Missy Franklin Posts Lifetime Best Double on Night Two in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, November 10. THE second night of competition at the USA Swimming Grand Prix held in Minneapolis produced a pair of lifetime bests for Olympic hero Missy Franklin of the Colorado Stars. Meanwhile, plenty of other strong swims went up on the scoreboard heading into the final day tomorrow.

Women's 200 fly
Clearwater's Becca Mann, 14, who is building upon a stunning summer in which she qualified for a handful of finals at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials as well as participated on a U.S. Junior National Team trip to the FINA World Cup, topped the 200-yard fly with a 1:57.14. ASK's Dagny Knutson claimed second in 1:58.24, while Tori Simenec took third in 1:58.87.

Mann finished about half-a-second off the legendary 13-14 U.S. National Age Group record of 1:56.58 by Mary T. Meagher back in 1979. Mann is now one of four 14 year olds under 1:58, joining Meagher, Felicia Lee (1:56.77) and Katie Hoff (1:57.25).

Another youngster of note was 13-year-old Isabella Rongione, who won the B final in 2:02.52. She's looking to be the next Kate Ziegler out of her club The Fish.

Men's 200 fly
Bobby Bollier raced his way to victory in the distance fly with a 1:44.46, while Kyler Van Swol touched second in 1:47.07. Meanwhile, Brandon Hatanaka earned third-place honors in the event with a 1:49.69. Ben Bravence also had a strong time out of B finals with a 1:49.27 for the win.

Women's 50 free
Colorado Stars' Missy Franklin threw down a lifetime best in the splash-and-dash with a sizzling 22.15. That swim bettered the 22.25 she clocked at the 2010 Short Course Nationals in December of that year. In the next year, she may be able to track down Liv Jensen's 17-18 U.S. National Age Group record of 21.94 set in 2009. Erin Caflisch took second in the event with a 22.75, while Rebecca Weiland finished third in 22.88.

Men's 50 free
Texas' Jimmy Feigen dominated the splash-and-dash with a sterling time of 19.73, while Longhorn Garrett Weber-Gale placed second in 20.11. Derek Toomey finished third in 20.17. Feigen's time is swift, but he's definitely been much faster with a seventh-ranked time of 18.84 from the 2009 NCAA Division I Championships. Weber-Gale's best is a 19.16 from the 2007 NCAA Division I Championships. The win is redemption from yesterday when he had his first disqualification in years in the 100 fly for a 15-meter violation. Typically a breaststroke specialist, Trojan's Mike Alexandrov turned in a 20.94 to win the B final.

Women's 100 back
Five-time Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin doubled up with a scorching time of 50.97, demolishing her lifetime best of 52.30. She clocked that effort during the 2011 Colorado High School State Championships, a time that still stands as the national independent school record for Regis Jesuit. Franklin is now just one of five swimmers under 51 seconds, moving to fifth all time. Her future California teammate Rachel Bootsma is fourth with a 50.76, that stands at the 17-18 U.S. National Age Group record. Natalie Coughlin (49.97), Cindy Tran (50.31) and Gemma Spofforth (50.46) are the others under 51. Not bad when four of the top five all have Golden Bear ties. St. Croix's Mickayla Hinkle earned second-place honors tonight in 53.5, while Tess Behrens picked up third in 53.67.

Men's 100 back
The top two swimmers ever in the event did battle with Olympic superstar Ryan Lochte ripping off a 46.21 for the win, while Ben Hesen faded to fifth overall. Local hero David Plummer of Minnetonka took second in 47.24, while Gator's Arkady Vyatchanin took third in 47.82.

Women's 500 free
Minnesota's Ashley Steenvoorden had just enough in the tank to hold off two-time Olympian Chloe Sutton of Mission Viejo, 4:38.45 to 4:38.47. Clearwater's Becca Mann, 14, raced to third with a 4:40.15. Steenvoorden and Sutton are closely matched, as the duo have close lifetime bests with Steenvoorden owning a 4:36.23, and Sutton having a 4:36.76. Mann, meanwhile, chopped four seconds from her previous best of 4:44.81 from the 2012 NASA Showcase Classic in April 2012.

Men's 500 free
Trojan's Mads Glaesner dominated the men's middle distance event with a sizzling 4:15.96 to move to the outside of the top 50 all time in the short course yard event with a strong in-season performance. Crimson's Liam Egan placed second in 4:26.49, while Mission Viejo's Janardan Burns earned third in 4:28.70.

Women's 200 breast
Minnesota's Kierra Smith defended her home turf with a 2:08.11 for the distance breaststroke victory. Ashley Wanland turned in a second-place time of 2:11.47, while Central Iowa's Katharine Ross placed third in 2:17.04. Smith's performance jumped her to 20th in the all time rankings in the event, having primarily been a meter swimmer while up in Canada.

Men's 200 breast
Trojan's Mike Alexandrov closed out the A and B final individual swims for the night with a winning time of 1:55.38. Josh Hall took a distant second with a time of 1:59.84, while Max Cartwright checked in with a third-place time of 2:00.07. Alexandrov brings some serious pedigree to the finale as the second-fastest swimmer of all time in the event. He trails Neil Versfeld (1:51.40) with a lifetime best of 1:51.73.

Complete results will be available upon completion of the C and D finals, which take place after the A and B final session this evening.

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