Victorian Championships: Lethal Leisel Jones Suffers Rare Defeat in Breaststroke Event

MELBOURNE, Australia, January 5. WHILE many successes highlighted the second day of swimming at the Victorian Championships held in Melbourne, Australia, the most surprising occurrence happened to be a loss.

When you are the reigning queen of the breaststroke like Lethal Leisel Jones, where your lone opponent is typically the clock, it is a stunning occurrence when someone else gets to the wall before you.

That's exactly what happened in the sprint breaststroke event. Tarnee White claimed the upset triumph over Jones in the event.

Women's Events
100 fly finals
Felicity Galvez claimed the title with a time of 58.82, while Alice Mills placed second in 59.59. Meanwhile, Ellen Gandy, 16, of Great Britain joined the sub-1:00 performances with a third-place 59.79.

50 breast finals
Lethal Leisel Jones suffered a rare defeat in a breaststroke event as she took second behind Tarnee White in the sprint distance. White clocked a quick time of 30.75, .2 seconds off Jones' record of 30.55, while Jones touched out Sarah Katsoulis for second, 31.46 to 31.49.

200 IM finals
U.S. teenagers prevailed in the women's 200 IM as 15-year-old Dagny Knutson ripped off a 2:14.90 to dominate the event for the title. Madeline Dirado, 14, gave the U.S. a 1-2 finish with a silver-winning readout of 2:17.74 as she just held off Shayne Reese (2:17.95). Leisel Jones, notably, took fourth in 2:18.42.

50 back semis
Lauren Rogers qualified first with a time of 29.02, just ahead of Belinda Hocking's second-place clocking of 29.04. Sherry Tsai (29.63), Elizabeth Pelton (29.70) and Jessica Guro (29.70) placed among the top four.

100 free semis
Natalie Coughlin led several University of California-related swimmers in the top eight of the 100 free semifinals. Coughlin raced to a top-seed 54.61, while Dana Vollmer (56.07), Hannah Wilson (56.27) and Emily Silver (56.29) took fifth, sixth and seventh.

Alice Mills (55.10) and Sally Foster (55.73) completed the top three headed to finals.

Men's Events
400 IM finals
Travis Nederpelt held off a pair of United States teenagers en route to a first-place 4:25.88. The American duo of Andrew Gemmell, 16, and Austin Surhoff, 17, completed the top three with Gemmell touching in 4:26.40 and Surhoff clocking a 4:27.37.

50 back finals
Daniel Arnamnart continued his strong meet with a win in the sprint back when he hit the wall in 25.49. Nick Brunelli, who is providing updates for SwimmingWorldMagazine.com while in Melbourne, place second for the United States in 26.33, while Ethan Rolff finished third in 26.45.

100 breast finals
James Stacey and Craig Calder battled throughout the race, with Stacey surfacing triumphant with a time of 1:03.54. Calder, meanwhile, wound up second with a time of 1:03.94. Sam Ashby rounded out the top three with a time of 1:04.23.

50 fly semis
Papua New Guinea's Ryan Pini added to the international flair of the meet with a top qualifying time of 24.35 in the sprint fly. Matt Targett, who is redshirting from Auburn to focus on Beijing, took second in 24.60, while Garth Kates finished third in 24.70.

100 free semis
Matt Targett completed a strong second day of swimming at the meet with a top-seed readout of 50.04 in the 100 free. Vicentre teammate Patrick Murphy qualified second in 50.19, while Ashley Callus took third in 50.40.

Nick Brunelli placed fourth in 50.40, while Ryan Pini (50.48) and Cameron Prosser (50.62) touched fifth and sixth, respectively.

Multi-Disability Events
Daniel Bell won the men's 50 fly in 27.47, while Sarah Bowen claimed the women's 50 breast in 48.37. In other action, Sam Bramham stopped the clock in 1:01.88 to win the men's 100 free, while Ellie Cole took home the women's 100 back crown in 1:13.17.

Results: 2008 Victorian Championships – (01-04-2008 – 01-15-2008)

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