Streamlined News: Jan. 23, 2012

PHOENIX, Arizona, January 23. THIS was a big weekend for competition around the world, and we're going to start with college dual meets in the United States. The Georgia women's team had history on the line, with a record for the most consecutive home victories at play on Friday at a dual meet against South Carolina. The Lady Bulldogs won that meet to earn a record 77 wins, then came back on Saturday to beat Tennessee and extended the record to 78. The former record had been set back in the early 1980s by the men's tennis teams.

Also in SEC action, Florida swept Auburn in a home long course meet, with the Gator men's team winning the meet on the last relay. Elizabeth Beisel led the women to a dominating victory with three individual wins in the 100 and 200 back and 200 IM. Teresa Crippen, swimming in her final home dual meet, took second to Beisel in the 200 back and also won the 200 fly.

The top teams in the Pac 12 raced in the Bay Area last weekend as well. Cal-Berkeley hosted both Arizona and ASU this weekend. The Cal women defeated Arizona but the men were not able to take down the top-ranked Arizona team on Friday. The story was different on Saturday, as Cal took down both ASU teams handily.

Arizona's men's team crossed the Bay to take on Stanford on Saturday and beat them as well on the strength of some major depth across all events that overcame fantastic freshman David Nolan. The Stanford women were able to hold off a determined Wildcat team, winning the dual meet by just 28 points. And with just one more dual meet remaining in his collegiate career, Chad La Tourette is looking to have a very impressive streak of wins in races 500 yards or longer. The Stanford senior won all of his races last weekend, keeping his streak of wins alive. La Tourette has lost only one distance race in dual meets, and that was in his freshman year.

Across the ocean in Australia, Japan's Ryosuke Irie posted the top times so far in 2012 for the 50 and 100 back. A day after posting a very fast 1:54.02 in the 200 back, Irie swam a 25.24 in the 50 back before leading off the 400 medley relay in 53.32 to beat Matt Grevers' time from last week's Austin Grand Prix.

However, Irie's 50 back top time didn't last long, as Camille Lacourt posted a 25.05 in Nancy, France, this weekend. With a couple of months to go until the French Olympic Trials, Lacourt showed that he's one to watch with a 53.59 in the 100 back to move to third behind Irie and Grevers. Lacourt is the co-world champion in the 100 back and the second-fastest performer ever in the event. Yannick Agnel grabbed the top time in the world in the 200 free in 1:47.01 and also took wins in the 100 and 400 free. Femke Heemskerk of the Netherlands, who trains in France, posted strong times in the 100 and 200 free, and countrywoman Inge Dekker won the 50 free.

Mireia Belmonte Garcia put on a show at the Catalan Long Course Championships in Barcelona, winning the 200 free and 200 IM, but her best swim came in the 200 fly, a 2:08.98 that now ranks fourth in the world. Rafael Munoz won the 50 and 100 fly in Barcelona. The world record-holder in the 50 fly, Munoz touched in 24.50.

FINA's first leg of the open water grand prix in Argentina produced wins for local favorite Cecilia Biagioli on the women's side and Julien Sauvage in the men's race. The grand prix features ultra-long races, and the first leg was a grueling 15-kilometer swim. The next race will be much longer: 57 kilometers next weekend.

Katie Hoff made headlines on Friday afternoon, when Paul Yetter confirmed to Swimming World that Hoff will be joining him at T2 Aquatics in South Florida. Yetter previously coached Hoff at North Baltimore through the 2008 Olympics, then Hoff moved up to swim with Michael Phelps and Bob Bowman before she moved west to train at FAST under Sean Hutchinson, and then Jon Urbanchek. Rumors have spread that others in the FAST training group are leaving. Whitney Burnett, formerly Whitney Myers before she married Simon Burnett last fall, posted on Facebook that she's going back to Tucson to train with her husband and the rest of the postgrad team at the University of Arizona. Whitney had spent the past two years in Fullerton at FAST.

In Austin, Texas, seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong stepped up for a 500 free at the New Years' Classic. Armstrong swam a 5:08.11 to finish 21st and less than three seconds away from making finals. On Twitter, Armstrong reported that his best time is 4:51 from twenty-five years ago. Since retiring from cycling, Armstrong has begun competing in occasional triathlons, bringing him back into swimming. Maybe we'll see Armstrong at some Masters meets in the future.

David Reider contributed to today's Streamlined News.

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