Texas trio comes up big for U.S.

Former Texas swimmer Ian Crocker added two Olympic medals to his collection over the weekend as he finished second to fellow American Michael Phelps in the 100-meter butterfly, and then helped lead Team USA to a gold in the men's 4x100-meter medley relay the next day.

Phelps beat Crocker by four hundredths of a second and set a new Olympic record in the 100-meter fly after coming from behind in the final leg of the race, finishing with a time of 51.25. Andriy Serdinov of Ukraine finished third with a time of 51.36.

With the win, Phelps earned the chance to represent Team USA in the 4x100 medley relay final, but elected to let Crocker swim in the event. This came after Crocker performed poorly in the 4x100 freestyle relay, posting the slowest time in the field.

Phelps' confidence in Crocker turned out to be well deserved as he posted the fastest butterfly time in the event and the second fastest time on the team.

Joining Crocker on the team were fellow Texas alumni Brendan Hansen and Aaron Peirsol. Jason Lezak rounded out the team, and the four swimmers set a new world record on their way to winning the gold.

Peirsol started the relay with a 53.45 backstroke to give the team an early and significant lead. Hansen's time of 59.37 in the breaststroke was beaten only by Japan's Kosuke Kitajima. It wasn't enough for Japan to close the gap though, and Crocker's time of 50.28 pushed the team further ahead. The trio of Longhorns gave Lezak a two second advantage going into the final leg, and he finished off the victory with a time of 47.58 to give the team the record time of 3:30.68, and a win by 2.94 seconds over the late surging German team.

The team's time wasn't the only world record set in the race. The opening swimmer in a relay can get credit for an individual record, and Peirsol's time of 53.45 was enough to break Lenny Krayzelburg's old mark of 53.60 in the 100-meter backstroke.

Another Texas-ex, Laura Wilkinson, was in action Sunday as she attempted to come from behind and medal in the 10-meter platform. After a poor showing in the opening competition, she came back strong Saturday and qualified for the main event. Wilkinson started the day in fourth and finished the competition in fifth place.

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