COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Georgia swimmers Troyden Prinsloo and Neil Versfeld won national championships, with Versfeld swimming the fastest 200 breaststroke in history, and Mark Dylla finished as an event runner-up for the Bulldogs on the final day of competition at the 2009 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships Saturday night at the Student Recreation Center Natatorium at Texas A&M.

Behind those efforts, Georgia finished the meet with 131 points and finished in the top 10 by placing 10th overall. Auburn went on to win the overall team championship with 526 points, while Texas was second with 487 points and Stanford finished third with 460.5.

“I am really proud of our kids,” head coach Jack Bauerle said. “They did a heck of a job tonight and throughout this meet. I didn’t think could match what we did last year, but in a way, I think we did. Losing three national champions and Olympians was going to be difficult to replace, but to finish with two national champions in Troy and Neil and to have a second with Mark was a great way to end our championships. We have a young team and the future looks incredibly bright for us and I couldn’t be happier with the way we finished out.”

Highlighting the night for Georgia was Versfeld, who set the fastest time in history in winning the national championship in the 200 breaststroke in a time of 1:51.40. The time beat the NCAA mark 1:51.96 time recorded in the morning by Sean Mahoney of Cal and beat the U.S. Open record of 1:51.74 set by Brendan Hansen. The win is Versfeld’s first NCAA Championship after previously finishing as high as fourth in the 200 breaststroke in 2007. It was Versfeld’s second All-America finish of the championships as he placed eighth in the 100 breaststroke Friday night.

“That was one of the greatest swims we’ve had in history for the men,” Bauerle said. “He had to sit out last year to make Olympics and his lone goal this year was to win an NCAA Championship. He felt like he owed it to us, but he got it done.”

The final session of the championship meet began with Prinsloo winning Georgia’s first individual title of the weekend. A year after finishing second in the 1,650 to teammate Sebastien Rouault, Prinsloo claimed the top honor in the mile with a time of 14:30.91, 13 seconds faster than his previous season-best time. Prinsloo beat the field by more than two-and-a-half seconds, in earning his second All-America performance of the meet; he finished fourth in the 500 freestyle Thursday night.

A year after finishing as the runner-up to teammate Gil Stovall in the 200 butterfly, Dylla was forced to the second spot on the podium for the second year in a row finishing with a school record time of 1:40.85, just .10 seconds behind champion Shaune Fraser of Florida. The finish was Dylla’s first All-America effort in this year’s championship meet. He was part of two Honorable Mention All-America relays earlier in the championship meet.

In the consolation heat of the 200 butterfly Todd McGraw swam to a time of 1:43.81, which placed him fourth in his heat and 12th overall.

The preliminaries began with two Bulldogs taking part in the 200 backstroke. Chris Spooner opened the third day of competition in the first race of the day, finishing in a time of 1:43.42, which placed him third in his heat and 27th place overall. That time moved him into fourth on the school’s all-time 200 backstroke performances. Hunter Lainhart advanced to his first NCAA Championship meet in the 200 backstroke Saturday and finished seventh in his heat, 31st overall, with a time of 1:44.71.

Peter Benner, who swam in his third individual event of the championships Saturday in the 200 butterfly preliminaries, was the third Bulldog to compete in Saturday’s 200 butterfly. He finished fourth in his heat, 29th overall, with a time of 1:45.14.

The prelims concluded with the 400 freestyle relay, where the Georgia team of Craig Jennings, Benner, Spooner and Bill Cregar finished seventh in their heat, 20th overall, with a time of 2:56.17, the third-fastest 400 free relay time in school history.

During the NCAA Championships, Georgia had six top eight finishes, resulting in All-America certificates. Including the victories by Prinsloo and Versfeld and the second place from Dylla, Prinsloo finished fourth in the 500 freestyle Thursday, Versfeld placed eighth in the 100 breast and Benner was eighth in the 400 individual medley.

Georgia had five efforts that earned Honorable Mention All-America status on the weekend, including McGraw’s 12th-place finish in the 200 butterfly. In Thursday’s opening night, the Georgia 800 freestyle relay team of Benner, Dylla, Bill Cregar and Prinsloo won Friday night’s consolation final. Also Friday, the 200 medley relay team of Spooner, Versfeld, Dylla and Craig Jennings finished 16th in the finals.

Thursday night, Georgia’s 400 medley relay team of Spooner, Versfeld, Dylla and Michael Arnold recorded a new school record and also win the consolation final. Also Thursday, Benner finished 14th in the 200 individual medley finals.

In addition to the 400 medley relay team’s school record, four other program records were set during the championships. Versfeld’s new mark in the 200 breaststroke and Dylla’s time in the 200 fly Saturday, and Benner’s school records in the 200 freestyle and the 200 individual medley.

“It was a fun meet,” Dylla said. “Finishing in the top 10 is a great way to go out. Not many people gave us a chance to finish that high but we all worked hard this season and it paid off.”

Georgia concluded its season with a 5-4 dual meet record, including a 2-3 conference dual record, a fourth-place showing at the 2009 SEC Championships and its 10th-place finish at the NCAA Championships. ESPN2 will televise coverage of the men’s NCAA Championship meet Wednesday at 3 p.m.

- Georgia Sports Communications