Fifty-seven years ago today — March 31, 1962 — Illini swimmer Jim Spreitzer won the NCAA men's 220-yard freestyle championship, the last of seven NCAA titles captured by University of Illinois swimmers.
Swimming from lane three, the St. George, Illinois native and Evanston High School grad covered the distance in a time of 2:00.9, just three-tenths of a second slower than the NCAA mark set by Murray Rose of Southern Cal a year earlier. Spreitzer edged out Dennis Rounsavelle of USC and Mike Wood of Michigan State for the championship.
Spreitzer, who placed sixth in that same race in 1961 and also no better than sixth in the Big Ten meet a month earlier, broke his personal record by eight-tenths of a second.