Houston-area athletes have strong showing for No.1-ranked Texas Swim Team

by John Renshaw | January 17, 2011 5:12 pm

Houston-area swimmers helped No. 1 Texas capture nine of 13 events en route to a 135-106 victory over No. 11 Georgia on Saturday.

The Horns opened the meet with a decisive win in the 200-yard medley relay, where Friendswood High School graduate Cole Cragin and Cy-Falls grad Neil Caskey helped the Longhorns finish with a NCAA B-cut of one minute, 29.48 seconds. Woodlands grad Michael McBroom followed with a team-best second-place finish in the 1,000 freestyle at 9:08.38.

Caskey paced Texas with a second-place time of 1:46.68 in the 200 butterfly, good for a NCAA B-cut. McBroom finished third for Texas in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:25.98 and 4:30.45.

At Friendswood, Cragin set a new national high-school record of 46.75 in the 100 backstroke during the 2009 Texas UIL State Championships at UT's Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.

He was a four-time All-State selection and a three-time Texas UIL Class 4A Swimmer of the Year from 2007 to 2009. Cragin was a member of the 2008 U.S. Junior National Team and the 2009 NHSCA Swimmer of the Year.

Born Cole Sumner Cragin on April 7, 1991, he is the son of Scott and Ann Cragin.

At Cy-Falls, Caskey was an eight-time NISCA All-American. He was the 2008 Texas UIL Class 5A Champion in the 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle. Caskey was the Texas UIL Regional Swimmer of the Year in 2007 and 2008 and he was District Swimmer of the Year in 2007 and 2008.

Caskey placed 30th in the 200 butterfly at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials. He also placed 10th in the 200 butterfly and 16th in the 100 butterfly at the 2006 U.S. Spring National Championships

Born on May 1,1989, Neil is the son of Drake and Alicia Caskey.