Schooling wins two relay golds in first day of NCAA Championships

INDIANA — Joseph Schooling got his third National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Men’s off to a good start on Thursday night (Friday morning, March 24, Singapore time) when he helped the University of Texas to win two gold medals - in the 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley relays - and snag a new NCAA and US Open record at the IUPUI Natatorium, while capturing an individual bronze in the 50-yard freestyle final.

The 21-year-old undergraduate swam the anchor leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay and played a pivotal role in helping the Texas Longhorns to successfully defend their crown.

Texas’ first three swimmers were Brett Ringgold, Jack Conger, and Tate Jackson, who clocked 18.96sec, 18.37sec and 18.82sec in their respective legs and the Longhorns found themselves trailing in second spot in the final 50 yards when Schooling took to the pool.

Singapore’s first-ever Olympic champion powered his school into the lead and eventually touched home in 18.34sec to stop the clock in a new pool record time of 1min 14.59sec.

The University of Florida - led by Olympic double-gold winner Caeleb Dressel - finished second in 1:14.88 while the University of Caifornia, Berkeley, took bronze in 1:15.29.

Dressel, however, got the better of Schooling in the subsequent 50-yard freestyle final when he clocked a blistering 18.23sec to take the gold. Dressel was clearly in a class of his own as his time was the second fastest of all time in the event, 0.03sec behind his NCAA and US Open record of 18.20.

He finished some distance ahead of Ryan Head of North Carolina State University who was second in 18.60, while Schooling clocked 18.79 to take the bronze. The time was 0.02sec behind the 18.77 he had clocked in the heats.

But the night ended on a very sweet note for Schooling as he played his part in the Longhorns’ successful defence of their 400-yard medley relay title.

Texas was represented by John Shebat and Will Licon in the backstroke and breaststroke legs.

Swimming in the butterfly leg, Schooling finished two body lengths ahead of his nearest rival to provide the platform for Conger to crack the NCAA and US Open records in the anchor leg.

Freestyle specialist Conger - who won the 4x200m freestyle relay gold at the Rio Olympics with the United States - touched home in 2:59.22 to smash the existing mark of 3:00.68, which was also set by Texas at last year’s Championships.

The University of California, Berkeley, was second in 3:01.51 while the University of Missouri was third in 3:01.91.

Meanwhile, Quah Zheng Wen made his NCAA debut on Thursday morning when he swam for the University of California Berkeley team in the 400-yard medley relay heats. He was not part of the quartet for the final. But Quah and Schooling are likely to face each other in the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly events on Friday and Saturday.