Clemson swimmers set 3 new school records at NCAA men's championship meet

Members of the Clemson men’s swimming team broke three school records during the first two days of competition at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Minneapolis, MN.

The Tigers broke two marks on the opening day of competition, and stood in 19th place with 16.5 points. They failed to score on Friday, despite setting another school record, and entered Saturday’s competition in 23rd position.

The competition began with Clemson’s 10th-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay. The foursome of Eric Bruck, Chris Reinke, Seth Broster, and Chris Dart swam the race in a time of 1:17.76. That time shavesdmore than a second off of the school record that was set at the ACC Championships in February, and earned the Tigers 14 points.

Bruck’s leadoff split in the 200 freestyle relay of 19.42 seconds broke his own school record for the 50 freestyle. The sophomore also competed in that event individually, finishing in a tie for 14th place with a time of 19.67 seconds. That swim earned 2.5 points for the Tigers.

Reinke also participated in the 50 freestyle, and finished with a preliminary time of 20.10 seconds, which was good enough for the school’s top-10 list.

“We are proud of the Tigers’ first-night accomplishments,” said coach Chris Ip. “Not too many athletes can still find another gear at nationals, but we have.”

While the Tigers did not pick up any additional points on Friday, Dart set a new school record in the 100 backstroke and several swimmers gained valuable experience at the highest level of competition.

“This was a solid transition day for the Tigers,” said Ip. “We put together a 200 medley relay to keep the boys sharp. Our number one breaststroker, Mark Schindler, did not make the meet, so we substituted Chris in his place. Our relay exchange was just a little off by .06 of a second due to the lack of practice time between Chris and Seth Broster.

“No matter what, the more experience we can get competing at the national level, the better.”

Dart improved his own school-record time in the 100 backstroke with a preliminary swim of 47.76 seconds. Broster competed in the 100 butterfly, and finished with a preliminary time of 47.84 seconds. Reinke swam in the 200 freestyle and finished with a preliminary time of 1:38.75.

The 200 medley relay team of Dart, Reinke, Broster, and Bruck finished their race in 1:27.59.