The ISU men’s swimming and diving team used three school record swims and many excellent performances to earn third place at the Big 12 Championship meet last weekend in College Station, Texas.

The Cyclones, who finished fourth at last year’s conference meet, scored 564 points and finished one point ahead of the meet host Texas A&M, the no. 15 team in the nation.

Top-ranked Texas won the meet with 1007 points, and Nebraska, ranked 18th, took second place with 649 points.

“We had an outstanding meet,” said head coach Trip Hedrick. “To get third place in that meet took a great team effort. It came right down to the wire for us to get third place, and we’re very happy with it.”

Hedrick gave kudos to the seniors for their role in the third place finish at the conference meet.

“I think it speaks volumes for our seniors, who came in with a very determined mindset, to move up into challenging for the upper echelon of our conference,” Hedrick said. “My hat’s off to them for making sure that we all stayed on task to put us into a position for that to happen.”

At least one Cyclone and possibly two others moved on to the NCAA Championship meet. Senior Brian Rogers goes to the NCAA meet as an automatic qualifier.

He qualified for the NCAA meet at the Big 12 Championship meet with a school record time in the 100-yard backstroke.

His time of 47.95 seconds beat Eric Hansen’s 1986 record of 48.86 seconds and earned him fourth place.

The NCAA appearance will be the second for Rogers. Rogers participated as part of the 200-yard medley relay team in 1998.

“Automatic cuts are hard to come by, and [Brian Rogers] making an automatic cut in the 100 back was excellent,” Hedrick said.

Rogers also broke another school record.

The 200-yard backstroke, with a time of 1:45.09.

The record had been set by junior Josh Nogar one heat earlier with a time of 1:47.10. Rogers finished in third place, and Nogar placed seventh.

The two other Cyclones that may possibly participate in the NCAA meet are Dylan de Bruin and Mitch McGinty.

Both will find out if they are going Thursday when the invitations are released.

The 50- and 100-yard freestyles are the events in which de Bruin received NCAA consideration.

He finished in fourth place with a time of 20.19 seconds in the 50 and placed third in the 100 with a time of 43.87.

Hedrick believes that de Bruin is a shoo-in for the meet.

“Dylan de Bruin is going to get invited to the NCAA meet in the 100 free, and he’ll get to swim the 50 there, as well,” Hedrick said. “He had an outstanding performance in the 100 and the 50.”

McGinty, a senior, is a possibility for the NCAA meet.

He received his main NCAA consideration in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 48.16 seconds. He finished fifth.

“Our next closest person to getting an invitation to the meet is Mitch McGinty, and we’ll find out Thursday whether or not he gets in,” Hedrick said. “He’ll either make by one place or miss it by one place in my estimation right now.”

Evan deSzoeke, senior, broke a school record also- the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:21.96. Nogar set the previous record of 15:33.14 in the 1998 Big 12 Championship.

Nogar finished eighth in this year’s event with a time of 15:40.84.

Other top finishers include Iowa State’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of juniors Peder Skoog and Jeff Gahan, sophomore Brett Lohmeier and de Bruin.

The team posted a time of 1:20.53, good enough for third place and an NCAA consideration. Their time was less than a second off the school record.

In 500-yard freestyle Nogar placed seventh with a time of 4:28.60.

Sophomore Liam Short earned seventh place with a time of 1:59.89 in the 200-yard individual medley. McGinty took eighth place.

In the 400-yard medley relay, the Cyclones’ team of Rogers, de Bruin, junior Henrik Ingesson and freshman Mike Christianson garnered third place with a time of 3:15.69.

The time was good enough for NCAA consideration.

Another ISU relay team captured third place.

The 200-yard medley relay team of Rogers, Ingesson, Gahan and Christianson posted a mark of 1:28.63, a time that earned NCAA consideration.

In the 100-yard butterfly, Ingesson also placed high. His time of 48.62 seconds gained him seventh place and NCAA consideration.

Senior Lovrenco Franicevic turned in a seventh place swim in the 200-yard freestyle.

His time was 1:39.66.

Senior Jim Sheehan and Christianson placed in the top eight in the 100-yard breaststroke. Sheehan’s time of 55.66 seconds helped him earn NCAA consideration and fifth place. Christianson got eighth.

Karl Sunrydh, freshman, placed seventh in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 50.28 seconds.

In the 200-yard backstroke, Short tallied a fifth place finish with a time of 1:49.01. Nogar took seventh place.

In the 200-yard breaststroke, Sheehan posted an eighth place swim with a time of 2:04.81.

Franicevic and McGinty both received NCAA consideration in the 200-yard butterfly.

Franicevic posted a mark of 1:47.92 and earned fifth place. McGinty placed sixth with a time of 1:49.10.

Sophomore Mike Amberson took sixth place in one-meter diving. He scored 456.60 points.

“There were a lot of standout performances,” Hedrick said.

The third-place finish could have several positive effects for the Cyclones.

“I think it’s going to definitely help our recruiting,” Hedrick said. “Any dramatic improvement you can make like that certainly helps, especially if you’re on a team where maybe it is a surprise to other people. It makes us all feel good now, and I think it will help with the recruiting as well.”

The success of some of Iowa State’s younger swimmers at the meet will help in the future also.

“I think it gets back to the old clich‚, rebuilding or reloading,” Hedrick said. “Fortunately for us, the performances of our freshman in the meet will give a chance to reload a little bit more than having to rebuild.

“You lose nine talented seniors like we’re losing, and it would be easy to get into a panic mode of what you’re going to do to replace them.”

Next up for at least one and possibly two other ISU swimmers is the NCAA Championship meet. The excitement at the meet should be intense.

“I think it’s going to be an incredibl