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Moses Breaks Breaststroke World Record

Mar 25, 2000

Courtesy US Swimming
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - With his mom's "Part the Water, Moses" sign in plain view in the Minnesota Aquatic Center, Virginia sophomore Ed Moses did just that in winning the 100m breaststroke in a world record time of 57.66 at the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships on March 24. It was his second world record-breaking performance of the day as he first broke the mark in prelims with a 58.05.

"I knew I had a shot at the world record this morning after the relay split I had yesterday," Moses said. "My coach told me not to hold back. I only had a four-second split between my first and second splits this morning and had really run out of energy on the last 50. Tonight I tried to hold back a little, which is hard to do in this meet, and then come home strong. I'm surprised my split (for the first 50) was only a little slower than this morning because I had a lot more energy coming home. I don't think I could have done much better.

"I told my team at lunch that this doesn't feel any different. It's just another prelim and final swim. It was great to have the whole crowd behind me though. It means so much to hear the cheering and know that everyone is supporting me."

Michigan sophomore Tim Siciliano dropped more than five seconds off his prelim time to win the 400m individual medley in an American record time of 4:06.02. Southern Cal freshman Erik Vendt, who broke the then-American record in prelims with a 4:08.22, finished second in 4:09.35.

"I came in tonight wanting to keep up with (Erik) Vendt and (Eric) Donnelly because I knew they would be out fast," Siciliano said. "I was hoping to be a couple of seconds faster tonight, but I didn't think I'd be five seconds faster. Coach Urbanchek says I like walls alot, so we'll see next week (at Nationals) what I'm like with only half the walls. I'm looking forward to racing Chad Carvin and Tom Dolan and to see what I can do in long course."

Texas junior Matt Ulrickson pulled the upset of the night, winning the 100m back out of lane two with a time of 52.05. He was fourth at the 50m mark and then finished in a 26.87 to win the race.

"I had a strong second half this morning so I really wanted to go after the first half tonight," Ulrickson. "The race was so close that I didn't know where I finished until I looked up at the board. I had to look a couple of times to make sure before I got excited."

Last year, Ulrickson made what he termed "an eight-year-old age grouper's mistake" when he turned too soon, thinking the false start rope was the flags. He seems to have learned from his mistake.

Arizona senior Ryk Neethling won his ninth career title, his second of the meet and his third straight in the 200 free event. Stanford junior Adam Messner jumped out to an early lead, but Neethling turned it on in the last 25 to fly past Messner. His final split was 25.74 to Messner's 27.50. Neethling finished with a 1:43.90 to Messner's 1:45.01.

Nebraska senior Adam Pine won the 100m fly in a US Open record time of 51.23. Runner-up Nate Dusing of Texas broke the American record, since Pine is Australian, with a 52.00. Dusing also swam the butterfly leg to Texas' winning 200m medley relay, which swam an American record time of 1:35.66 in the first event of the night. Also on that relay was 100m back champion Ulrickson, Russell Chozick and Bryan Jones.

Texas also won the final relay with Jon Younghouse, Nate Dusing, Scott Goldblatt and Jamie Rauch breaking the US Open record in the 800m free relay with a 7:05.05.

In the team race, Texas took a commanding lead with 416 points over Auburn's 291. They are followed by Arizona (241.5), Stanford (185.5), Tennessee (184), Cal (176), Southern Cal (170), Minnesota (146), Arizona State (121.5), Florida (109) and Miami (109).