Pair of USA National Meet Records Fall in Day One Prelims

IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 1 SWIMMERS fought off a balmy day at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center in Irvine, Calif., on Tuesday as the 2006 ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships got underway. Overall, a pair of meet records fell in qualifying races as Katie Hoff clocked a meet standard in the 200 IM and Brendan Hansen eclipsed Ed Moses’ record in the 100 breaststroke.

The initial session of competition proved to be incredibly fast as swimmers posted 202 Olympic Trial cuts throughout the day.

The biggest shocker of the day came in the form of 19-year-old Stephanie Cota of the Sierra Marlins as she made the biggest seed jump into a championship heat. Coming from a 26th seed, Cota grabbed eighth-place in the morning prelims of the 400-meter freestyle with a 4:13.51.

Here is event-by-event coverage of the first day of preliminary action:

Women’s 100-meter Butterfly
Olympian Natalie Coughlin made a statement in prelims out of heat 12 with a 58.28 as the top qualifier, while Rachel Komisarz picked up the second-best time of 58.34. Meanwhile, Dana Vollmer (59.49), Margaret Hoelzer (59.59) and Mary Descenza (59.83) all cleared a minute in qualifying. Additionally, Elaine Breeden (1:00.11), Kathleen Hersey (1:00.25) and Kimberly Vandenberg (1:00.37) made it into this evening’s finals.

Notably, No. 6 seed Felicia Lee dropped into the consolation final with an 11th-place 1:00.70. Also, a total of 35 swimmers clocked times under the Olympic Trial cut of 1:02.39.

Men’s 400-meter Freestyle
Club Wolverine’s Peter Vanderkaay cruised into the top-qualifying time with a 3:48.88, while Mission Viejo’s Francis Crippen jumped from a 15th seed into second with a 3:51.22. Meanwhile, No. 1 seed Klete Keller posted the third fastest time of 3:51.36. Additionally, No. 5 seed Michael Klueh (3:51.52), No. 14 seed Shaun Phillips (3:51.77), No. 3 seed Larsen Jensen (3:51.80) and No. 17 seed Matthew Patton (3:53.75 will join them in the championship final tonight. Amazingly, Tobias Work jumped up from a 20th seed into the seventh-fastest time of 3:52.39.

Notables that missed the cut are No. 4 seed Justin Mortimer in ninth with a 3:53.77 and No. 6 seed Charles Houchin with a 14th-place 3:55.64. Overall, 31 swimmers cleared the Olympic Trial cut.

Women’s 200-meter IM
Katie Hoff proclaimed that she is ready to erase the drug-tainted world record of Wu Yanyan set in 1997 as Hoff ripped off a USA Nationals record time of 2:12.34 in prelims. Meanwhile, the rest of the top eight remained fairly close to the psych sheet. No. 3 Ariana Kukors (2:15.01), No. 2 seed Whitney Myers (2:15.28), No. 8 seed Alicia Aemisegger (2:15.39), No. 5 seed Caitlin Leverenz (2:15.90), No. 4 seed Kaitlin Sandeno (2:15.95), No. 9 seed Emily Kukors (2:16.10) and No. 7 seed Julia Smit (2:16.72) all made finals.

Notably, No. 6 seed Courtney Kalisz did not make it to the championship final. Additionally, 43 swimmers in sum eclipsed the Olympic Trial cut in the event.

Men’s 100-meter Breaststroke
No. 1 seed Brendan Hansen went out strong in 28.19 en route to a USA Nationals record time of 59.87. The time surpassed Ed Moses’ 1:00.21 set in 2003. Meanwhile, No. 2 Mark Gang off (1:00.95), No. 6 Scott Usher (1:01.11), No. 3 Matthew Lowe (1:01.61), No. 9 Giordano Pogioli (1:02.48), No. 7 Tyler O’Halloran (1:02.50), No. 5 Ivan Barnes (1:02.51) and No. 10 seed Christian Schurr (1:02.52).

Notably, No. 4 seed Kevin Swander dropped to 17th with a 1:03.37. The Olympic Trial cut went down to the 35th-best swimmer of the morning.

Women’s 400-meter Freestyle
The Swimming World Magazine National High School Female of the Year Kate Ziegler rocketed to a first-place 4:07.63 out of prelims. Meanwhile, No. 1 seed Katie Hoff (4:09.82), No. 10 seed Adrienne Binder (4:10.89), No. 3 seed Hayley Peirsol (4:11.24), No. 5 seed Kelsey Ditto (4:11.98), No. 6 seed Kirsten Groome (4:13.26) also advanced to the championship final. Amazingly, No. 17 seed Claire Maust (4:12.86) and No. 26 seed Stephanie Cota (4:13.51) snuck into the big final.

Notably, No. 4 seed Carly Piper fell to 16th, while No. 7 seed Leah Gingrich dropped to 22nd. Furthermore, 29 swimmers in total went under the Olympic Trial cut.

Men’s 400-meter IM
Michael Phelps did not disappoint in the men’s 400 IM as he recorded a 4:12.38, just a second-and-a-half off his meet-record time of 4:11.09 set in 2002. Meanwhile, No. 2 seed Ryan Lochte (4:15.60), No. 5 seed Erik Vendt (4:15.72), No. 3 seed Robert Margalis (4:19.01), No. 4 seed Eric Shanteau (4:19.02), No. 15 seed Alex Vanderkaay (4:22.05), No. 18 seed Andrew Callahan (4:22.73) and No. 7 seed Patrick Mellors (4:22.77) earned their way into this evening’s championship heat.

Meanwhile, No. 6 seed Timothy Liebhold fell just outside of the big final with a ninth-place 4:23.65. Overall, 29 swimmers pocketed Olympic Trial cuts during the event.

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