Coughlin Shines with Twin Wins in Final Day of Long Beach Grand Prix

LONG BEACH, California, January 15. OLYMPIAN Natalie Coughlin of California Aquatics went 2-for-2 in her races Monday night at the Toyota Southern California Grand Prix of Swimming, winning the women's 100y butterfly and 100y backstroke, just fractions of a second off her American and U.S. Open records in both events.

Coughlin's time of 50.82 in the 100y fly was about eight-tenths of a second off her American and U.S. Open record of 50.01. Her next closest competitor, Olympian Margaret Hoelzer of Auburn Aquatics, finished in 54.19. Kim Vandenberg, a member of the 2007 U.S. World Championships team, was third in 54.23.

Coughlin was in the water just a short time later to take her second win of the night. Her time of 50.67 in the 100y back was seven-tenths of a second off her American and U.S. Open record of 49.97. Once again, Hoelzer finished second in 54.36, followed by Kristen Shickora of Atlantis in 54.62.

The wins were Coughlin's fourth and fifth of the meet after taking the 50, 100 and 200y free earlier this weekend.

"It's been a long time since I've been in a situation like this where I'm swimming a lot of events," Coughlin said. "It's good practice for Worlds, because hopefully I'll be swimming a lot of events there, and it's jut a good training session to go out and swim a 100 fly and then turn around and have a good swim in the 100 back."

Michael Phelps went 1-for-3, swimming back-to-back match-ups with the best swimmers in the world in their specialty events.

Turning to Phelps, the eight-time Olympic medalist and world record-holder scored his lone win of the night in the 100y back. In his other races, he finished second to Ian Crocker in the 100y fly and Brendan Hansen in the 100y breast, the best swimmers in the world in those events.

In the 100y back, Phelps finished with a time of 45.90, ahead of Peter Marshall, a member of the 2007 U.S. Pan American Games team, and Aaron Peirsol, the world record-holder in the 100-meter back. Marshall and Peirsol finished with times of 46.28 and 46.79, respectively.

Marshall led the race for most of the way, only to have Phelps surge ahead in the final lap with one of his patented underwater kicks. The win marked Phelps' fourth of the meet, and he earned the male high point award for his efforts.

"I've been in situations before where I've had to swim back-to-back events," Phelps said. "Tonight, I was a little more pressed for time, but it was good to be able to put my body under stress like I did tonight. It will help prepare me for Worlds in March when I'll have 17 swims against the best in the world."

As mentioned earlier, Crocker, of Longhorn Aquatics came out on top of the match-up in the 100y fly, winning with a time of 45.23, followed by Phelps in 46.05 and Kohei Kawamoto of Brophy East Swim Team in 47.56.

Crocker took a slight lead over Phelps coming in to the halfway point and extended that lead out of the turn. He then managed to hold Phelps off down the final lap.

"It felt really good – a well-managed race," Crocker said. "I knew if I put him away in the first 50 far enough, he wouldn't be able to get me.

"He gets the adrenaline going. The emotions are kind of difficult to deal with before you race him, but he definitely brings the best out of you."

Hansen, of Longhorn Aquatics got the best of Phelps in the 100y breast, turning in a time of 52.81, followed by Phelps in 54.67 and Boilermaker Aquatic's Giordan Pogioli in 55.29. Hansen claimed a decisive victory, leading the race from start to finish.

"I didn't even see him," Hansen said of Phelps afterward. "We all do our thing, and he does his, but I have to admit doing three (events) back-to-back like that is pretty amazing."

As for his own performance, Hansen was pleased.

"I was really happy with that," he said. "Any chance I have to break 53 at this point in the season, I'm really happy with it."

Also having a stellar meet this weekend was Olympian Kaitlin Sandeno of Club Wolverine, who capped Monday night with a win in the 200y IM in 1:59.93. Santa Clara Swim Club's Courtney Monsees was second in 2:01.51, while Terrapin Swim Club's Kate Dwelley was third in 2:02.17.

Sandeno's win in the 200y IM was her fifth victory of the meet after winning the 500y free, the 1000y free, 200y butterfly and 400y IM earlier this weekend. Her performance this weekend garnered her the female high point award.

Olympian Tara Kirk bounced back from a loss in the 200y breaststroke on Sunday to win the women's 100y breast with a time of 59.70. Kirk, the American and U.S. Open record-holder in this event, finished a little more than two seconds ahead of runner-up Keri Hehn (1:01.85) and Lindsay Payne (1:02.53), both of Trojan Swim Club.

"I love to swim the 100 breast, and I love to swim in this pool," Kirk said. "I set my first American record in this pool, and it's nice to have a good swim here. It gets my confidence up for Worlds, and I was happy with my time."

In other races, Ous Mellouli of Trojan Swim Club won the men's 200y IM in 1:45.82, ahead of Peirsol (1:46.67) and Tamas Kerekjarto of Trojan (1:46.85).

Japanese swimmer Sachiko Yamada, representing Mission Viejo Nadadores, won the first event of the night Sunday, turning in a time of 16:06.63 in the 1650y free. Yamada lapped most of the rest of the field and beat her next closest competitor, open water standout Chloe Sutton of California Capital Aquatics, by close to 24 seconds. Sutton finished with a time of 16:30.51, just ahead of Sara Sun of Swim Pasadena, who finished in 16:38.27.

Fran Crippen of Mission Viejo Nadadores, a member of the 2007 U.S. World University Games team won the final individual event of the evening, taking the men's 1650y free in 15:07.02. Crippen finished more than two seconds ahead of Mission Viejo teammate Chad LaTourette (15:09.60), while Olympian Peter Vanderkaay rounded out the top three with a time of 15:28.37.

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