Ferns Sets African Record in Final Day of Janet Evans Invitational

Lyndon Ferns

LOS ANGELES, Calif., July 16. LYNDON Ferns and Natalie Coughlin each posted meet records on Sunday during the final day of competition at the Janet Evans Invitational in Los Angeles, Calif., at the McDonald’s Swim Stadium. Additionally, Ferns clocked an African record in the 100 fly during the meet.

Meanwhile, Larsen Jensen and Tamas Kerekjarto also won their third races of the meet to highlight the final day of competition.

Ferns, a gold medalist for South Africa at the 2004 Olympics, won the men’s 100-meter butterfly, an event he only started training for this year, in 52.59, eclipsing Michael Phelps’ 53.44 set in 2002. Ferns also broke the African record and now is the third-fastest swimmer in the event in the world this year. Roland Schoeman, who finished fourth, held the previous African record of 52.73 set in April 2004.

“That’s awesome,” Ferns said. “It couldn’t have turned out better. That was the plan for the end of the season, and it happened today. I’ve only really started to train fly this year.”

Coughlin won the 100-meter backstroke, her third victory of the meet, in 1:00.19 to beat her own mark of 1:00.52 set in 2002. She swam the second-fastest time in the world this year, .01 seconds off what she swam last month in Santa Clara. Jo Fargus, who won the 200-meter backstroke on Friday, came in second in 1:02.34.

“I’m happy with that time,” Coughlin said. “I didn’t really have a time goal. I just wanted to go out controlled and strong and have a good second 50 [meters], and that’s exactly what I did. I love the 100 back. It’s my head event.”

Kerekjarto captured the 200-meter individual medley in 2:03.61 after winning the 200-meter butterfly on Friday and the 400-meter individual medley on Saturday.

“I qualified mainly for the 200 IM [at European Championships] – so it’s going to be my main focus,” Kerekjarto said. “That’s my strongest event.”

Jensen followed up his victories in Thursday’s 800-meter freestyle and Friday’s 400-meter freestyle with a win in the 1500-meter freestyle on Sunday. Jensen, who holds the American record in the race, clocked 15:17.75 to beat Guillaume Strohmeyer of the French national team and Cho Sung Mo.

“No one in the country has been very much faster – that’s encouraging,” Jensen said. “I could have probably gone a little faster, I think.”

In Sunday’s other events, Kalyn Keller finished second in the women’s 1500-meter freestyle after winning a 10k Open Water race in Santa Barbara earlier in the day.
Keller, a 2004 U.S. Olympian named to the U.S. Open Water national team last month, took the lead right away and had a two-length advantage at the 500-meter mark. Yet Samantha Vanden Berge made her move at the halfway stage and reached the lead at the 800. Keller hung with Vanden Berge for the next 300 meters before Vanden Berge pulled away for the win in 16:44.54. Keller held on for second in 16:47.58,and Alexandra Clarke was third in 16:54.77.

“I woke up at 5:30, and we drove to Santa Barbara,” Keller said. “I needed to do it to get more experience. I’m swimming at [Pan Pacific Championships]. I’ve been trying to balance pool and ocean. I looked at it as a challenge.”

In the women’s 100-meter breaststroke, Jessica Hardy, the American record holder and a silver medalist in the event at the 2005 World Championships, won in 1:07.32. Tara Kirk, the winner of Saturday’s 200-meter breaststroke, finished a close second in 1:07.65. Qun Wang, a 15-year-old member of the Chinese national team, took third. Hardy avenged a loss to Kirk at the Speedo Grand Challenge in Irvine in May.

In the women’s 100-meter butterfly, Erin Reilly, second to Coughlin in Saturday’s 200-meter freestyle passed Yanwei Xu in the last 50 meters to win in a time of 1:00.10. Xu, who won a silver medal for China in the 800-meter freestyle relay at the 2004 Olympics, held on for second in 1:00.92 with Amanda Sims in third.

The men’s 100-meter breaststroke went to Chris Ash in 1:03.58. Ash, who had tied for second in Saturday’s 200-meter breaststroke with Barnes, beat Barnes by .03 seconds. Haibo Wang of the Chinese national team finished third. John Criste, the winner of the 200-meter breaststroke, came in eighth in the 100.

In the men’s 100-meter backstroke, Peter Marshall led wire-to-wire to win in 55.35 seconds. Adam Mania was second, and Matt Grevers took third.

Yi Ting Siow, a 2000 and 2004 Olympian and the top swimmer in her native Malaysia, won the women’s 200-meter individual medley with a strong move to grab the lead during the breaststroke leg. Her final time of 2:17.29 was 1.20 seconds ahead of Whitney Myers.

“When they pick swimmers on the national team and when they see them improving and getting better, usually they will send them to the United States,” Siow said. “We just don’t have that many great swimmers like a China, United States or Japan.”

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