Tuesday, October 27, 2009

News updates

Berens tabbed National Men's College Swimmer of the Week
CollegeSwimming.com has selected Texas senior Ricky Berens as its NCAA Division I Men's Swimmer of the Week after the Olympic gold medalist and world champion won two individual events and helped UT to four relay wins in its victory last weekend at the Southwest Collegiate Plunge in Dallas.

A 16-time All-American, Berens (Charlotte, N.C.) claimed the 100-yard backstroke in 48.71 seconds, good for a NCAA provisional-qualifying mark. He added another individual win in the 100 butterfly in 48.35.

Berens split 48.21 on the butterfly leg in helping Texas to victory in the 400 medley relay in 3:20.04. Berens anchored UT's 200 free relay to victory in 20.20 and split 21.89 on the butterfly leg in UT's first-place 200 medley relay. He split 45.59 on the second leg of UT's 400 freestyle relay that was victorious in 3:03.07.

Berens and the Longhorns host their home opener on Friday, Oct. 30 when they take on Indiana at UT's Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. The meet gets underway at 3 p.m. Central.

Men's Swimming and Diving claims Southwest Collegiate Plunge
Texas captured seven of eight events to finish off its victory Saturday at the Southwest Collegiate Plunge, a four-team championship-style meet featuring Texas A&M, Missouri and SMU. The Longhorns claimed the event with 872 points after leading with 459 points after Friday's opening session.

Texas opened day two with a win in the 200-yard medley relay, as freshman Cole Cragin, junior Scott Spann, senior Ricky Berens and sophomore Jimmy Feigen finished in 1 minute, 30.81 seconds. Cragin led off in 22.98 on the backstroke leg before Spann split 25.55 on the breaststroke. Berens picked up the butterfly in 21.89 before Feigen anchored in 20.39.

Results
400 Yard Medley Relay
1 The University of Texas 3:20.04 40
2 Texas A&M University 3:21.28 34
3 Southern Methodist University 3:21.81 32

100 Yard Butterfly
1 Berens, Ricky The University of Texas 48.35
2 Loncaric, Boris Texas A&M University 50.21
3 Caskey, Neil The University of Texas 50.22
4 Larsson, David J Southern Methodist University 50.94
5 Melin, Anders University of Missouri 51.26
6 Welch, Tyler J Texas A&M University 51.51
7 Korosec, Blaz Southern Methodist University 51.63
8 Sellers, Cameron M University of Missouri 51.77

Men's Swimming and Diving takes day-one lead at the Southwest Collegiate Plunge
Texas tallied victories in seven of nine events Friday evening and assumed the lead in the team standings after day one of the Southwest Collegiate Plunge, a four-team meet featuring UT, Texas A&M, Missouri and SMU.

Texas leads after day one with 459 points, and Texas A&M sits in second with 380 points. Missouri is in third with 342 points, and SMU sits in fourth place with 327 points.

The Horns opened the meet with a win in the 400-yard medley relay, as freshman Cole Cragin, junior Scott Spann, senior Ricky Berens and sophomore Jimmy Feigen finished in 3 minutes, 20.04 seconds. Sophomore Jackson Wilcox, an All-American in the 500 freestyle, added a victory in that event in 4:29.47.

Berens chipped in another Longhorns victory in the 100 butterfly, where he clocked 48.35, just off of the NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 48.34. Missouri's Jan Konarzewski took the 200 backstroke before Texas' Spann, competing in his first collegiate meet since last October, took the 100 breaststroke in 56.90.

Results
400 Yard Medley Relay
1 The University of Texas 3:20.04
2 Texas A&M University 3:21.28
3 Southern Methodist University 3:21.81

100 Yard Butterfly
1 Berens, Ricky The University of Texas 48.35
2 Loncaric, Boris Texas A&M University 50.21
3 Caskey, Neil The University of Texas 50.22
4 Larsson, David J Southern Methodist University 50.94
5 Melin, Anders University of Missouri 51.26
6 Welch, Tyler J Texas A&M University 51.51
7 Korosec, Blaz Southern Methodist University 51.63
8 Sellers, Cameron M University of Missouri 51.77

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Ricky to appear on The Tyra Show

Ricky will be appearing on tomorrow's butt-themed episode of The Tyra Show to discuss his wardrobe malfunction during the 2009 World Championships. Here's a publicity photo from JustJared.



