IOWA CITY, Iowa - Stanford's David Nolan, a senior biomechanical engineering major, has gotten pretty good at writing history.
He's now accomplished at rewriting history, too.
Nolan broke his own American record in the 200-yard individual medley to open the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Iowa's Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium on Thursday, going 1:39.38 (21.67, 24.32, 29.21, 24.18) to become the the first swimmer ever to post a sub-1:40 time in the event.
Nolan smashed his own NCAA and American record of 1:40.07 set at the Pac-12 Conference Championships earlier this month. The Hershey, Pennsylvania, native also claimed the U.S. Open, NCAA Championships and school records with the performance.
"It feels pretty good," Nolan said after drying off. "It has always been a goal ever since high school. Tonight, it was fun to actually have it happen.
"First off, Will Licon (of Texas), incredible swimmer. I was impressed by him and his efforts this entire year. After this morning, it hurt a little bit because I had three swims, but I knew I had a lot more in me. After the Pac-12 Championships, without a chance to be fully rested, I knew I had a chance to be faster. I was confident coming into finals.
"It was special. I didn’t see the time for a couple of seconds because the flags were in the way. It was cool when I finally got to see it. I did feel a little bit hyped before the swim. (Going) below 1:40, let's rip it and see what happens. I was pumped to actually get the goal time at NCAAs."
Nolan, who also won the 200 IM at the 2013 NCAA Championships, copped Stanford's 114th individual NCAA title and NCAA-best 11th in the event.
"His year-long focus and effort produced the milestone swim," said Ted Knapp, Stanford's Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming. "The team, and especially his training group, played a huge role in his success, as well as the athletic training and sports performance staffs. He is ready to continue to make huge contributions over the next two days."
Texas holds a 171-119 lead over Cal to lead the team standings with two days remaining at the meet. Florida (108) and Michigan (105) follow the top two spots in front of Alabama (79), USC (77) and Stanford (75).
Live streaming of Friday's preliminary session will be available at GoStanford.com. Friday's finals will be streamed live on ESPN3.com, and live results for both sessions will be available at GoStanford.com.
Purdue's Steele Johnson claimed his program's third men's 1-meter diving title, collecting 468.15 points for the win to join David Boudia (2010, 2011) as fellow Boilermaker winners of the event. Johnson denied Kristian Ipsen's bid at a second title off the low board. Ipsen, who won the event in 2013, took third with 449.45 points. Bradley Christensen (341.20) was 18th overall.
Sam Perry, Jeff Garnier, Connor Black and Spencer DeShon went 1:18.03 for 14th in the 200-yard freestyle relay to open the meet.
The prelims of the 500-yard freestyle saw Drew Cosgarea go 4:18.09 for 24th. Danny Thomson contributed a 4:20.45 and touched 36th.
Tom Kremer added a tremendous 200 IM swim in 1:42.43 for fourth. Gray Umbach was a couple spots out of the top-16 in 1:43.89. Max Williamson (1:44.67) was 25th and Curtis Ogren (1:45.48) was 36th.
Sam Perry's 19.62 claimed 27th in the 50-yard freestyle.
Texas delivered an NCAA and U.S. Open record with a 3:01.23 in the 400-yard medley relay. Cal turned in an American-record 3:01.60 for second place, beating the 3:01.91 posted by Stanford in 2009.
The Cardinal won the B-final and placed ninth in 3:05.49 with efforts from Kremer, Nolan, Umbach and Thomas Stephens.