No. 1 Texas aims to take home the NCAA’s Division I Swimming and Diving trophy for the first time since 2021 after a dominating performance in the Southeastern Conference championship meet.
The Longhorns are coming off an extended break and their 46th consecutive conference championship win in the team’s inaugural year in the SEC, breaking Florida’s 12-year championship streak.
The team gained a total of 1474.5 points at the meet, setting multiple conference and school records during the five-day meet, walking away with 21 medals in 14 different events. With its impressive performance throughout the year, the team earned a ticket to Federal Way, Washington, to compete against the best in the nation.
“I do think (the SEC Championship) is ideal preparation for the national championships coming up a month later,” head coach Bob Bowman said before the SEC Championship
Sophomore Rex Maurer will be swimming the 1650 freestyle, the 400 individual medley and 500 free individual events in the NCAA championships this week. He was awarded the SEC Commissioner’s Cup Trophy after scoring 91 points, the highest score by any male athlete during the championship.
Maurer will face junior Ohio State’s Tristan Jankovics in the 400 IM, with the two separated by 1.32 seconds in their qualifying times for the event. Jankovics swam for Team Canada in the 2024 Paris Olympics 400 IM preliminaries. The 400 IM prelims will be on Friday morning, with the finals following in the evening.
Four Texas divers will be making the journey to Federal Way after qualifying during the NCAA zone diving meet held earlier in March.
Junior Nick Harris qualified for both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. Harris qualified in third for the 3-meter, where he finished in 13th at last year’s NCAA meet.
Texas, with its talented roster providing depth to the number of qualified events, has the chance to win the NCAAs in its first year in the SEC and the first year under new head coach Bob Bowman.
Bowman joined the team following the retirement of former head coach Eddie Reese, entering the program during his Paris Olympics training stretch when he coached multiple Olympians.
“It’s really been amazing to be part of the organization at Texas to just feel like every day I come to a place where everything just exudes excellence,” Bowman said.
Bowman said he has confidence in his team and that the pressure of the SEC Championship would be a benefit to the team, but they would “leave some in the tank” to finish his first season as head coach of the Longhorns on a high note.
