There was some desert heat in the Peach state last night as the Arizona men enjoyed their finest hour to pull ahead of Auburn at the NCAA Division I swimming and diving championships.

"I don't think Arizona swimming has ever seen anything quite like what we did tonight. I couldn't be more proud of the guys, I couldn"t be more proud of the coaches and all the hard work that they have put into this. This has been a very magical night, it's almost surreal."

The wildcats achieved new heights after the second day, tallying two individual champions, two relay titles and 14 new records. The Wildcats now post five national titles, the most ever achieved in school history, with three relay and two individual crowns.

"Arizona really had a magical night," Auburn head coach David Marsh said. "They were on fire tonight. This is two weeks in a row now that they have great swims through the first two days. It is going to be kind of a knock down, drag out, tomorrow. Arizona's strength is their quality and our strength is our depth. It is reminiscent of last week and I am just hoping the end result is the same."

"In all the years I have been coaching I have never seen anything like tonight. If you were to compare it to anything else, there is nothing to compare it to because nothing even comes close to what we have accomplished here. I"m so proud of the guys, especially the seniors."

The 200 medley relay started the action for the Wildcats, as the team of sophomore Albert Subirats, seniors Dave Rollins, Lyndon Ferns and Simon Burnett set a new NCAA, U.S. Open, school and pool record with a time of 1:23.88.

"I am pretty excited and glad for my teammates," Subirats said. "It was with three seniors, three great seniors, a championship, and we broke the record, so I feel really good."

Auburn turned up second. Anchor Matt Targett secured the Tigers top finish as he sprinted to the wall with the fastest freestyle split of the field - 18.72. Stanford was disqualified when Nate Cass was charged with a stroke infraction during the second leg of the four-man relay, the breaststroke.

"Our goal is always to go out and win," Targett said. "Arizona had a terrific swim and my hat goes off to them, they had a great swim. I think we did our best and I am happy for that."

Lead off man, Doug Van Wie added, "Being on a relay at Auburn is always a huge honor and we take great pride in it," Van Wie said. "We always want to win and that is our goal every time we go out but Arizona had a great swim and we also had a good swim, they were just a little better today."

Next, in the 100 butterfly, Ferns captured his first NCAA crown, winning the race with a school and pool record time of 45.89. Subirats finished behind his teammate in second-place with a personal best time of 46.02. "Just to train with Albert every day is a great thing," Ferns said. "He is such a great swimmer, and that"s the future of Arizona. (This race) was awesome, it wasn"t as fast as I wanted to go, but it"s a win. We mean business. We have only nine guys and we all want to win the championships. I think we really showed that tonight." "There were some great swimmers out there, and to get beat by my own teammate is great," Subirats said. (On Arizona taking first and second in the event) "It"s pretty exciting and I"m happy for the team. I felt tired coming down the final stretch but I finished strong, thank God."

The Ryan Lochte show continued in the 400 IM where he downed Tom Dolan's NCAA meet record. Ous Melloui of Southern Cal placed second while Eric Shanteau posted Auburn's top finish in third.

“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. Michigan’s Tom Dolan set the previous standard for the 400 IM in 1995 with a time of 3:38.18. For Lochte, tying Nesty’s 14-year-old record meant just as much as a new NCAA record.

“It means everything,” Lochte said. “He 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 can surpass Nesty and become the Gators’ all-time NCAA title leader during the 200 backstroke, which is scheduled to run on Saturday.

"The best thing about the race is that I kept my spot," Shanteau said. "I wanted to stay third, that was the main goal, as far as the time goes, I was about two seconds off my personal best, so I wasn't as happy with that. Right now there are bigger things to worry about and that is the team title. I really can't complain with my performance."

Continuing the excitement was Burnett who defended his 200 freestyle crown, while breaking his own NCAA and school records as well as setting new U.S. Open and pool records with a time of 1:31.20. Burnett is now a three-time national champion in this event. "You know, I"ve always come to the NCAAs and swam slower than I have in the season," Burnett said. "So it is really satisfying to come here and improve my time." "I have never seen anything like (Simon"s swim)," head swimming coach Frank Busch said. "I don"t even know how to explain it. That was a guy, very talented, whose heart wanted that, and was willing to give it whatever it took."

Cal, which has been experiencing mixed success this meet was bolstered in the 100 breaststroke when Henrique Barbosa, a product of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, swam a 52.52 to win the 100 breaststroke. Kevin Swander of Indiana finished second, just 0.02 behind the Bear.

"What can you say – Ricky was great," Cal head coach Nort Thornton said of his 2004 Brazilian Olympian. "He was in third place at the last turn and just turned it on. It was an outstanding swim."

“I just have to keep this meet in perspective,” Swander said. “It was a great opportunity to just swim with these guys. I swam in the big final and posted a personal best. Yeah, it was bad to get out-touched, but I have to take the positives out of this. I am just going out there and racing. My career is not over, since I still have two more years of swimming. I just am out there trying my hardest and leaving everything in the water.”

In the 100 backstroke, Ryan Lochte kept his record, but Northwestern's Matt Grevers successfully defended his title. The junior swam a 22.24 first 50, and never trailed in the race. Grevers is the Wildcats' first two-time champion since Bill Heusner won the 1,500 free in 1948 and 1949.

"It wasn't pretty, but I got it done I guess," said Grevers. "I've been going faster times, especially at the beginning of the meet, so I thought I would go a little faster, but that really doesn't matter, because I got the win and that's what I really wanted."

Van Wie battled back in the 100 back to make it an interesting final 25 yards but couldn't catch the Wildcat.

"I gave it my all and tried to stay underwater as long as I could," Van Wie said. "It was close at the touch and it was a great race. It is a busy night for me, I had three swims, so I am just trying to keep looking forward to the next race and swim fast."

Tallying the final national title of the evening was the 800 free relay comprised of Burnett, Ferns, senor Tyler DeBerry and junior Adam Ritter, who won he event with a new school and pool record time of 6:16.67.

"It was good, what more can you say," Ferns said. "We really wanted that one. IT would have been nice to break the (NCAA) record, but winning feels great no matter what."

After breaking the school record in the 100 breaststroke during prelims this afternoon (52.68), Rollins finished third in the championship finals with a time of 52.91 as sophomore Ivan Barnes finished 10th overall with a time of 53.55.

With the All-American finish of the 800 free relay, Auburn's George Bovell earns his 23rd All-American honor which moved him into first all-time at Auburn. He jumped ahead of former AU greats Rowdy Gaines and Brock Newman who each concluded their careers with 22.

That leaves tomorrow as decision day. And as Arizona put up points tonight, it was a result of what they did in the morning - putting eight swimmers in finals, one in consols, versus Auburn's four and four. It's not something that is lost on Frank Busch, "We are going to have to have a great morning tomorrow and stay focused on what we are trying to do and not worry about anyone else. If you don"t have a good morning, you are not going to have a good night."

On paper Auburn looks to have a negligible edge with three swims seeded in the top eight, three seeded for consols and two more swims capable of moving into scoring position. Arizona's seeds are three up, two down and one more waiting in the wings. Factor in diving and you've got a heck of a cat fight set for Saturday.