Lochte wins 400 IM final

Florida senior Ryan Lochte won his fifth individual NCAA title on Friday night at the NCAA men's swimming and diving championships.

Lochte won the 400 individual medley in an NCAA record time of 3:38.15. With the win, he tied 1988 Olympic gold medalist and current Florida assistant coach Anthony Nesty for the most individual NCAA titles won by a Gator.

Lochte recorded the fastest 100 butterfly split in NCAA and American history with a time of 49.99. Southern California's Ous Mellouli, who recorded the fastest time in the preliminary round, made a strong move during the final 100 yards, but could not overcome Lochte's lead.

"The 400 IM is probably the hardest race for this kind of meet," Lochte said. "To come up out on top feels pretty good."

During his four-year career, Lochte has broken NCAA records in three individual events, including the 200 IM on Thursday night.

Lochte can surpass Nesty and become the Gators' all-time NCAA title leader by winning the 200 backstroke, which is scheduled to run today.

"(Nesty) has been my coach for about four years now. He's not really a coach anymore; he is more like a father. I look up to him so much. To tie his record was awesome, but I still have one more race to go," Lochte said.

Freshman Bradley Ally earned a fifth-place finish in the 400 IM with a time of 3:45.67.

Florida's team of Lochte, Brian Hartley, Lucas Salatta and Ally finished fourth in the 800 freestyle relay with a time of 6:21.69.

The 200 medley relay team of Salatta, Luca DeMatteis, Nick Borreca and Daniel Penniman finished seventh with a time of 1:29.90.

Arizona leads the event with a score of 336.5 through 14 events. Auburn was second with a score of 331.5, followed by Stanford in third with 244.5 and Texas in fourth with 220 points. Florida is in fifth place with 203 points.