Two nights and two records set by Arizona junior breaststroker Kevin Cordes. One night after shattering his own American record in the 100 breast, Cordes broke his own American, U.S. Open, NCAA and school records in the 200 to close out the NCAA Championships on Saturday at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
Cordes, who shattered every record in the 200 breast at last year's NCAA Championships with a time of 1:48.68, bettered his time last year by just .02 seconds as he clocked in with a time of 1:48.66. He defeated his nearest competitor by more than three seconds. He was named NCAA Swimmer of the Meet for his outstanding performances.
It's really satisfying to end the meet out like this," Cordes said. "We had a little rough patch and some bad breaks but I finished it off strong. I couldn't be happier. I definitely wanted to defend my titles and improve on my times and, fortunately, I was able to do that."
Diver Rafael Quintero closed out a strong meet with a second-place finish in the platform event with 452.40 points. Quintero earned a sixth-place finish in the 1-meter competition on Thursday.
Sophomore Michael Meyer earned a solid sixth-place finish in the 200 fly as he finished with a time of 1:43.05 to claim 13 points for the Wildcats.
Arizona closed out the meet with a second-place finish of the "B" final in the 400 free relay. The team of Giles Smith, Mitchell Friedemann, Brad Tandy and Brian Stevens clocked in with a time of 2:52.76 to earn 10 points for the Cats.
The Wildcats finished seventh in the team standings with 198.5 points. California won the national title with 468.5 points with Texas (417.5) and Florida (387) finishing just behind.
