Mel Zajac Jr. International Meet: Natalie Coughlin Doubles With Two Meet Records

By David Rieder

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 29. THE Mel Zajac International Meet concluded tonight with another fast session of long course racing. American superstar Natalie Coughlin highlighted the competition with two impressive wins.

Cal's Coughlin added to her win in the 50 free on Saturday and won both the 100 free and 100 back. First Coughlin posted a time of 54.27 in the 100 free to come up just shy of her seventh-ranked 54.19 set at the Charlotte UltraSwim two weeks ago. Coughlin's time broke the meet record of 54.94 set by teammate Dana Vollmer last year. Two more of her teammates, Hannah Wilson (55.80) and Erica Dagg (56.53) rounded out the top three.

Only 10 minutes later, Coughlin again crushed her competition in the 100 back. She clocked 1:00.80, not close to her seventh-ranked 1:00.02 from Charlotte, but still an impressive swim considering the conditions. Coughlin also broke the old meet record of 1:01.82 set by Katy Murdoch in 2009. University of Calgary's Murdoch took second today in 1:02.94, and Pacific Sea Wolves' Hillary Caldwell finished third in 1:03.63.

UBC Dolphins teammates Annamay Pierse and Scott Dickens each completed weekend breaststroke sweeps with wins in the 50 breast today. Pierse clocked 32.30 in the women's event to touch out teammate Martha McCabe (32.35) and Alberta Marlin's Tianna Risling (32.43). Dickens, meanwhile, won the men's 50 breast by almost a second. Dickens, the bronze medalist at the Pan Pacific Championships, clocked 28.40, while University of Calgary's Jason Block grabbed second in 29.33, while Multnomah's Eetu Karvonen touched at 29.44 for third.

UBC's Brent Hayden obliterated the field in the men's 100 free to win at 49.83. Hayden, the 2007 World and 2010 Commonwealth Champion in this event, completed a sweep of the 50-100-200 free events at this meet. Hayden swam a second off his 18th-ranked 48.83 posted at Canadian Nationals in March. University of Alberta's Joel Greenshields finished next-best at 51.83, while Island's Blake Worsley rounded out the top three.

Pacific Coast Swimming's MacKenzie Downing held off Cal's Caitlin Leverenz over the final 100 meters to win in the women's 200 fly in 2:12.48, followed by Leverenz in 2:13.01. UBC's Noemie Thomas wound up third in 2:14.55. Thomas' teammate Jordan Hartney finished first in the men's 200 fly, dominating the field in 2:03.40. Island's Alec Page finished three seconds behind in 2:06.48 to touch out University of Calgary's David Dimitrov, who checked in at 2:06.60

Langley's Jake Tapp took the win in the men's 100 back over UBC's Craig Brazier, 57.91 to 58.24. Cascade's Chad Bobrosky grabbed third in 59.44. UBC's Savannah King dominated the women's 800 free in 8:44.58, while Simon Fraser's Carmen Nam edged Hyack's Sherry Liu for second, 8:56.50 to 8:57.11. Cascade's Sean Penhale concluded the individual events with a 1500 free win in 15:35.39. Island's Keegan Zanatta (15:38.85) and Will Brothers (16:02.11) completed the podium.

UBC's Lauren Lavigna, Pierse, Thomas, and Heather Maclean finished first in the women's 400 medley relay in 4:10.52, while Cascade's Bradley Crocker, Christopher Dalen, James Kendrick, and Bobrosky closed out the meet with a victory in the men's 400 medley relay, clocking 3:55.66.

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