College Station, TX - Sophomore Erik Vendt took third in the 1650-yard free and senior Ryosuke Imai was fifth in the 200 breast to highlight USC's efforts as the Trojans finished fourth at the 2001 NCAA Men's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Texas A&M on Saturday (March 24).

The Trojans' fourth-place finish was their highest ever under Coach Mark Schubert and their best finish since taking fourth in 1991. Texas won the team title with 597.5, followed by Stanford (457.5), Tennessee (330.5), USC and Florida (265).

Vendt posted his third top-three finish of the meet by taking third in the 1650 in 14:45.69. Freshman Klete Keller, who earlier had won titles in the 200 and 500 free, was eighth in 14:56.86.

Imai set a USC record while taking fifth in the 200 breast in 1:56.24 (breaking his own mark) while sophomore Jeff Lee was eighth in the 200 fly in 1:44.46.