The Tyra Banks show airs at 4pm on the CW.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Friday, September 4, 2009

Gold Medal Minute: Ricky Berens


Berens bears all about the suit split and life in Texas

Friday, July 31, 2009

The Best Press Conference Ever



Sorry for the delay with news and gallery updates! I'm working on adding everything now!

FINA World Championships, Swimming: Flash! United States Clips World Record in Men's 800 Free Relay
It came down to the touch, but the United States was able to beat the men's 800 free relay world record by the slimmest of margins at the FINA World Championships.

The team of Michael Phelps (1:44.49), Ricky Berens (1:44.13), David Walters (1:45.47) and Ryan Lochte (1:44.46) clocked a time of 6:58.55 to win the world title, and claim the world record.

Nearly the same team set the global mark at 6:58.56 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as Phelps (1:43.31), Lochte (1:44.28), Berens (1:46.29) and Peter Vanderkaay (1:44.68) topped the event last summer.

FINA World Championships, Swimming: United States, Japan Tie for Top Seed in Men's 800 Free Relay
It came down to the wire, and not even 800 meters could decide the top seed in the men's 800 free relay at the FINA World Championships.

The U.S. and Japan tied with matching 7:03.30s in the final heat of prelims in the relay, as the two teams nearly beat the meet record of 7:03.24 set by the U.S. in 2007.

Ricky Berens (1:44.95), Dan Madwed (1:45.63), Davis Tarwater (1:47.94) and Peter Vanderkaay (1:44.78) made up the U.S. time, while Shogo Hihara (1:46.75), Yoshihiro Okumura (1:44.73), Shunsuke Kuzuhara (1:46.41) and Takeshi Matsuda (1:45.41) comprised the Japanese relay.

Men's 4x 200m Freestyle
1 United States of America 6:58.55 WR
PHELPS Michael 1:44.49 (2) 1:44.49
BERENS Ricky 1:44.13 (1) 3:28.62
WALTERS David 1:45.47 (1) 5:14.09
LOCHTE Ryan 1:44.46 (1) 6:58.55

2 Russia 6:59.15
3 Australia 7:01.65
4 Japan 7:02.26
5 Germany 7:03.19
6 Italy 7:03.48
7 Great Britain 7:05.67
8 South Africa 7:08.51

Men's 4x200m Freestyle
1 United States of America 7:03.30
BERENS Ricky 1:44.95
MADWED Daniel 3:30.58
TARWATER Davis 5:18.52
VANDERKAAY Peter 7:03.30

1 Japan 7:03.30
3 Australia 7:05.56
4 Germany 7:05.62
5 Great Britain 7:06.11
6 Russia 7:06.44
7 South Africa 7:08.01
8 Italy 7:08.07

Monday, July 27, 2009

World Championships Results

4x100m Freestyle Relay
1 Brazil 3:11.26
2 France 3:11.38
3 Great Britain 3:11.62
4 United States of America 3:11.64
WEBER-GALE Garret 23.02 48.30 48.30
GREVERS Mattew 22.42 47.55 1:35.85
BERENS Ricky 23.01 48.19 2:24.04
JONES Cullen 22.26 47.60 3:11.64

Records fall, but U.S. 400 relay doesn't at world championships
The closest-contested men's final of Day 1 did not even feature a world record in the 400 freestyle relay. Even swimmers from other countries were all but handing the win to the vaunted French foursome because the U.S. team was without Olympic hero Jason Lezak, who is competing in Israel.

"We pretty much had a new relay," Phelps said of his teammates Ryan Lochte, Matt Grevers and anchor Nathan Adrian. "When we come into a meet we have a goal to win all three relays. This is a perfect way to end Day 1."

That U.S. foursome almost didn't get the chance to swim in the final. In the morning prelims, Ricky Berens' suit, by the Italian company Jaked, split in the back when he leaned over to stretch after getting on the blocks.

