US Olympic Trials, Day 8 Finals: Jensen Wins 1500, Breaks American Record

LONG BEACH, Calif., July 14. MISSION Viejo's Larsen Jensen took the 1500 meters freestyle, the final event at the US Olympic Trials, with an American record 14:56.71. The old record, only a tenth of a second slower, was held by Chris Thompson in winning bronze in Sydney in 2000.

Asked afterwards how it felt to break the 15 minute barrier, Jensen repied simply: "It hurt like hell."

Jensen and co-favorite Erik Vendt battled stroke-for-stroke for 900 meters before the 18 year-old Jensen picked up the pace from 1:00 per 100 meters to 59, while Vendt tired visibly and slowed to 1:01s, 1:02s and 1:03s.

At the end, Vendt just held off a desperate bid by his former B.C. High School teammate in Boston, Justin Mortimer. In the final 400 meters, Mortimer cut Vendt's lead from over 12 seconds to a mere 1.7 seconds.

Event 26 Men 1500 LC Meter Freestyle
==================================================================
World: W 14:34.56 7/29/2001 Grant Hackett, AUS
American: A 14:56.81 9/23/2000 Chris Thompson, USA
U.S. Open: O 14:48.34 4/6/2003 Grant Hackett, AUS
Meet: M 14:59.11 8/16/2000 Erik Vendt,Ocean State Squids, USC
Oly. Tr. Cut: 15:47.49
Name Age Team Prelims Finals
==================================================================
=== Finals ===

1 Jensen, Larsen 18 Mission Viejo Na 15:24.75 14:56.71A
27.45 57.08 (29.63)
1:26.76 (29.68) 1:56.41 (29.65)
2:26.22 (29.81) 2:55.77 (29.55)
3:25.73 (29.96) 3:55.53 (29.80)
4:25.56 (30.03) 4:55.62 (30.06)
5:25.75 (30.13) 5:55.78 (30.03)
6:25.88 (30.10) 6:55.99 (30.11)
7:26.07 (30.08) 7:56.50 (30.43)
8:26.70 (30.20) 8:56.73 (30.03)
9:26.36 (29.63) 9:55.95 (29.59)
10:25.67 (29.72) 10:55.30 (29.63)
11:25.36 (30.06) 11:55.32 (29.96)
12:25.73 (30.41) 12:55.98 (30.25)
13:26.55 (30.57) 13:56.94 (30.39)
14:27.52 (30.58) 14:56.71 (29.19)
2 Vendt, Erik 23 Trojan Swim Club 15:18.15 15:11.96
27.25 57.14 (29.89)
1:26.94 (29.80) 1:56.52 (29.58)
2:26.39 (29.87) 2:55.92 (29.53)
3:25.88 (29.96) 3:55.66 (29.78)
4:25.51 (29.85) 4:55.47 (29.96)
5:25.63 (30.16) 5:55.72 (30.09)
6:25.98 (30.26) 6:56.03 (30.05)
7:26.27 (30.24) 7:56.59 (30.32)
8:26.96 (30.37) 8:57.08 (30.12)
9:27.76 (30.68) 9:58.19 (30.43)
10:28.93 (30.74) 10:59.84 (30.91)
11:31.12 (31.28) 12:02.44 (31.32)
12:33.81 (31.37) 13:05.16 (31.35)
13:37.01 (31.85) 14:08.78 (31.77)
14:40.58 (31.80) 15:11.96 (31.38)
3 Mortimer, Justin 22 Mission Viejo Na 15:38.42 15:13.66
28.67 59.09 (30.42)
1:28.99 (29.90) 1:59.39 (30.40)
2:29.87 (30.48) 3:00.37 (30.50)
3:31.22 (30.85) 4:01.80 (30.58)
4:32.35 (30.55) 5:03.29 (30.94)
5:34.14 (30.85) 6:04.69 (30.55)
6:35.61 (30.92) 7:06.35 (30.74)
7:37.09 (30.74) 8:07.74 (30.65)
8:38.31 (30.57) 9:08.73 (30.42)
9:39.57 (30.84) 10:10.13 (30.56)
10:41.00 (30.87) 11:11.56 (30.56)
11:42.25 (30.69) 12:13.11 (30.86)
12:43.99 (30.88) 13:14.46 (30.47)
13:45.37 (30.91) 14:15.81 (30.44)
14:45.06 (29.25) 15:13.66 (28.60)
4 Keller, Klete 22 Club Wolverine 15:18.75 15:22.95
27.37 57.32 (29.95)
1:27.19 (29.87) 1:57.10 (29.91)
2:26.96 (29.86) 2:56.77 (29.81)
3:26.61 (29.84) 3:56.58 (29.97)
4:26.64 (30.06) 4:56.76 (30.12)
5:26.91 (30.15) 5:57.59 (30.68)
6:28.55 (30.96) 6:59.56 (31.01)
7:30.73 (31.17) 8:01.91 (31.18)
8:33.26 (31.35) 9:04.48 (31.22)
9:35.75 (31.27) 10:06.95 (31.20)
10:38.03 (31.08) 11:08.98 (30.95)
11:40.55 (31.57) 12:12.71 (32.16)
12:45.00 (32.29) 13:17.00 (32.00)
13:48.79 (31.79) 14:20.35 (31.56)
14:52.25 (31.90) 15:22.95 (30.70)
5 Margalis, Robert 22 Saint Petersburg 15:29.14 15:32.38
27.98 57.92 (29.94)
1:28.31 (30.39) 1:59.00 (30.69)
2:29.73 (30.73) 3:00.46 (30.73)
3:31.23 (30.77) 4:02.21 (30.98)
4:33.04 (30.83) 5:03.99 (30.95)
5:34.96 (30.97) 6:05.91 (30.95)
6:36.72 (30.81) 7:07.84 (31.12)
7:39.06 (31.22) 8:10.56 (31.50)
8:41.76 (31.20) 9:13.32 (31.56)
9:44.72 (31.40) 10:16.36 (31.64)
10:47.85 (31.49) 11:19.29 (31.44)
11:50.57 (31.28) 12:22.27 (31.70)
12:53.59 (31.32) 13:25.30 (31.71)
13:56.58 (31.28) 14:28.93 (32.35)
15:00.68 (31.75) 15:32.38 (31.70)
6 Crippen, Fran 20 Germantown Acade 15:34.25 15:34.88
27.83 57.89 (30.06)
1:28.28 (30.39) 1:59.01 (30.73)
2:29.92 (30.91) 3:00.79 (30.87)
3:31.75 (30.96) 4:02.84 (31.09)
4:33.92 (31.08) 5:04.86 (30.94)
5:35.81 (30.95) 6:06.69 (30.88)
6:38.07 (31.38) 7:09.25 (31.18)
7:40.50 (31.25) 8:11.67 (31.17)
8:42.99 (31.32) 9:14.43 (31.44)
9:45.84 (31.41) 10:17.38 (31.54)
10:48.98 (31.60) 11:20.34 (31.36)
11:52.12 (31.78) 12:23.52 (31.40)
12:55.42 (31.90) 13:27.14 (31.72)
13:59.07 (31.93) 14:30.82 (31.75)
15:02.72 (31.90) 15:34.88 (32.16)
7 Thompson, Chris 25 Club Wolverine 15:40.84 15:44.57
29.05 59.94 (30.89)
1:30.68 (30.74) 2:01.88 (31.20)
2:33.06 (31.18) 3:04.13 (31.07)
3:35.10 (30.97) 4:06.40 (31.30)
4:37.01 (30.61) 5:07.99 (30.98)
5:39.16 (31.17) 6:10.22 (31.06)
6:41.67 (31.45) 7:13.23 (31.56)
7:44.53 (31.30) 8:16.25 (31.72)
8:48.09 (31.84) 9:20.27 (32.18)
9:52.73 (32.46) 10:24.70 (31.97)
10:57.18 (32.48) 11:29.58 (32.40)
12:01.63 (32.05) 12:33.99 (32.36)
13:06.01 (32.02) 13:38.41 (32.40)
14:10.85 (32.44) 14:42.61 (31.76)
15:14.44 (31.83) 15:44.57 (30.13)
8 Koehler, John 18 Dayton Raiders 15:39.18 15:46.60
28.14 58.24 (30.10)
1:29.06 (30.82) 1:59.85 (30.79)
2:31.08 (31.23) 3:02.59 (31.51)
3:34.38 (31.79) 4:05.84 (31.46)
4:37.82 (31.98) 5:09.30 (31.48)
5:41.18 (31.88) 6:13.29 (32.11)
6:45.45 (32.16) 7:17.64 (32.19)
7:49.54 (31.90) 8:21.62 (32.08)
8:53.58 (31.96) 9:25.55 (31.97)
9:57.74 (32.19) 10:30.06 (32.32)
11:02.13 (32.07) 11:34.00 (31.87)
12:06.08 (32.08) 12:38.33 (32.25)
13:10.26 (31.93) 13:42.07 (31.81)
14:13.44 (31.37) 14:45.35 (31.91)
15:16.97 (31.62) 15:46.60 (29.63)

