In the packed and vibrant Texas Swimming Center, No. 5 Texas men’s swimming and diving hosted No. 4 NC State in a two-day dual meet. The Longhorns brought a strong dose of home advantage to the TSC with an array of DJ light shows and bass-filled music amping up the fans. Texas did not let them down as it narrowly triumphed over NC State 98-88 on Friday and secured another close victory the following day, winning 80-68.

The Longhorns earned five event wins on day one, four of which came from individual events.

Freshman Nick Harris took first in the 3-meter dive. Senior Jake Foster in the 100-yard breaststroke, junior Carson Foster in the 200-yard medley and sophomore Luke Hobson in the 500-yard freestyle.

The fifth and decisive win came from the 400-yard freestyle relay team led by senior Peter Larson, senior Caspar Corbeau, Hobson and anchored by fifth-year Daniel Krueger. Entering the final four laps of the race, Texas swam neck and neck with NC state, and in came Krueger.

The result of the meet hanging in the balance got the crowd standing on its feet and waving Krueger on as he managed to keep it a side-by-side race. Both swimmers were exhaustively charging toward the finish and stretching with everything they had to touch the wall. By the slimmest of margins, Krueger anchored home the win for Texas by five-hundredths of a second and secured the meet victory on the last event of the day.

Day two came with four event wins from repeat winners: Harris in the one meter dive, Jake Foster in the 200-yard breaststroke and Carson Foster in the 200-yard butterfly. The latter Foster’s win in the 200-yard butterfly clocked in a dominant time of 1:40.83, earning him a top-three finish in the nation this season. Junior David Johnston secured his first victory of the weekend in the 1000-yard freestyle.

Texas earned key point contributions from swimmers senior Sam Artmann in the 200-yard butterfly, Corbeau and fifth-year Braden Vines in the 200-yard breaststroke and senior Ethan Harder in the 100-yard backstroke. Divers junior Brendan McCourt and junior Noah Duperre also competed in the one and 3-meter dives to help contribute to Texas’s weekend sweep.

The Longhorns’ next meet is on Feb. 3, where they will close out the regular season and host unranked SMU.