"I kind of freaked out for a second," Berens said.

Showing some skin took on new meaning here. Of course, Berens is hoping he won't become a YouTube cult hero after completing the exposed swim.

"It felt like there was a bunch of extra weight around like a bag of water," he said. ". . . I was trying hard not to focus on the suit. I've never ripped a suit before."

Said Lochte: "I would have been, like, 'Whatever.' I would have swam naked if I had to. I mean, you're at the world championships, you can't really hold anything back."

In an Olympic Flashback, U.S. Team Rallies to Win Gold
[...] a U.S. team that had never swum together stepped up after a suit malfunction Sunday morning nearly prevented the Americans from even qualifying in the event's heats. And they persevered after an extremely average day from the team's resident living legend.

"Tonight, we pretty much had a whole new relay," said Phelps, who has won 14 gold medals in the last two Olympic Games. "I think tonight we came together well as a team. We swam great as Team USA. They put together three solid splits. I was a little disappointed; I wanted to swim a little faster."

Phelps's leadoff leg of 47.78 seconds put him 0.69 behind Cielo and 0.05 behind France's Fabien Gilot. Though it looked bad, things could have been worse. Moments before the event's qualifying heats Sunday morning, Ricky Berens, scheduled to swim third on the U.S. morning relay team, bent over to stretch and ripped the back of his suit. A large part of his rear end was exposed.

Urged on by relay teammate Cullen Jones, Berens competed anyway, helping the U.S. team qualify for Sunday's final.

"I kind of freaked out for just a second," Berens said. "I felt like [the tear] was almost down to my knees. I felt like I was putting on a pretty good show."

He did, but it didn't match the show later.

Friday, July 10, 2009

National Championships Results

Nathan Adrian Claims 100 Free Title

With six Olympic gold medalists contesting the men's 100 free finale at the USA Swimming National Championships, anyone could have claimed the title. California's Nathan Adrian, however, doubled up on the sprint victories after topping the 50 free.

Adrian clocked a personal-best time of 48.00, clearing his previous best of 48.10. He had to track down Matt Grevers of Tucson Ford, swimming in lane eight. Grevers went out under American-record pace with a 22.89 before finishing in 48.27 for fourth.

"The last 15 meters, you really have to keep your stroke together to get your hand on the wall," Adrian said. "I don't like to try to follow in anyone's footsteps. I make my own path."

Longhorn's Garrett Weber-Gale finished third in 48.19, while SwimMAC-Carolina's Cullen Jones clinched fifth in 48.31. Longhorn's Ricky Berens, the sixth gold medalist in the field, wound up sixth in 48.14.

100m Freestyle Final

1 ADRIAN Nathan 48.00
2 WALTERS David 48.17
3 WEBER-GALE Garrett 48.19
4 GREVERS Matt 48.27
5 JONES Cullen 48.31
6 BERENS Ricky 48.44
7 FEIGEN Jimmy 48.46
8 BRUNELLI Nicholas 48.53

Men's 100 free
California's Nathan Adrian topped qualifying in 48.10, while Daytona Beach's Ryan Lochte claimed second with a swift 48.16. Auburn's Matt Targett placed third in prelims with a time of 48.17.

Longhorn's David Walters (48.46) and Garrett Weber-Gale (48.52) touched fourth and fifth, while Sun Devil's Nick Brunelli took sixth in 48.73. SwimMAC-Carolina's Cullen Jones (48.74) and Longhorn's Ricky Berens (48.83) completed the top eight.

Heavyhitting international swimmers like Cesar Cielo (49.02) and Fred Bousquet (49.42) relaxed during prelims knowing they could only qualify for B finals.

Meanwhile, Michael Phelps scratched from the event after waking up with a stiff neck.

100m Freestyle Prelim
1 ADRIAN Nathan 48.10
2 LOCHTE Ryan 48.16
3 TARGETT Matthew 48.17
4 WALTERS David 48.46
5 WEBER-GALE Garrett 48.52
6 BRUNELLI Nicholas 48.73
7 JONES Cullen 48.74
8 BERENS Ricky 48.83