USA Swimming Grand Prix, Austin: Missy Franklin Wins Three Events Within 30 Minutes on Day Three; Brent Hayden Tops Amazing 100 Free Field

AUSTIN, Texas, January 16. MISSY Franklin continued to shine tonight at the Austin Grand Prix, winning all three of her events in a 30-minute span.

Women's 800 freestyle
The first event of the evening featured an exciting battle between Kate Ziegler and Katie Hoff, both teammates at Fullerton Aquatics Swim Team and Olympians in the 800 free. The two traded the lead for 700 meters before Ziegler turned on the afterburners and put nearly three seconds between her and Hoff, winning the race in 8:32.76. Hoff was second in 8:35.33. Emily Brunemann, also swimming with the postgrad team at FAST, was third in 8:38.45.

Women's 200 IM
Missy Franklin started her evening of three consecutive swims with a convincing win in the 200 IM with a 2:14.68. Franklin had a commanding lead after the backstroke, and lost a little in the breaststroke to Delaware Swim Team's Kaitlyn Jones. But Franklin held off the challenge, with Jones, the reigning Youth Olympic Games champion, second in 2:16.44. Rachel Bootsma of Aquajets was third in 2:18.76.

Men's 200 IM
The final of the 200 IM featured the event's world record holder (Ryan Lochte), the reigning Olympic champion (Michael Phelps) and the world championship bronze medalist (Eric Shanteau). At 100 meters, Lochte and Phelps were a body length ahead of the field, both splitting 55-high after backstroke. Lochte took off on the breaststroke leg and won the event in 1:59.26. Shanteau, the winner of the 200 breast yesterday, also made a major move on the breaststroke, passed Phelps, and held on to second with a 2:01.13. Phelps was third in 2:01.47. Todd Patrick, who trains with Phelps at North Baltimore, got his hand on the wall in fourth, but was disqualified for a one-hand touch at the end of the breaststroke leg.

Women's 200 backstroke
In her second event of the night – about 15 minutes after the 200 IM – Franklin won the 200 backstroke in 2:09.39. Elizabeth Pelton had a body length lead at 100 meters but could not match Franklin's amazing closing speed, finishing second in 2:10.51. Madison White of Crow Canyon was third with a 2:13.13.

Men's 200 backstroke
Tyler Clary has made every race he's swum this weekend look easy, and the 200 backstroke was no exception. He won in 1:57.31, using a powerful third 50 to pull away from the field. Jacob Pebley of Corvallis Aquatics, a rising star in the backstrokes at 17 years old, was second in 1:59.19, just off his personal best of 1:58.96 from last summer's junior Pan Pacific championships. Nick Thoman of SwimMAC-Carolina was third in 2:00.75.

Women's 100 freestyle
Ten minutes after winning the 200 backstroke, Missy Franklin made it 3-for-3 in wins on Sunday night with a 55.48. The hat trick was in jeopardy until the final 10 meters, when Franklin pulled ahead of Katie Hoff, who was second in 55.86. Simone Manuel of First Colony was third in 56.34.

Men's 100 freestyle
Six Olympians comprised this star-studded field, and it was Brent Hayden of Canada who showed why he was the fastest in the event in the world in 2010. Hayden led the field at 50 meters with a 23.96 and held off some fast charges around him with the only sub-50 second swim in 49.91. Ryan Lochte got to the wall a tick ahead of Longhorn Aquatics' David Walters, 50.08 to 50.09. Ricky Berens of Longhorn was fourth in 50.18 and Jason Lezak of Rose Bowl, who was second at the halfway mark, faded to fifth with a 50.23.

Notably, Michael Phelps won the B final in 50.09, which would have tied him with Walters for third in the A final. Phelps had the fastest final 50-meter split of all swimmers in the final session with a 25.60. Comparably, Berens had the second-best final 50 with a 25.69 split, with Lochte swimming the third-best split in 25.71.

Men's 1500 freestyle
Chip Peterson of FAST, the reigning Pan Pacific 10K champion, never relinquished the lead he grabbed at the start, and won the mile in 15:19.65. Michael Klueh of Longhorn was comfortably in second throughout, touching in 15:25.20. Andrew Gemmell, the 2009 silver medalist in the 10K at the world championships, finished third with a 15:29.95.

Women's 400 medley relay
After fifth-place finishes in the freestyle relays this weekend, the University of Denver Hilltoppers got their first win in the medley relay with a time of 4:25.90. The Aquajets, using star swimmer Rachel Bootsma on the breaststroke leg, was second in 4:27.12. Crimson Aquatics touched third in 4:29.56.

Men's 400 medley relay
SwimMAC-Carolina won the final event of the meet with a 3:42.72. Notably, Nick Thoman's backstroke leadoff split was 54.79, six hundredths slower than his second-place time in yesterday's 100 backstroke final.

Santa Clara was second with a 3:58.01, and finishing third was the University of Denver Hilltoppers with a 4:00.13.

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