ATHENS, Ga.- The University of Texas men's swimming and diving team captured its third-consecutive NCAA title in dramatic fashion, coming back to take the lead in the second-to-last event of the evening, then holding on in the final event for the overall team victory on Saturday at the 2002 NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga. The Horns scored a total of 512 points in the victory, finishing just ahead of second-place Stanford with 501 points. The 11 point edge is the closest margin of victory since the advent of the 16-place scoring system in 1985.

The title stands as the ninth team championship in school history, tying Southern Cal for third in all-time men's swimming and diving championships. Rounding out the top five was Auburn in third (365.6), Florida in fourth (277) and Southern Cal in fifth (272).

With Texas trailing by 29 points to first-place Stanford (467) and two events remaining, seniors Justin Dumais (Ventura, Calif.), Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif.) and freshman Jonathan Linette (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) gave UT clutch diving performances on the platorm to help the Horns regain the lead, 480-467, over Stanford heading into the final event of the meet. Justin Dumais led the charge on the platform, finishing in second with 577.15 points, He was followed by brother Troy Dumais in fifth (545.75) and Linette in eighth (459.50).

The stage was set for the 400 freestyle relay, the final event of the evening and the race that would determine the National Championship. The team of junior Chris Kemp (Southlake, Texas), seniors Tommy Hannan (Baltimore, Md.), Ryan Ciccarelli (Plainsboro, N.J.) and sophomore Ian Crocker (Portland, Maine) finished the race in third-place, which was good enough to hold off Stanford and clinch the victory.

"Coming into this meet, I thought that we were going to have to rely more on our older swimmers with the experience to carry this team, but our freshman really came through more than I could ever have imagined," Hannan said. "I was nervous the first morning and I stayed nervous up until Ian (Crocker) touched the wall on the last relay. This is by far the most enjoyable championship I have won since I've been here. We worked hard for it and I think that it was a complete team effort."

The lone individual champion for UT on the final day was sophomore Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa.). Hansen swam to a first-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke, setting a new American and NCAA record time of 1:52.88. The record time broke his own previous record time of 1:53.11 set at last year's NCAA's and gave the sophomore his fourth-career individual NCAA crown. Junior Ross Binkley (Austin, Texas) earned his first-career honorable-mention All-America honor by finishing sixth in the consolation heat (!:59.01).

"This has been one heck of a three-day meet," Hansen said following his record-setting win. "One of my goals all year was to get better (in the 200 breast) than I did last year. I think I still could have gone faster than 1:52.88, but I will be content with that."

The Longhorns trailed by 26 points after two events into the evening session (1,650 free and 200 back), then got back on the board in the consolation heat of the 100 freestyle with Crocker finishing first (43.01) and Kemp touching third (43.47), both in personal season-best times. Anthony Ervin of California went on to win the finals of the event with a new American and NCAA record time of 41.62.

In the fifth event of the evening, freshman Rainer Kendrick (Birmingham, Ala.) gave a career-best performance in the 200 butterfly, clocking a third-place time of 1:43.56, while senior Joe Montague (Houston, Texas) finished fifth in the consolation round (1:44.96). The swims gave UT an additional 20 points and brought the Stanford lead to 29 with only two events remaining.

Following the meet, Troy Dumais was named NCAA Diver of the Year for the third-straight time and Texas diving coach Matt Scoggin earned Diving Coach of the Year honors, his fifth such award. Dumais won individual titles on both the one-meter and three-meter springboards during the meet to close his collegiate career with seven total championships. With Dumais' three-meter win on Friday, he became the first diver in NCAA history to win four straight years in an event and only the 10th NCAA performer to ever accomplish the feat.

"A lot of people wish you good luck when you come to a meet like this," head coach Eddie Reese said. "I tell them I don't want the luck, I just want to win the close races and there were a lot of close races this week. Eleven points is probably a total of 0.25 one-hundreths-of-a-second. Just look at the events. There are too many places that you can look at and see where you fell down. When you come to the NCAA's, nobody hits everything all six sessions. Somebody is up and down in that time."

"Nobody said that the team race was going to be easy and the divers kept us in it," Hansen said. "We are definitely the Texas Diving and Swimming team, not the Texas Swimming and Diving team."