Though Texas failed to win an individual event on the last day of competition at the Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, the 125-point lead it had accumulated from the previous day managed to keep Auburn and Arizona at bay and earn the Longhorns their seventh title March 23-25 at Minnesota.

Defending champion Auburn was second and Arizona placed third.

The win was Texas' first since 1996. Coach Eddie Reese said, "We came in here with a pretty good team the last three years. As they've gotten older, they've swum better each year."

Texas dominated the relay events with wins in the 200- and 400-meter medleys and the 800-meter freestyle, and Matt Ulrickson won the 100-meter backstroke. In addition to strong showings in the swim events, the Longhorns' efforts were aided by diver Troy Dumais, who had wins in the one- and three-meter diving events and a second-place finish in platform.

Perhaps the most-watched swimmer of the championships was Arizona's Ryk Neethling, who was attempting to win his 10th NCAA title. Only two swimmers, Pablo Morales of Stanford (11) and John Naber of Southern California (10), have ever passed the nine-win mark. Neethling earned his eighth and ninth titles in the 200- and 400-meter freestyles. But his bid for win No. 10 was thwarted in the 1,500-meter freestyle when Southern California's Erik Vendt won with a time of 14:31.02. Neethling finished third.

"I know he was the defending champion," Vendt said. "But I wasn't thinking about those titles. I was thinking about winning the race."

The meet was the first NCAA men's swimming championships to be held in short-course meters, and just as in the Division I women's short-course meters event a week earlier in Indianapolis, several world records were set. Arizona State's Atilla Czene set a world record in the 200-individual medley with a time of 1:54.65. And California's Anthony Ervin set a world-best time of 21:21 in the 50-meter freestyle.

Swimmer-of-the-meet Ed Moses of Virginia set two world records with wins in the 100- and 200-meter breaststrokes. And Auburn's preliminary score of 1:24.83 in the 200-meter freestyle relay also was a world record.

Because this is the first time the meet has been held in short-course meters, there will be two sets of meet records kept. The frequency with which future championships will be held in short-course meters has yet to be determined.

TEAM RESULTS

1. Texas, 538; 2. Auburn, 385; 3. Arizona, 360 1/2; 4. Stanford, 2791/2; 5. California, 279; 6. Southern California, 249; 7. (tie) Tennessee and Minnesota, 219; 9. Florida, 207; 10. Arizona St., 152 1/2; 11. Miami (Fla.), 152; 12. Virginia, 131; 13. Nebraska, 129; 14. Michigan, 119; 15. (tie) Georgia and Hawaii, 92; 17. Texas A&M, 57, 18. South Carolina, 54; 19. Penn St., 42; 20. Kentucky, 30. 1/2; 21. North Carolina St., 29; 22. Alabama, 26; 23. LSU, 25; 24. Central Conn. St., 22; 25. UNLV, 21; 26. Harvard, 20; 27. Purdue, 16; 28. (tie) Iowa and North Carolina, 13; 30. Indiana, 10; 31. Pacific (Cal.), 6; 32. Ohio St., 5; 33. (tie) Wisconsin and Brigham Young, 4; 35. (tie) Pittsburgh and Iowa St., 3; 37. Columbia, 1.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

50-meter freestyle: Final -- 1. Anthony Ervin, California, 21.21 seconds (world record; old record 21.31, Mark Foster, Great Britain, 1998); 2. Roland Schoeman, Arizona, 21.22; 3. Gregory Busse, Auburn, 21.49; 4. Bart Kizierowski, California, 21.50; 5. Matthew Busbee, Auburn, 21.64; 6. Matthew Macedo, California, 21.66; 7. Aaron Ciarla, Auburn, 21.75; 8. Bryan Jones, Texas, 22.00. Consolation -- 9. Oswaldo Que

vedo, Auburn, 21.96; 10. Nick Folker, Hawaii, 22.06; 11. Nathan Summers, Florida, 22.19; 12. (tie) Coley Stickels, Arizona and Shaun Zitani, Kentucky, 22.23; 14. Ricardo Dornelas, Minnesota, 22.32; 15. Leffie Crawford, Texas, 22.32; 16. Anthony Robinson, Stanford, 22.50.

100-meter freestyle: Final -- 1. Anthony Ervin, California, 47.36; 2. Roland Schoeman, Arizona, 47.51; 3. Bart Kizierowski, California, 47.76; 4. Matthew Macedo, California, 47.77; 5. Jamie Rauch, Texas, 48.36; 6. Gregory Busse, Auburn, 48.42; 7. Nick Folker, Hawaii, 48.62; 8. Anthony Robinson, Stanford, 50.61. Consolation -- 9. Nathan Summers, Florida, 48.34; 10. Adam Pine, Nebraska, 48.56; 11. Bryan Jones, Texas, 48.79; 12. Brian Malich, Ohio St., 48.98; 13. Coley Stickels, Arizona, 49.08; 14. Chris Kemp, Texas, 49.30; 15. Jay Schryver, Arizona, 49.31; 16. John Stratman, Georgia, 49.54.

