Streamlined News: March 9, 2012


PHOENIX, Arizona, March 9. A FEW surprises highlighted the seventh day of competition at the British Olympic Trials at the London Aquatic Center. Possibly the biggest of them was an upset in the men's 200 IM. Joe Roebuck, who is having the meet of his life, qualified for his third Olympic event with lifetime best time of 1:58.16, about three tenths ahead of national record holder and reigning Commonwealth Games champion James Goddard. Roebuck was a body length behind after breaststroke but powered past Goddard, who was fourth in this event at worlds, on freestyle. Both of those swims rank one and two in the world, bumping Michael Phelps down to third.

Fran Halsall is now the fastest 100 freestyler in the world — at least so far, after her 53.57 in the finals yesterday. Amy Smith finished second with a 54.01 to put both ladies in the event at the Olympics. This is a big reversal from the men's 100 free a couple of days ago, when none of the finalists swam faster than the FINA A standard.

The London Aquatic Center saw its first world record set as Ellie Simmonds broke her own Paralympic world record in the 200 IM with a 3:08.14, lowering her nearly six-year-old record by eight tenths. Simmonds was only 13 years old when she competed in the Paralymics in Beijing in 2008, winning gold medals in the 100 and 400 freestyles.

We have two more finals sessions to go at the British Olympic Trials, and today we'll see superstar Rebecca Adlington in her world record event, the 800 free. She had a great 400 earlier this week, and she already stands at the top of the world rankings with an 8:22 to her credit. Also set to race today are the men's 100 fly, women's 200 back and men's 50 free finals. We'll bring you results from today's swimming on swimmingworld.com.

The national junior college championships should be renamed the Indian River State College Show, based on their dominating performances so far.

Indian River is pushing for its 38th and 31st straight men's and women's NJCAA team titles. The women held a big lead after day two, 618-325, over Lincoln College. Daytona State College held third with 314 points, while Monroe (300) and Darton (281) were fourth and fifth.

The Indian River men stood first with 619.5 points, while Daytona State held second with 414 points. Lincoln (343.5), Darton (281.5) and Monroe (205) rounded out the top five.

The USA Swimming Grand Prix series moves to Columbus, Ohio, and the campus of The Ohio State University this weekend. Michael Phelps will be coming off some intense altitude training in Colorado Springs, and he has usually swum very well after such trips. He tweeted on Sunday that he was doing the last triple workout in his historic career, but didn't say whether he was happy or sad about that fact. Phelps' friend and rival Ryan Lochte won't be racing in Ohio this weekend, but there will be plenty of competition for Phelps regardless.

And a couple of sectional meets are taking place on both coasts this weekend. At the western sectional meet in Federal Way, Washington, Olympian Megan Jendrick is competing for the first time since giving birth to her son in October, looking to make her third Olympic team in June.

Missy Franklin is also racing there. She opened up the evening with a sterling time of 54.55, after posting a swift 54.83 during prelims of the women's 100 free. She has been faster this year with a 54.46 at the Austin Grand Prix in January.

Franklin continued her strong performance with a meet-record time of 2:09.30 in the women's 200 back. During prelims, she clocked a 2:11.30 to best the meet record, and dropped that even further with a world-class time in the finale. Her best time this year is a 2:08.18 from the Austin Grand Prix, but the time compares favorably to other times in the event posted today at British Trials and in Italy.

On the East Coast in North Carolina, most of the swimmers from the Swim MAC Carolina elite team will be racing at that sectionals meet, including Olympian Cullen Jones and short course world record holder Nick Thoman.

We'll be bringing you results of all these meets, as well as the results of the NCAA zone diving meets, on swimmingworld.com.

That's going to do it for Streamlined News today. Thanks for watching.

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