Meet Record Double During Second Night of Janet Evans Invitational

LOS ANGELES, California, July 13. DURING the second night of long course meter competition at the Janet Evans Invitational, two more meet records fell. The meet is being held at the University of Southern California.

Kim Vandenberg picked up the first meet standard with a time of 2:08.02 in the 200 butterfly. That performance edged the 2:08.40 set by Dana Kirk in 2004.

Meanwhile, Melissa Ingram of New Zealand notched a 2:12.00 in the 200 back to nip the 2:12.32 set by Tomoko Hagewara 10 years ago in 1997.

"I'm still in hard training at the moment, and so I wasn't expecting a personal-best time. So I was really excited," Ingram said. "This is my third meet in America so far. We came over here to get some racing. It's winter at home. So we get some sun and have some fun."

In other women's races, Dana Vollmer held off Lacey Nymeyer, 55.50 to 55.66 in the 100 freestyle, while Emily Silver finished third in 55.72.

"My previous best time was a 55.8 [seconds], and then I went 54.9 at [the 2007 World Championships]. It's right there for me to be that fast in season with hard training and hard weight," Vollmer said.

Natalie Coughlin, deciding to swim an unconventional schedule this weekend, dropped the hammer in the 400 free with a time of 4:10.99 to beat Ashley Chandler (4:11.97) by nearly a second.

"Coming off of World Championships in March I wanted to have a different summer," said Coughlin, who is also scheduled to swim the breaststroke events this weekend. "I wanted to do events that I never swim. The idea is to race hard but have zero expectations. I swam my best time in the 400, so I'm happy with it."

On the men's side, Larsen Jensen won his second title in as many days with a time of 3:50.53 in the 400 free. He beat Robbie Renwick (3:50.72) to the wall in the race.

"It was a tough, tough race," Jensen said, who emerged from the race with a bloody nose. "It came down to the last 50 [meters], and I gutted it out. I'm just happy I came out on top. Maybe I pushed myself so hard I started bleeding."

Hongzhe Sun touched out Simon Burnett in the 200 back by the slimmest of margins, 2:01.39 to 2:01.40, for an exciting victory.

"No, I didn't [know I won], not until I looked up and saw my time. We definitely had a good race," said Sun.

In the men's 200 fly, Todd Cooper snared the title in 2:00.04 with Tamas Kerekjarto winding up second in 2:01.25.

"I'm not quite sure where I am with my physiology, and so it was good to race hard," said Cooper. "This is a big learning curve for me, and I'll be able to take confidence from that."

In another photo finish, Ryk Neethling overcame a monster challenge from Nick Brunelli in the 100 free when he touched Brunelli out, 49.50 to 49.59 for the title.

"I want to build momentum to the Olympics," Neethling said. "I'm 29 years old, and my body doesn't react like a 19-year-old."

Special thanks to USA Swimming and USC for contributing to this report.

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