200-meter freestyle: Final -- 1. Ryk Neethling, Arizona, 1:43.90; 2. Adam Messner, Stanford, 1:44.01; 3. Jamie Rauch, Texas, 1:46.35; 4. John Waters, Stanford, 1:46.72; 5. Scot Goldblatt, Texas, 1:46.84; 6. Jacint Simon, UNLV, 1:47.44; 7. Jeff Lee, Southern California, 1:47.63; 8. Jay Schryver, Arizona, 1:47.77. Consolation -- 9. Anthony Rogis, Nebraska, 1:46.80; 10. Rodrigo Castro, LSU, 1:47.33; 11. Matt Smart, Pacific, 1:47.57; 12. Jon Younghouse, Texas, 1:47.82; 13. Macon White, Kentucky, 1:48.18; 14. Nathan Boyle, Auburn, 1:48.40; 15. Mark Jollands, Alabama, 1:48.52; 16. Anders Lyrbring, Arizona St., 1:48.67.

400-meter freestyle: Final -- 1. Ryk Neethling, Arizona, 3:40.47; 2. Erik Vendt, Southern California, 3:42.81; 3. Chris Thompson, Michigan, 3:43.81; 4. Scot Goldblatt, Texas, 3:44.44; 5. Adam Messner, Stanford, 3:46.07; 6. Michael Windisch, Nebraska, 3:47.28; 7. Mark Warkentin, Southern California, 3:47.53; 8. Austin Ramirez, Virginia, 3:47.76. Consolation -- 9. Jon Younghouse, Texas, 3:46.07; 10. Ricardo Monasterio, Florida, 3:46.48; 11. Tim Siciliano, Michigan, 3:46.69; 12. Jamie Rauch, Texas, 3:46.95; 13. Nat Lewis, Arizona, 3:48.54; 14. Mark Jollands, Alabama, 3:48.87; 15. Dominik Matuzewicz, Central Conn. St.; 16. Reeve Irvin, Georgia, 3:50.91.

1,500-meter freestyle: Final -- 1. Erik Vendt, Southern California, 14:31.02; 2. Chris Thompson, Michigan, 14:35.95; 3. Ryk Neethling, Arizona, 14:39.04; 4. Tim Siciliano, Michigan, 14:48.59; 5. Nat Lewis, Arizona, 14:57.01; 6. James Grimes, Virginia, 14:57.22; 7. Jon Younghouse, Texas, 14:59.23; 8. Matthew Martin, Purdue, 14:59.97; 9. Scot Goldblatt, Texas, 15:02.10; 10. Kevin Clements, Auburn, 15:07.13; 11. Ricardo Monasterio, Florida, 15:07.70; 12. Mike McWha, Michigan, 15:09.00; 13. Austin Ramirez, Virginia, 15:12.20; 14. Mark Jollands, Alabama, 15:14.94; 15. Reid Gustin, Stanford, 15:16.95; 16. Mark Warkentin, Southern California, 15:17.12.

100-meter backstroke: Final -- 1. Matt Ulrickson, Texas, 52.05; 2. Riley Janes, Texas A&M, 52.18; 3. Alex Massura, Minnesota, 52.24; 4. Tom Hannan, Texas, 52.53; 5. Bart Kizierowski, California, 52:54; 6. Michael Gilliam, Tennessee, 52.761; 7. Matt Allen, Arizona, 52.72; 8. Leonardo Costa, Southern California, 52.88. Consolation -- 9. Marc Lindsay, Georgia, 53.15; 10. Dan Westcott, Stanford, 53.25; 11. (tie) Pablo Abal, Arizona St., and Randall Bal, Stanford, 53.40; 13. Matthew Macedo, California, 53.54; 14. Brian Rogers, Iowa St., 53.91; 15. Todd Smolinski, Minnesota, 54.24; 16. Braden Holloway, North Carolina St., 54.55.

200-meter backstroke: Final -- 1. Matt Cole, Florida, 1:53.68; 2. Leonardo Costa, Southern California, 1:54.79; 3. Alex Massura, Minnesota, 1:54.99; 4. Matt Ulrickson, Texas, 1:55.47; 5. Kris Souther, Arizona, 1:55.51; 6. Joey Faltraco, South Carolina, 1:56.08; 7. Mike Jansen, Florida, 1:56.25; 8. Dan Shevchik, Harvard, 1:57.18. Consolation -- 9. Dan Westcott, Stanford, 1:55.87; 10. Marc Lindsay, Georgia, 1:55.95; 11. Kirk Hampleman, Auburn, 1:55.97; 12. Simon Thirsk, Hawaii, 1:56.38; 13. Ross Powells, Tennessee, 1:56.76; 14. Beau Wiebel, Georgia, 1:57.85; 15. Matt Allen, Arizona, 1:58.33; 16. Arunas Savickas, Brigham Young, 1:58.69.

100-meter breaststroke: Final -- 1. Ed Moses, Virginia, 57.66 (world record; old record 58.51, Roman Sloudnov, Russia, 2000); 2. David Denniston, Auburn, 58.68; 3. Jeremy McDonnell, Tennessee, 59.37; 4. Ryosuke Imai,