Salyards Upsets Moses in 200 Breast

By Kari Lydersen

Event 16: Men's 200 Breast Final
In perhaps the most exciting race of the meet, Kyle Salyards came from third at the 150 to win the 200 breast in a breathtaking race with only .32 separating first from fourth. Salyards, 19 and representing Tempe Rio, touched in 2:13.21, ahead of Tom Wilkens at 2:13.34 and Brendan Hansen at 2:13.49.
Ed Moses, the favorite and American record-setter in the 100, led for the first half of the race but ended up fourth in 2:13.53 at the end. His semi-final time of 2:13.13 would have won the event.
Unlike in the 100 where Moses took a commanding lead from the start, the 200 was a tight race all the way. Moses had a slight lead over Salyards at the 50 (29.82 to 30.01) and at the 100 (1:03.70 to 1:03.86), but by the 150 a surging Tom Wilkens was in first place at 1:38.11, with Moses at 1:38.31 and Salyards at 1:38.35.
Brendan Hansen, 18 and swimming for Suburban, joined the race on the last 25 yards, and until the touch it could have been any man's race. (Hansen actually had the fastest last 50, with a 34.33 compared to 34.86 for Salyards and 35.22 for Moses.)
Salyards was making his first Olympic team and winning his first national championship to boot; Wilkens redeemed himself for his disappointing third place finish in the 400 IM.
Fifth was Sean Quinn in 2:15.70, sixth Jeff Hopwood in 2:17.12, seventh Jeff Hackler in 2:18.65, and eighth Scott Werner in 2:19.54.

Event 17: Women's 100 Free Semi-Final
Jenny Thompson qualified first and Dara Torres qualified second in the 100 free semi-finals, mirroring the rivalry the Stanford teammates had in the 100 fly, where Torres broke Thompson's American record but then Thompson won the event.
Thompson, 27, qualified first in 54.41. Torres, who will be the first woman to swim on four Olympic teams at age 33, was second in 54.92. Ashley Tappin, 25 and representing Team Tyr, was third in 55.36. Amy Van Dyken, the Olympic gold medalist in the 50 free in 1996, qualified fourth in 55.37.
Fifth was Courtney Shealy in 55.44, sixth Christina Swindle in 55.50, seventh Liesl Kolbisen in 55.79 and eighth Erin Phenix in 55.96.
The top six finishers in this event make the Olympic team for the 400 free relay. Thompson, Torres and Tappin were all teammates on the 1992 Olympic gold-winning 400 free relay.

For live results feeds check the OMEGA TIMING site.

Full results and schedule of events are available from US Swimming

Kyle Salyards (green cap), and Tom Wilkins qualified for the US Olympic team in the 200 Breast, in one of the closest races of the meet.

Salyards & Wilkins Interviewed after the 200 Breast.

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