USC’s Vendt Sets American Record in 1,500

MINNEAPOLIS — USC Freshman Erik Vendt shattered American and U.S. Open records in the 1,500-meter freestyle at the NCAA men’s swimming and diving championships Saturday.

In the process, Vendt also upset Arizona’s Ryk Neethling in his bid for the fourth consecutive title in the event. Vendt’s time of 14 minutes 31.02 seconds put him nearly five seconds ahead of Michigan’s Chris Thompson (14:35.95). Neethling, who won the 200 and 400 freestyles earlier in the week, finished third in 14:39.04.

“I know he was the defending champion,” Vendt said of Neethling. “I wasn’t thinking about those titles. I was thinking about winning the race. . . . To be honest, I didn’t think I could beat Ryk.”

Vendt’s performance surpassed the previous American record set by Chad Carvin (14:43.69) and the U.S. Open mark by Jeff Kostoff (14:50.37).

In the team competition, Texas, despite going without an individual victory, easily outscored defending champion Auburn, 538-385, for the title.

Texas, which had won four races and two diving titles in the first two days of the event, had to settle for a second-place finish by Troy Dumais in the 10-meter platform behind Miami’s Tyce Routson.

Arizona finished third with 360 1/2 points and Stanford fourth with 279 1/2.

“We came in here with a pretty good team the last three years,” Texas Coach Eddie Reese said. “As they’ve gotten older, they’ve swum better each year. This has been an enjoyable trip.”

Ed Moses won his second title of the week, the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:06.40. He won the 100-meter breaststroke on Friday.

Anthony Ervin of California, a former standout at Newhall Hart High, added the 100 freestyle (47.36) to the 50 freestyle title he won earlier.

Florida’s Matt Cole won the 200 backstroke (1:53.68), edging USC’s Leonardo Costa, who scored the Trojans’ next-highest finish behind Vendt in a time of 1:54.79. Adam Messner of Stanford won the 200 butterfly.

Virginia sophomore Ed Moses destroyed the world record in the 200 breaststroke, posting a time of 2:06.40, taking more than a second off the record of 2:07.59 set six days ago by Roman Sloudnov of Russia at the world championships in Athens.