Form Continues to Hold in Women’s 100 Free Setting up Super-Final

By M. Duncan Scott

LONG BEACH, Calif. July 11. WATER Polo has been using the term “Super Final” to describe its FINA World League finals here recently. The women have now given swimming fans a true “Super Final” in the 100 Freestyle. The stars are all in place.

Natalie Coughlin, California Aquatics, led qualifiers, as expected, swimming :54.30(:26.18) to improve her year’s best American time. Her underwater work and out speed dominated early as no other woman split less than :26.5.

Four people qualify automatically for the U.S. Olympic team in this event, with fifth and sixth usually also being named to the team after doubles. There were no surprises in the top four qualifiers, either, as the same four women from the preliminaries filled the top four slots tonight, albeit in slightly different order, with Kara Lynn Joyce, second at :54.75pr, Jenny Thompson, third at :54.94 and Amanda Weir, fourth at :55.15.

To carry on this theme of consistency in line with expectations, the top eight qualifiers from the morning are the same eight who will toe the blocks in tomorrow’s final. The remaining four are Olympians Gabrielle Rose and Lindsay Benko and former NCAA 100 freestyle champions Colleen Lanne and Maritza Correia. Benko grabbed the last block with a :55.69.

Great athletes respond to the situation as needed. Of the 16 ladies who swam tonight, the top 15 finishers improved over their morning swim. The eight in the final are all in the top nine of active American 100 freestylers. A swing of a hundredth of a second would make all eight on the top active list. Maybe that will be the case after the final is swum.

They are the athletes who are supposed to be here at this moment in time. The cream rises again, as it almost always does in our winner-take-all Trials.

RESULTS

Event 17 Women 100 LC Meter Freestyle
==================================================================
World: W 53.66 3/31/2004 Libby Lenton, AUS
American: A 53.99 8/29/2002 Natalie Coughlin, USA
U.S. Open: O 54.01 7/20/2000 Inge de Bruijn, NED/Tulatin H.
Meet: M 54.07 8/14/2000 Jenny Thompson, Stanford
Oly. Tr. Cut: 57.19
Name Age Team Prelims Semis
==================================================================
=== Semis ===

1 Coughlin, Natalie 21 California Aquat 55.23 54.30
26.18 54.30 (28.12)
2 Joyce, Kara Lynn 18 Club Wolverine/U 55.42 54.75
26.65 54.75 (28.10)
3 Thompson, Jenny 31 Badger Swim Club 55.45 54.94
26.54 54.94 (28.40)
4 Weir, Amanda 18 Swim Atlanta 55.30 55.15
26.90 55.15 (28.25)
5 Rose, Gabrielle 26 California Aquat 56.15 55.42
26.73 55.42 (28.69)
6 Lanne, Colleen 24 Irvine Novaquati 55.95 55.51
26.66 55.51 (28.85)
7 Correia, Maritza 22 Broward Aquatics 55.63 55.60
26.92 55.60 (28.68)
8 Benko, Lindsay 27 Trojan Swim Club 56.06 55.69
27.09 55.69 (28.60)
—————————————————————–
9 Williams, Stefanie 24 Athens Bulldog S 56.39 55.95
26.92 55.95 (29.03)
10 Shealy, Courtney 26 Athens Bulldog S 56.19 55.97
27.11 55.97 (28.86)
—————————————————————–
11 Phenix, Erin 23 Longhorn Aquatic 56.53 56.00
26.89 56.00 (29.11)
12 Jamison, Tanica 22 Longhorn Aquatic 56.19 56.02
26.95 56.02 (29.07)
13 Jeffrey, Rhi 17 Florida Atlantic 56.18 56.09
27.37 56.09 (28.72)
14 Cope, Haley 25 Chico Aqua-Jets/ 56.29 56.11
27.22 56.11 (28.89)
15 Wanezek, Sarah 21 Longhorn Aquatic 56.42 56.19
27.23 56.19 (28.96)
16 Nymeyer, Lacey 18 Tucson Ford Deal 56.45 56.56
26.74 56.56 (29.82)

=== Preliminaries ===

17 Short, Rebekah 22 Auburn Aquatics/ 56.76
18 Ripple Johnston, Shel 23 Elmwood Sharks 56.88
19 Blackman, Candace 18 Dallas Mustangs 56.93
19 Townsend, Danielle 20 Aggie Swim Club/ 56.93
21 Boutwell, Lacey 21 Palo Alto Stanfo 56.99
22 Vollmer, Dana 16 Fort Worth Area 57.01
23 Ellis, Jaime 22 The Woodlands Sw 57.05
23 Kukors, Emily 19 King 57.05
25 Harada, Kimberly 23 Team Starbucks A 57.08
26 Arsenault, Samantha 22 Athens Bulldog S 57.09
27 Marsman, Marie 21 De Anza Cupertin 57.12
28 VanAssen, Jennifer 22 Team Carolina Sw 57.14
29 Hansen, Codie 17 Dallas Mustangs 57.18
30 Silver, Emily 18 Irvine Novaquati 57.28
31 Farella, Lindsey 25 Unattached 57.30
32 Denby, Kara 18 Conejo Simi 57.31
33 Smith, Lindsey 19 Univ. Of Michiga 57.35
34 Radke, Katrina 33 Swimcraft 57.40
35 Price, Keiko 25 California Aquat 57.49
36 Boncher, Brooke 21 Nova of Virginia 57.68
37 Platzer, Sara 21 Ucla Swimming 57.69
38 Pike, Natalie 18 Florida Atlantic 57.71
39 Siminski, Kristin 20 Longhorn Aquatic 57.84
40 McNamee, Lyndsay 20 Tiger Aquatics 58.06
41 McCullough, Amy 21 Univ. Of Michiga 58.07
42 Lieb, Katy 19 Aggie Swim Club/ 58.12
43 Ohlgren, Ava 16 Bulldog Aquatic 58.13
44 Daniels, Elizabeth 22 Jewish Community 58.16
45 Vaziri, Leila 19 Coral Springs Sw 58.30
46 Swindle, Christina 19 Miami Swimming/A 58.48
47 Woessner, Susan 23 Longhorn Aquatic 58.61
48 Stone, Tammie 28 Longhorn Aquatic 58.69
49 Georoff, Andrea 21 Athens Bulldog S 59.18
50 Connealy, Caitlin 19 Arizona Desert F 1:00.28
— Descenza, Mary 19 Athens Bulldog S DQ
— Adams, Cortnee 22 Schroeder YMCA S NS

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