Provo » There's always an air of excitement when Jake Taylor is going after a record, especially from his Mountain Crest teammates.

Huddled together at the far end of the BYU pool, the Mustangs anticipated Taylor adding the 50 free mark to his résumé. Two swimmers held up what appeared to be Mexican or Aztec plates for good luck, another held up a 55 mile per hour speed limit sign.

Good thing Taylor already had seen that sign and did his about face.

"I had no idea where they got that or even seen it before today," Taylor acknowledged. "It was kind of cool."

That 50 free record, which would have been Taylor's fifth individual, eluded him by .33 seconds, but his swim did everything else it was supposed: Win an individual state championship and keep Mountain Crest on Springville's heels in the state 4A team race.

The time of 20.93 was also an All-American swim.

"It felt great and did everything I was supposed to do," Taylor said. "I finished and looked up at my time and there was nothing else I could do. I did everything I could, swam as fast as I could, had great underwater kicks."

Mountain Crest coach Yolanda Bates knew Taylor's quest for a record wasn't meant to be when he made his turn. Taylor called the crucial turn "perfect" but Bates saw his split time. "He needed to be under 10 seconds," Bates said. "We gave it a shot.

Taylor did add one record to his résumé in the Mustangs' first event. His 23 second leg helped the Mountain Crest 200 medley squad clock a 1:37:26 to beat the 1998 Hunter squad's mark of 1:37.54. Taylor was joined by seniors Jay Herzog and Tyler Keller and junior Timmy Bates.

"I never broke a state record as part of a relay team," Taylor said. "It's a good feeling to be surrounded by guys you've swam with every day, worked with and then be able to celebrate with."