YOUNGHOUSE HELPS TEXAS TO NATIONAL SWIM CHAMPIONSHIP

Jon Younghouse closed out his collegiate swimming career in style over the weekend.

Competing during the NCAA Championships in Minneapolis, the University of Texas senior swam the first leg on the national championship 800-meter freestyle relay squad as he helped lead the Longhorns to the team title.

A Cape Girardeau Central High School graduate, Younghouse was part of the Texas 800 freestyle team that set a United States Open record in a time of 7 minutes 5.5 seconds.

Individually, Younghouse was seventh in the 1,500-meter freestyle (14:59.23), ninth in the 400-meter freestyle (3:46.07) and 12th in the 200-meter freestyle (1:47.82).

"It was just a great weekend, really exciting," said Younghouse.

Texas rolled to the team title with 538 points, easily outdistancing runnerup Auburn, which had 385 points. The national championship is the Longhorns' seventh and their first since 1996. Texas had finished third the past two years.

"Winning the team title was unbelievable. It was so special to be a part of that," said Younghouse. "When I was being recruited, and trying to figure out where to go, I decided I wanted to go to a team with an opportunity to win a national title. I knew Texas had already won six and I knew I would have a good chance to be part of another one.

"Being a senior, and after we had finished third the last two years, it couldn't have gone any better. And the way we won was great. We scored more points than any other Texas team had in the previous six titles. We were ahead by so much after the first two days, we didn't even have to show up the third day, we could have just come home and still had enough points to win. It was great."

In addition to helping the Longhorns prevail as a team, Younghouse earned his first national title by swimming the leadoff leg on the 800 freestyle relay squad.

"It was just awesome to be a part of that," he said. "I hadn't been part of that (relay) team the last two years, but my senior year they put me on leadoff and to do that just topped everything. It was the greatest feeling in the world."

While Younghouse said he had hoped to do a bit better in his three individual events, he wasn't about to complain. He performed well enough to earn three All-America honors in those events to go with the one he got for the victorious relay squad. Younghouse finished his Texas career with eight All-America awards.

"I would have liked to have finished a little higher, but I actually scored a point more than I had the previous years because I was able to final in the 200 free," he said. "I really can't complain. I helped the team out, and that's something I really wanted to do."

During his first three seasons at Texas, Younghouse earned four All-America honors. He placed sixth in both the 500-yard freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle during last year's NCAA Championship. As a sophomore, Younghouse, was fourth in the 500-yard freestyle and eighth in the 1,650-yard freestyle.

Younghouse is also a two-time member of the United States National `B' Team, which is comprised of U.S. swimmers who rank in the top 9-16 in their events in the FINA World Rankings.

At Cape Central, Younghouse was the co-MVP of the 1995 state meet as he won the 200 and 500 freestyle during his junior season. Younghouse did not compete in high school events as a senior, instead concentrating on the club circuit.

Now Younghouse, a sport management major who is on course to graduate next spring, will turn his attentions to the U.S. Nationals, which will be held later this week in Seattle. There, he will be racing against swimmers that he will also go up against during the Olympic Trials, set for Aug. 9-16 in Indianapolis.

Younghouse, who has qualified in three events for the Olympic Trials, realizes that making the U.S. Olympic squad will be extremely difficult.

"I have an outside shot at making it, but I just want to give it all I can and see what happens," he said.