas, taking the 100-yard breaststroke with all Hoosiers in the top three.
“The teams that travel, they’re always at a disadvantage,” Reese said. “Once they had been here for a full day, they got a lot better today.”
Sophomore Joseph Schooling helped Texas make up ground in the meet with a first place finish in the 200-yard butterfly. Schooling also finished first in the 100-yard butterfly with junior Jack Conger placing second.
Longhorn junior and reigning NCAA champion Will Licon helped Texas pull away from Indiana for good. Licon finished first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:58.84, edging Indiana’s Tanner Kurz.
The two had a bit of rivalry in long course on Friday as well, as Licon beat Kurz in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke.
“You just have to swim almost a perfect race,” Licon said. “You just can’t go in and hope it comes easy. You have to go in with everything you’ve got and attack it from the beginning and finish hard.”
Texas is off until Nov. 13 when it travels to play North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
“We got to work on the little things,” Reese said. “The simple things. It always kills you in every sport. Just do the little things right and everything else works.”
