Haas, Schooling help Texas keep pace for 12th national title

ATLANTA (AP) With Texas edging closer to another national title, freshman Townley Haas has emerged as one of the Longhorns' biggest threats.

Haas set a U.S. record in the 200-yard freestyle and Singapore's Joseph Schooling broke a national mark in the 100 butterfly Friday to help Texas build on its commanding lead in the NCAA swimming and diving championships.

The Longhorns, going for their second straight national title and 12th overall, have 366 points - 95 ahead of California. Florida is third with 255.

Haas, the only freshman racing in the 200 freestyle, finished in 1:30.46 to set NCAA and American records. He was 0.74 faster than the previous record set by Arizona's Simon Burnett 10 years ago. Haas won the 500 free on Thursday.

''My jaw literally dropped when I came out and heard 1:30.4,'' Schooling said. ''The kid is a monster. It's like he doesn't get tired. He's always happy, always has a great attitude.''

Matias Koski of Georgia finished second with the third-fastest time in the 200 free, but he was still a body- length behind Haas.

''I didn't know until I got out of the pool,'' said Haas, who won the 500 free Thursday. ''One of the guys came up, and I didn't really believe him at first. Then like three other people and I guess that's when it hit me.''

NCAA and U.S. records are measured in yards and aren't generally considered as prestigious Olympic marks, but Schooling and the other top swimmers use the college events to stay in top competitive shape for world events.

Schooling successfully defended his title in the 100 fly in 44.01, topping Austin Staab's 2009 NCAA and U.S. open record for Stanford by 0.17. Florida's Caeleb Dressel finished second.

Ryan Murphy of Cal won the 100 backstroke for the third straight year, finishing in 43.49 seconds. He wasn't thinking three-peat.

''Not at all,'' he said. ''I was just trying to do my race strategy. Just try to be in good posture, be in control of the first 25 and then just trip it from there.''

Murphy has told his younger teammates to try to pace themselves at the national championships.

''The NCAAs is a grind,'' Murphy said. ''The last two years I haven't felt good past the first session, and this year is no different.

Cal's Josh Prenot won the 400 intermediate medley in 3:35.82, the second-fastest time in the event. Texas' Will Licon, the defending champion in the 200, finished second in 3:37.40.

Germany's Fabia Schwingenschlogl won the 100 breaststroke in 51.29 to edge Tennessee's Peter Stevens and earn Missouri's first national swimming title of any kind. Arizona's Kevin Cordes won the event the last four years.

Alabama beat Cal to win the 200 medley relay thanks to anchor Kristian Gkolomeev of Greece chasing down Cal's Tyler Messerschmidt to finish the free in 18 seconds. The Crimson Tide won the first national relay event in school history in 1:22.28. Cal was second.

Pittsburgh's Dominic Giordano won the 3-meter diving for the school's first NCAA title.