USA Swimming Grand Prix, Columbus: Chloe Sutton Stars

By David Rieder

COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 1. THE first night of action at the Columbus Grand Prix featured two event wins by Chloe Sutton, who continues to add to her winning score in the Grand Prix series. Highlighting the session were great races involving members of the U.S. National team, as well as collegians who just finished their NCAA season in the previous few weeks. The meet takes place in long course meters.

Women's 800 Free
Chloe Sutton of Mission Viejo dominated her signature event, posting a time of 8:29.31, the fourth-best in the world in 2010, moving behind Blair Evans' 8:25.74 and ahead of Kylie Palmer's 8:29.57, both posted at Australian Nationals. The Fish's Kate Ziegler, the world champion in this event in 2005 and 2007, took second in 8:43.40, well ahead of Greenwood Memorial's Eva Fabien, a member of the U.S. Open Water World Championship team, who clocked 8:48.13.

Women's 100 Breast
Corrie Clark, swimming unattached from Penn State, cruised in her best event, clocking a time of 1:11.17. Clark was nearly a second and a half in front of Adrianna Marmolejo, unattached, who finished in 1:12.55, ahead of North Baltimore's Elizabeth Pelton, who checked in at 1:13.03.

Men's 100 Breast
Arizona's Marcus Titus, coming off a fourth-place finish at NCAA's last week in this event, touched out Longhorn's Eric Shanteau, 1:01.15 to 1:01.19, to win the sprint breaststroke. Titus and Shanteau clocked the fifth and sixth best times in the world, respectively, moving behind Kosuke Kitajima's 1:01.11 from February and ahead of Hugues Duboscq's 1:01.21 recorded last month. Roman Sludnov, 30, of Fast Lane Aquatics, the first man under 1:00 in this event, clocked 1:02.40 to take third. Notably, Cal's Damir Dugonjic, the NCAA champion, clocked a 50-split of 27.75, the second fastest time in the world this year behind Brenton Rickard's 27.40, before slowing to finish eighth (1:04.45).

Women's 200 Free
Mission Viejo's Chloe Sutton backed up from her 800 free victory to beat out ASK's Dagny Knutson to win the 200. Sutton clocked a time of 1:59.52, a personal best by nearly a second, ahead of Knutson's 2:00.02. Jasmine Tosky, unattached, put up a time of 2:00.85 for third, ahead of Swim Florida's Erika Erndl (2:01.01) and The Fish's Kate Ziegler (2:02.44), also backing up from the 800.

Men's 200 Free
Club Wolverine's Peter Vanderkaay, the Olympic bronze medalist in this event, used a strong last 50 to pull away from the field and take the win. His time of 1:49.99 was well behind the 1:48.51 he clocked at the Austin Grand Prix which ranks him 16th in the world. Partizan's Djordje Markovic posted a 1:50.53 for second, ahead of Trojan's Markus Rogan, who checked in at 1:50.65.

Women's 100 Fly
16 year-old Jasmine Tosky, unattached, pulled away from North Baltimore's Felicia Lee in the final 50 to post a 1:00.13, ahead of Lee's 1:00.73. Southern Methodist's Angela San Juan Cisneros touched out her teammate Denisa Smolenova, 1:01.21 to 1:01.35, to take third.

Men's 100 Fly
California's Mathias Gydesen, the runner-up in this event at the NCAA's, held off Club Wolverine's Wu Peng to win with a time of 53.34. Wu, the Chinese silver medalist in the 200 fly at the 2007 worlds, clocked 53.68 for second, ahead of his training partners Mark Hsu (54.71), Alon Mandel (54.73), and Matt Patton (54.77).

Women's 200 IM
North Baltimore's Elizabeth Pelton posted a time of 2:14.54 for a dominating win in one of her specialties, moving her to 10th in the world, behind Aimee Wilmott's 2:14.25 from British Nationals. A body-length back during the entire race was ASK's Dagny Knutson, who clocked 2:15.64 for second, which puts her 13th in the world. Jasmine Tosky, meanwhile, recorded her third top-three finish in three races with a time of 2:17.08.

Men's 200 IM
Trojan's Markus Rogan used a strong breaststroke leg to pull away from North Baltimore's Todd Patrick and score the win in the short medley. Rogan, who recently won this event at the European short course championships, put up a time of 2:01.75, good for 11th in the world, while Patrick finished in 2:02.40, the 15th best time of the year. Club Wolverine's Alex Vanderkaay finished well back in third, clocking 2:05.56.

800 Free Relays
Germantown's team of Kacie Ciampoli, Bridget Casey, Taylor Sneed, and Angelique Sawick posted a time of 8:41.32 for the win in the women's 800 free relay, ahead of Scarlet Aquatic Club (8:42.67) and Kingfish Aquatic Club (8:46.57). Results from the men's equivalent were not available at press time.

Universal Sports Coverage
Click here for live streaming and on-demand coverage of the meet from Universal Sports.

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