FEDERAL WAY, Washington, August 8. MISSION Viejo's Chad La Tourette lowered his U.S. Open and meet record in the men's 800 free at the U.S. Open Championships held in Washington.
La Tourette stopped the clock in 7:47.27, just off his personal best of 7:47.24, to cut a second off his U.S. Open record of 7:48.38 set at last year's meet. France's Sebastien Rouault placed second in 7:54.51, while Seminole's Ian Rowe touched third in 8:03.78.
Longhorn's Amber McDermott topped the women's 1500 free in 16:22.80. Spain's Claudia Dasca claimed second in 16:25.42, while Scarlet's Ashley Steenvoorden completed the top three in 16:26.50 out of an earlier heat.
The men's 200 IM championship field made a statement. All eight decided to swim the finale in briefs. During the walkout, the crowd blew the top of the natatorium in appreciation for the move. Tucson Ford's Jack Brown grabbed the title in 2:01.56 with Trojan's Hidemasa Sano placing second in 2:02.13. Wildcat's Alex Tyler rounded out the top three in 2:03.20.
The impact of the suits was demonstrated by the speed of the B final. San Jose's Scott Weltz knocked off Tucson Ford's Bryan O'Connor, 2:01.53 to 2:01.82, for the consolation win. Additionally, the slowest competitor in the B final was Nashville's Curtis Lovelace with a 2:03.61. QDD's Peter Benner took eighth in the championship heat with a 2:08.13.
SwimMAC's Justine Mueller backhalfed her way to a meet record in the women's 200 IM. Turning sixth at the halfway mark, Mueller turned second after the breaststroke with a 36.44 split then brought it home with a 30.99 for the 2:11.46 win. Her time beat the 2:11.53 set by world record holder Ariana Kukors last year. Tucson Ford's Whitney Myers placed second in 2:12.79, while KING's Svetlana Karpeeva wound up third in 2:13.47.
Trojan's Jessica Hardy won a head-to-head battle with Tucson Ford's Lara Jackson in the women's 50 free. Hardy touched first in 24.90 to Jackson's 24.93. Both swimmers cleared Hardy's meet record of 25.05 set during prelims. Stanford's Samantha Woodward wound up third in 25.29.
Sun Devil's Nicholas Brunelli clocked a pair of 21.7s today. During prelims, he set the meet record with a 21.74. He came back tonight to post a 21.73 for the win in the men's 50 free and a second meet-record progression. France's David Maitre took second in 22.14, while Longhorn's James Feigen earned third in 22.21.
Tucson Ford's Ana Agy, Ann Chandler, Whitney Myers and Leone Vorster set the meet record in the women's 400 medley relay with a 4:05.15. The swim beat the standard of 4:06.56 set last year.
Tucson Ford grabbed the men's 400 medley relay title as Bryan O'Connor, Marcus Titus, A.J. Tipton and Jordan Smith clocked a 3:38.38 for the win.
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August 9, 2009 I'm glad something like this has FINALLY happened, although it is a sincere shame that it's only happening now AFTER Worlds. In my humble opinion no one should be wearing the suits at this point. Kudos to the guys in that A-Final heat! Submitted by: jessem
August 9, 2009 Hee Hoo!!! So much fun to watch slow swimming! Submitted by: fluidg
August 9, 2009 I believe fluidg is missing the point. The best swimmer still won. Is all racing pointless unless it results in a record?
Swimming is a sport, and all sport require rules of some sort. If going faster is the only criteria then we might as well allow flip turns for breast and fly, dolphin kicking past 15 meters on all strokes, and as many dolphin kicks on breastroke as you can manage. Sure it's not in keeping with the sport...but people will go faster!
I'm very hopefull the tech suit ban will stick. What difference does it make that the race was won in 2:01 rather than 1:58? Someone still won the race! And there's no doubt at all about it. Submitted by: ASBarley
August 9, 2009 fluidg, I think you're better off going to watch finswimming competitions. You know, where they wear a mono-fin and go 14 seconds for the 50. It's fun to watch and even more fun to do.
That being said, 2.01 is a decent time. If Michael Phelps could go 1.55 without the suit and Jack Brown can't, too bad for Jack Brown. Submitted by: JakedBadForYou
August 9, 2009 fluidg, I think you're better off going to watch finswimming competitions. You know, where they wear a mono-fin and go 14 seconds for the 50. It's fun to watch and even more fun to do.
That being said, 2.01 is a decent time. If Michael Phelps could go 1.55 without the suit and Jack Brown can't, too bad for Jack Brown. Submitted by: JakedBadForYou
August 9, 2009 Look up "retrograde" if you want to know where your heads are at. Sad to see a sport so confused that it celebrates going backwards. What an unfunny joke.
And while you are celebrating the Castro District look, make sure to put an asterisk on all the records set by Ian Thorpe, who loved the full body suit and wore one with full sleeves.
No thanks. Submitted by: fluidg
August 9, 2009 Look up "retrograde" if you want to know where your heads are at. Sad to see a sport so confused that it celebrates going backwards. What an unfunny joke.
