Texas attempted to defend its NCAA men’s swimming and diving championship title in four days of intense competition this weekend but fell just short of California.

The Longhorns held the lead for the first two days, but the Golden Bears overtook Texas for first place with 320.5 points to the Longhorns’ 313 to close out the third day.

California successfully captured the championship on the final day of the event as the Golden Bears brought their point total to 487.5 while Texas managed a second place finish with 436.5.  

During the championship kickoff on March 23, Texas finished the day in first place with 74 points with California in third at 61 points. The first day opened with the 200 medley relay, where Florida set the new NCAA record at 1:21.13.  The Longhorns nipped at Florida’s heels, finishing second in 1:21.36. In the final event of day one, Texas senior Drew Kibler established a new record by completing the 800 freestyle relay in 6:03.89.  

Day two of the championship opened with the 500 freestyle, where Georgia freshman Matthew Sates took first place with a time of 4:06.61. Texas freshman Luke Hobson finished third. Later on, Arizona freshman Leon Marchand broke the NCAA record in the 200 IM at 1:37.69. Texas retained first place with 180 points as the second day came to a close.

The third day started off with a bang as California senior Hugo Gonzalez broke the NCAA record in the 400 IM with a 3:32.88 finish. Texas sophomore Carson Foster finished third at 3:35.69. In the 200 freestyle, Kibler took first place with a final time of 1:30.28. Texas junior Caspar Corbeau finished second in the 100 breaststroke at 50.49 while Minnesota took first place. The 400 medley relay topped off the day as California took first with 3:00.36; Texas finished fourth with 3:01.22.

On the final day of competition, Texas sophomore David Johnston finished fifth in the opening 1650 freestyle, and Corbeau finished sixth in the 200 breaststroke at 1:50.79. The 200 backstroke event saw Foster take second place at 1:38.77, while Cal sophomore Destin Lasco took first at 1: 37.71. Texas finished the championship with a 2:46.03 in the 400 freestyle relay, taking first place.