Apple shatters 200 free school record, takes third at NCAAs

NCAA Swimming Championships - Friday Prelims

MINNEAPOLIS - Zach Apple has been a man on a mission this week and his reward was a bronze medal and a school record on Friday night at the 2018 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Minnesota.

Apple, a junior, swam a 1:31.18 in the finals of the 200 free to become Auburn's first swimmer to break the 1:32.00 mark in the event and collect the highest individual finish of his career.

"I thought coming into tonight in between Blake (Pieroni) and Townley (Haas), I had a really good place to be able to lay one out and really see what I can do," Apple said.

Apple, from Trenton, Ohio, had posted the only sub 1:33.00 swims in…