And while you are celebrating the Castro District look, make sure to put an asterisk on all the records set by Ian Thorpe, who loved the full body suit and wore one with full sleeves.
No thanks. Submitted by: fluidg
August 9, 2009 fluidg, how DARE you make such a disgusting comment about men wearing briefs in competition as being "Castro District"!!!! HOW DARE YOU! Keep YOUR homophobic viewpoint out of the sport of swimming and focus only on the sport as sport! I dare you to say this to Rowdy Gaines, Michael Gross, Rick Carey, Brian Goodell, John Naber, Mark Spitz...the great Ian Thorpe circa 1998 when he won his first world title! as well as every other champion who came before full body suits! Take your hatred and get the hell out of here! Submitted by: paddles
August 9, 2009 Fluidg it comes down to asking yourself, are you okay with seeing a time on the board beside your name, fully aware that all your hard work in practice and dry-land are not entirely responsible, that you would never have been able to go that time without an artificial aid?
What does wearing a device that aids significantly in speed, to the point of hacking off whole seconds, really say? 'I'm not good enough on my own, none of us are, we need to keep finding short cuts to fast times'?
We're not looking to go back in time, we're looking to go back to a sport that makes sense, where times aren't irrelevant and world records are actually special. The only unfunny joke here is that you represent the minority of people who seemingly just don't get that, or don't care. People who think progress means negating the human aspect to something that's supposed to celebrate it (ie. SPORT). Submitted by: jessem
August 9, 2009 Sorry about not catching the Castro District reference earlier. That was out of bounds, and I would have shut down the thread at that time if I'd know what the reference entailed.
As such, this conversation is ended on this thread. Submitted by: Jason Marsteller
August 9, 2009 It's nice to get the sport of swimming back, and I disagree it is less fun to watch without the rubber suits. This was not a part of the evolution of the sport that matters. In other sports, the equipment is needed to perform. Cyclists need a bike, golfers need clubs. In those sports there are purists that get excited when a better club lets a golfer hit it further...unfortunately rendering some older and shorter golf courses to be irrelevant along the way.
Swimming is not like that. For decades the only point to wearing a suit was not as equipment but to cover private parts for the participants. We tried this thing and the gimmick of wearing wetsuits doesn't really help the sport. In fact it does plenty to hurt it if suddenly there is an economic barrier to entry in this sport at the youth levels (parents who can afford these silly suits for their kids versus those that cannot afford it).
It might also be fun to see Usain Bolt run a 100 meter dash in shoes with springs in them and go a 7.10. But what is the point in that? Like swimming, running is better when we can see how the athletes can perform and marvel at how they do versus the generations before them.
Isn't it something to marvel that in 1976 Jonty Skinner swam a 49.44 in a pool with a 4 foot shallow end? Or that Brian Goodell pushed the 15 minute barrier that year? Or that Naber went 55 and 1:58? All of those times are iconic, as other great swims were like Mary T in 1981 and many many others. It's just a better way to go if we can see if swimmers are really better over time. It makes the sport no less interesting when the 100 free times today are in the 48s and not in the 47s. Submitted by: jim
August 9, 2009 It's nice to get the sport of swimming back, and I disagree it is less fun to watch without the rubber suits. This was not a part of the evolution of the sport that matters. In other sports, the equipment is needed to perform. Cyclists need a bike, golfers need clubs. In those sports there are purists that get excited when a better club lets a golfer hit it further...unfortunately rendering some older and shorter golf courses to be irrelevant along the way.
Swimming is not like that. For decades the only point to wearing a suit was not as equipment but to cover private parts for the participants. We tried this thing and the gimmick of wearing wetsuits doesn't really help the sport. In fact it does plenty to hurt it if suddenly there is an economic barrier to entry in this sport at the youth levels (parents who can afford these silly suits for their kids versus those that cannot afford it).
It might also be fun to see Usain Bolt run a 100 meter dash in shoes with springs in them and go a 7.10. But what is the point in that? Like swimming, running is better when we can see how the athletes can perform and marvel at how they do versus the generations before them.
Isn't it something to marvel that in 1976 Jonty Skinner swam a 49.44 in a pool with a 4 foot shallow end? Or that Brian Goodell pushed the 15 minute barrier that year? Or that Naber went 55 and 1:58? All of those times are iconic, as other great swims were like Mary T in 1981 and many many others. It's just a better way to go if we can see if swimmers are really better over time. It makes the sport no less interesting when the 100 free times today are in the 48s and not in the 47s. Submitted by: jim
August 9, 2009 fluidg is right to the point that watching humans move through water REALLY fast is more fun than watching them go move slow. I suggested he go watch finswimming or perhaps convince himself that speedboating is the same sport as swimming.
We aren't going back in time... We're just going back to check if we have really progressed as swimmers. Once the suits get taken off, we'll see just how much better training, nutrition and science has made us or whether it was all "just the suit"... And then it'll be back to the drawing board for coaches and swimmers instead of suit makers. You know, actual progress instead of swimming with sex toys?
My 2 cents: I don't think we'll see a 55.99 100 breaststroke in the next 50 years once the suits get banned. I hope I'm wrong. Submitted by: JakedBadForYou
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