=== Preliminaries ===

4 Vanderkaay, Peter 20 Univ. Of Michiga 15:27.63
5 Lochte, Ryan 19 Daytona Beach Sw 15:28.37
10 George, Christopher 19 Bolles School Sh 15:39.60
12 Kaufmann, Scott 21 Reno Aquatics/U 15:41.86
13 Phillips, Shaun 19 Nashville Aquati 15:42.00
14 Cole, John 21 Boss / Harvard/H 15:42.24
15 Bishop, Thomas 18 Unattached/Bolle 15:42.48
16 Owen, Reid 21 North Carolina A 15:43.01
17 DeBerry, Tyler 20 University Of Ar 15:43.61
18 Grimes, Jamie 25 Rockville Montgo 15:44.57
19 Klueh, Michael 17 Longhorn Aquatic 15:46.05
20 Millen, John 19 Dynamo Swim Club 15:48.64
21 Peterson, Charles 16 Carteret Current 15:50.50
22 Knopf, Nathan 21 Auburn Aquatics/ 15:56.47
23 Biel, Matthew 17 Terrapins Swim T 15:58.70
24 Sprang, Christian 17 GloucesterCounty 16:01.54
25 Owen, Matthew 20 Athens Bulldog S 16:03.60
26 Neligan, Brendan 21 Long Island/MICH 16:05.81
27 Jaben, Max 18 Kansas City Blaz 16:14.45
28 Storie, Tyler 20 Usc 16:15.81

Larsen Jensen's Mission Viejo teammates cheered him to victory and an American Record.
(Photo: M. Collins)

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