Sandeno, Mellouli Win On First Night of Long Beach Grand Prix

LONG BEACH, California, January 12. THE 2007 Toyota Southern California Grand Prix of Swimming kicked off Friday night at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool with timed finals in the men's and women's 1000-yard freestyle. Winning the women's race was Olympian Kaitlin Sandeno of Club Wolverine, who finished with a time of 9:37.06. Ous Mellouli of Trojan Swim Club came out on top of the men's race, finishing in 8:48.23.

Sandeno went stroke-for-stroke with Japanese Olympian Sachiko Yamada for much of the race, but pulled ahead with about 250 yards to go. Yamada, representing Misson Viejo Nadadores, finished second in 9:38.09. National Teamer and open water standout Chloe Sutton of CCA was third in 9:50.28.

A Southern California native who is now training in Ann Arbor, Mich., Sandeno was happy to be swimming in her old stomping grounds.

"I never thought I'd swim here again, and that made me sad," Sandeno said. "Some people think this is an old, dungeony pool, but I like it. I'm really happy that all my family is still here. They don't get to see me race anymore now that I live halfway across the country, so I like being here."

Sandeno was also pleased with her performance Friday night.

"I haven't done distance in a long time," she said. "My coaches kind of gave me an ultimatum: I could either swim the 800(-meter free in December) at the U.S. Open, or I could swim the 1000 here. I was happy with how I did, and I had some good competition with (Yamada)."

Mellouli, of Tunisia, led from start to finish, cruising to a win over runner-up Fran Crippen of Mission Viejo (8:55.94). Chad LaTourette, also of Mission Viejo, was third in 9:00.18.

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