USA Swimming Grand Prix, Columbia: Eric Shanteau Posts Impressive Double; Chloe Sutton Keeps Rolling Towards Overall Title

By David Rieder

COLUMBIA, Missouri, February 13. THE second night of long course meter action at the USA Swimming Grand Prix held in Columbia featured a tremendous double by Eric Shanteau. Additionally, Chloe Sutton kept marching toward the $20,000 overall Grand Prix winner paycheck.

Women's 200 IM
31-year old Erika Erndl of Swim Florida swam an extremely strong final 50 of 30.98 to touch out Whitney Myers, now swimming for FAST, 2:17.64 to 2:17.93. UBC Dolphins' Tanya Hunks took third in 2:18.67.

Men's 200 IM
Trojan's Ous Mellouli took the race out fast on the butterfly and backstroke, but Longhorn's Eric Shanteau, the World Championship bronze medalist in this event, beat Mellouli by two seconds on the breaststroke leg to take over first place. Shanteau held on for the win, clocking a time of 1:59.75. With a strong freestyle leg, Mellouli held on for second, 2:00.17, ahead of his teammate Thiago Pereira (2:00.49). Along with fourth-place Vytautas Janusaitis of Lithuania (2:01.41), the top four recorded the top four times in the world this year. Shanteau's time rattled Pereira's pool and meet record of 1:59.19 set back in 2007.

Women's 50 Free
Swim Atlanta's Amanda Weir touched out Coral Springs' Arlene Semeco, 25.64 to 25.74 in the ladies' splash-and-dash. The times are ranked third and sixth in 2010. The University of Missouri's Lisa Nathanson clocked a 26.25 to take third, ahead of SMU's Justine Clark (26.38).

Men's 50 Free
UBC Dolphins' Brent Hayden rebounded from a slow start to record his second victory of the Grand Prix. He clocked a time of 22.56, the third fastest of the year, to add to his victory in the 200 free last night. Tucson Ford's Masayuki Kishida touched in 22.77 for second, ahead of the 22.83 recorded by Cal Aquatics' Will Copeland. Notably, Olympic gold medalists Ryan Lochte (23.50) and Garrett Weber-Gale (24.69) took sixth and seventh, respectively.

Women's 200 Breast
Canadians dominated the longer women's breaststroke, as UCB Dolphins Annamay Pierse and Haylee Johnson clocked times 2:28.51 and 2:32.31, respectively, to go 1-2. SMU's Raminta Dvariskyte touched out Trojan's Keri Hehn, 2:36.03 to 2:36.23, to take the bronze.

Men's 200 Breast
Coca Cola's Kosuke Kitajima, the double defending champion, looked like he would run away with his second victory of the Grand Prix at the 150, but Longhorn's Eric Shanteau had other plans. Coming off his victory in the 200 IM, Shanteau blasted the final 50, with a split of 33.56, nearly a second faster than Kitajima, to touch out his Japanese counterpart, 2:11.17 to 2:11.33. Shanteau was just off his meet record of 2:10.65 set in 2008. Those times are by far the top two recorded thus far in 2010. Athens Bulldogs' Neil Versfeld claimed third in 2:14.91, the fourth-fastest time in the world.

Women's 100 Back
SMU's Therese Svendsen was the only swimmer under 1:03 in the women's 100 back, clocking a time of 1:02.84, just off her best time 1:02.79. Mexico's Fernanda Gonzalez Ramirez claimed second in 1:03.23, ahead of Gator Swim Club's Stephanie Proud, who clocked a time of 1:03.51 to touch third.

Men's 100 Back
SwimMAC's Nick Thoman dominated the race and swam a strong time of 54.40, which is tied for the fastest time in the world with Australian Hayden Stoeckel, who swam that time at the NSW Open Championships in Sydney. Gator Swim Club's Ryan Lochte put on a strong charge on the back-half to challenge Thoman and eventually take second in 54.81, the fourth-fastest time in the world. California Aquatics' David Russell took third in 55.32.

Women's 400 Free
Mission Viejo's Chloe Sutton dominated the 400 free the whole way, ending up more than six seconds ahead of the field to record a time of 4:11.75. Sutton's time was the fourth best in the world, behind the top three places from the NSW Open today in Sydney. Sutton continues to rack up points towards the overall Grand Prix title, in which she is the current points leader. Winning the battle for second was Clovis Swim Club's Tristin Baxter, who recorded a time of 4:18.17 to beat 14 year old Gilligan Ryan of Parkland Aquatics (4:18.96).

Men's 400 Free
Trojan's Ous Mellouli returned from a second-place finish in the 200 IM to take his first gold of the meet. He clocked a 3:53.11 to win. Top qualifier Alex Di Giorgio of Davie Nadadores touched second in 3:56.92, the only under sub-4:00 time, ahead of his teammate Ricardo Monasterio, who clocked a time of 4:00.45.

400 Medley Relays
SMU's team of Therese Svendsen, Raminta Dvariskyte, Denisa Smolenova, and Sascha van den Branden dominated the women's relay, recording a time of 4:17.35 to win, ahead of Bolles' team of Aubrey Peacock, Alyssa Bodin, Nelle Glasser, and Stacy Stanfield (4:24.08). York YMCA (Hali Flickinger, Julia Kucherich, Sarah Dotzel, Sada Stewart) claimed third in 4:27.02.

As they did last night in the 400 medley relay, Davie Nadadores went 1-2 in the men's medley relay, with the "A" team of Arthur Mendes, Felipe Lima, Daniele Tirabassi, and Alex Di Giorgio beating their "B" team of Jean Gomez, Diego Santos, Ismael Ortiz, and Juan Manuel Cambindo with respective times of 3:53.28 and 3:57.98. Bolles (Marco Aldabe Bomstad, Sergio Lujan Rivera, Colin Hamilton, Blair Schiller) claimed third, clocking a time of 4:01.94.

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