Hart High graduate Nicholas Korth swam his way into the record books last Saturday at the 2014 NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships in Geneva, Ohio.

Korth, a senior at the University of California, San Diego broke the 200-yard breaststroke NCAA Division II record Mar. 15 with a first place finish in the event.

Korth talked about the pressure and intimidation factors immediately before his record-breaking race.

“I was the second seed out of the morning [race] and Niclas Eriksson had the top time by almost 2 seconds,” Korth said. “At the start of the final race it was a little nerve racking seeing all the 6’ 2” and 6’ 6” guys up on the blocks next to me.”

Touching the wall with a time of 1:54.45 in the final, Korth was more than 2 seconds faster than any of his competition.

The previous record of 1:54.57 was obtained last year by Eetu Karvonen, a student from Grand Canyon University, according to results released by the NCAA.

During the race, Korth said the pain was intense, but he was spurred on by the cheers of friends and family that he could hear from the water.

“At the last 50 (yards), I could hear my teammates cheering,” Korth said. “I could see them on the turn, and I thought about my parents and my teammates and tried to move my arms as quickly and efficiently as possible. When I got to the wall it hurt incredibly bad, but seeing the 1 next to my name [on the ranking board] made it disappear. My coach ran over to me and it didn’t hurt any more, I was just extremely happy.”

In the excitement of his big win, Korth said he didn’t realize the significance of his record-breaking time.

“After seeing the 1 next to my name, I didn’t really care about the time,” Korth said. “I was just happy. The time wasn’t nearly as important to me as winning the race. My coach told me I’d broke the record and that was when I realized, not only had I won, but I had also broke the national record.”

In addition to the 200 breaststroke, Korth competed in 2 other individual events,the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breaststroke as well as 4 relays; the 200-yard medley, 400-yard medley, 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard freestyle.

Korth made it to the championship final for each of these events and finished 7th overall in the 50-yard freestyle and 3rd overall in the 100-yard breaststroke, according to results released by the NCAA.

Korth reflected on his final meet and said it was a fitting end to his collegiate swimming career.

“I consider myself extremely lucky to have competed at my fourth nationals,” Korth said. “Accomplishing the goals I set for myself leaves me with a very excited and surreal feeling.”

– Dale Fairclough