Some big names had their marks erased as Auburn surged to a huge lead at the 2006 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. Auburn leads after six events, 178.5, over Arizona (136.5) and Stanford (132).

"We hoped today would be a strong day for us," Auburn head coach David Marsh said. "The day went well for us but it was not perfect. This morning I thought we might have a few more consolation finalists but tonight people stepped up for us." "I feel great about this team's performance today. We set three school records, almost four, and the guys were all working really hard," Arizona head swimming coach Frank Busch said.

The Tigers started out with a bang on Thursday night, taking the 200 free relay. The four-man team of Cesar Cielo (19.51), Matt Targett (18.67), Bryan Lundquist (19.25) and George Bovell (18.72) put together a winning time of 1:16.15, just .15 off the Auburn record, to clinch the victory over Arizona.

"This has been the focus all season," Targett said. "I was happy to come out tonight after my performance this morning and help Auburn to a victory. I had been taking care of myself after I finished the Commonwealth Games last week and it felt good to go out there and compete with my teammates. I just made sure I was as good as I could be today and I was pretty close tonight It just felt amazing out there and I am ready to swim fast during the rest of the meet."

Less than 24 hours ago, Targett made the 17-hour trek back to the United States from his native Melbourne, Australia, after competing at the Commonwealth Games last weekend.

"It has been way too long since we have won a relay," Marsh said. "It was nice to see us get back on the top of the podium in a relay and it was thrilling for the team. It creates a lot of momentum and excitement for the rest of our team."

Michigan’s Peter Vanderkaay then broke the oldest American record on the books by edging former Wolverine great Tom Dolan with a time of 4:08.60 to win his second consecutive national title in the 500-yard freestyle. Florida’s Ryan Lochte followed with an American record of his own posting a time of 1:40.55 in the 200 individual medley to capture his second straight national title for the Gators.

“I’m happy that the record is still in the Michigan family,” said Vanderkaay. “It was a tough record for Tom [Dolan] to do 10 years ago, it was pretty special for him back then and for me to be right on it and barely go faster is pretty special for me right now.”

Southern Cal's Ous Mellouli, a distant second in 4:12.92, was happy with his swim, "I feel like I’m not at 100 percent potential right now and felt kind of tight, but I’m looking forward to the 400 IM tomorrow.”

The short IM was dominated by Lochte who elipsed the mark set by Michael Phelps earlier this year. It was the first of two American records for the Gator. "I had no idea [about the record], I was just going out there and doing what I do the best I could,” said Lochte. Phelps was in attendance and got a nod from the Gator as he approached the blocks.

"I’m just going to feed off this the rest of the meet, because what I swam tonight was pretty fast for me." Not just you Ryan, the rest of the world too.

“The guy works hard, does what you ask him to do and he is committed every day,” Florida head coach Gregg Troy said of Lochte’s performance. “It’s not a surprise that these things happen. He has trained with this in mind all year, so it’s hard not to be ready to go.”

Arizona's Adam Ritter, swimming in his first final secured second, outpacing his neigbor Eric Shanteau in the final twenty-five, and noted, "I went to my legs and kind of closed my eyes and just put my head down."

In the 50 free, NC State’s Cullen Jones clocked a time of 19.18 to win his first national title. and the Wolfpack's first title since 1993 when David Fox won the same event.

“I put a lot of effort into trying to lengthen my stroke and trying to get stronger all year,” said Jones. “It was big trying to stand in the shoes of Fred Bousquet’s shoes, but one day, hopefully, I can get there.”

Fox was on hand to present the award at the same pool where he won a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics. The past champion noted, "Winning the NCAA championship [in 1993] was the best feeling of my athletic career. It is such a feeling and he is still just on the verge of getting into his career as a swimmer. He is special."

Stanford's Ben Wildman-Tobriner who made the big final by just 0.02 overcame a somewhat sluggish start but surged from the outside to take second in 19.22.

On the one-meter springboard, Georgia’s Chris Colwill tallied a winning score of 407.10 to win the first national title of the NCAA meet for the Bulldogs. Arizona State’s Joona Puhakka finished second with a final score of 398.20.

“The competition was really tight, ” said Colwill. “I just told myself to focus on one dive at a time and that was the key to me winning tonight.”

Arizona’s 400 Medley Relay team of Nick Thoman, Ivan Barns, Albert Subirats and Adam Ritter swam a time of 3:06.08 to capture the relay for the Wildcats. As with last year it wasn't a different set of Wildcats who set the pace early on. Lochte showed that he will be the man to beat when he clocked an American Record-setting time of 44.60. Mike Alexandrov took the lead for Northwestern who held onto a nearly two-second lead through the butterfly leg. As has been the 'Cats achillies heel, however, the watched the lead evaporate as Adam Ritter (Arizona), Cesar Cielo (Auburn), and Wildman-Tobriner turned into a herd of purple people eaters to surge ahead of Northwestern. Wildman-Tobriner's 41.72 was the fastest split of the evening while Albert Subirats (Arizona) was the fastest in the fly with a 44.70. Swimming in consolations, Indiana's Kevin Swander put up the fastest breaststroke split with a 51.82.

"The last relay was fabulous. I didn't know exactly how we were going to come out; I just know that I felt really good about where we were. After Nick started us off really well and Ivan swam a great leg, I knew were going to be ok because Albert ran the team ahead of us (Northwestern) down in his leg and they didn't have an anchor like we had to finish the race (Ritter)."

"It was a lot of fun winning the national title," Thoman said. "When I saw Adam dive in on the last leg and go after that Northwestern guy, I knew we were going to get it."

Day two of the NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships will be on Friday, beginning with prelims at 12 Noon ET.