The No. 3 University of Florida men’s swimming and diving team tallied 86 points on the first day of competition to sit in fifth-place at the 2005 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

Capturing his second-career NCAA individual title and Florida’s first title in the 200-yard individual medley since Greg Burgess in 1994, junior Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.) broke his own American, U.S. Open and NCAA record in the 200-yard individual medley and established a new NCAA meet and University of Minnesota Aquatic Center record by touching the wall in a time of 1:41.71. The win makes Lochte the fifth UF swimmer to ever win multiple individual NCAA titles and tied him for seventh all-time in Florida history with two career NCAA titles.

Senior diver Zach Wilcox (Yarrow Point, Wash.) earned his second career fifth-place finish on the one-meter springboard with a total score of 352.55.

The 400-yard medley relay team of Lochte, Corey Welch (Larksville, Pa.), Gabriel Mangabeira (Piratininga, Brazil) and Darian Townsend (Montrose, South Africa) posted a time of 3:08.55 to place sixth.

In the 200-yard freestyle relay the team of Nick Borreca (Honolulu, Hawaii), Townsend, Daniel Penniman (Pensacola, Fla.) and Adam Sioui (Ontario, Canada) took eighth-place in a time of 1:18.32. Borreca recorded a career-best 19.85 opening split in the 50-yard freestyle and is now tied for the fourth fastest 50 free all-time at UF.

Junior Brian Hartley (Indianapolis, Ind.) took 13th-place in a personal-best clocking of 4:19.53 in the 500-yard freestyle.

The 2005 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships continues tomorrow through Saturday, March 26 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

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