USA Swimming Long Course Nationals: Day Five Prelims

For full Swimming World coverage of the entire 2011 USA Swimming Long Course Nationals, including all videos and recaps, visit our Event Landing Page.

PALO ALTO, California, August 6. A marathon of swimming action is slated to come to an end today after a fifth day of racing at the USA Swimming Long Course Nationals.

The swimming community has had more than two weeks to view, digest, and synthesize an epic amount of racing beginning with the FINA World Long Course Championships, and ending today with the final activity at the U.S. Long Course Nationals.

Worlds presented some top-flight storylines like the Ryan Lochte/Michael Phelps juggernaut battle, as well as Missy Franklin's breakthrough meet internationally. This week, Brendan Hansen put himself right back in the thick of things in terms of men's breaststroke in America, while Elizabeth Beisel has fought her way to three national titles in what has become almost a cruel amount of swimming after winning a world title in the 400 IM last week.

It all comes to a close today, and the final night of storylines will be set up with today's preliminary session.

Women's 100 free
California's Dana Vollmer will look to bookend the meet with a win in the 100 free after topping the 100 fly on the first night. Vollmer checked in with a 54.20 for the fastest time this morning, not far off her season best of 54.05 that stands eighth in the world.

Colorado Stars' Kara Lynn Joyce (54.81) and Missy Franklin (54.98) claimed the next two spots, while SwimAtlanta's Amanda Weir matched Franklin with a 54.98.

Athens Bulldog Megan Romano (55.10), T2's Erika Erndl (55.19), AGUA's Lia Neal (55.23), Tucson Ford's Margo Geer (55.24), NBAC's Allison Schmitt (55.26) and LSU's Amanda Kendall (55.30) also made the championship heat.

Stanford's Kate Dwelley (55.35), NBAC's Elizabeth Pelton (55.40), Virginia's Lauren Perdue (55.49), Foothills' Shara Stafford (55.64), Longhorn's Karlee Bispo (55.77), California's Liv Jensen (55.82), Tucson Ford's Kait Flederbach (55.82), Stanford's Samantha Woodward (55.85), Stanford's Elizabeth Webb (55.88) and First Colony's Simone Manuel (55.92) rounded out the consolation heat field.

Men's 200 back
Tucson Ford's Matt Grevers edged out Daytona Beach's Rex Tullius, 2:00.22 to 2:00.27, for the top seed in what promises to be a closely-contested finale in the distance dorsal. Trojan's James Lendrum (2:00.36) and Tucson Ford's Cory Chitwood (2:00.82) also cleared 2:01 in qualifying.

Corvallis' Jacob Pebley (2:01.00), SwimMAC's Nick Thoman (2:01.02), Bolles' Ryan Murphy (2:01.03), Tucson Ford's Ellis Miller (2:01.34), Stanford's Matt Thompson (2:01.42) and Tucson Ford's Michael Sheppard (2:01.87) picked up the other spots in the A finale.

Nashville's Tim Johnson (2:01.89), Auburn's Kyle Owens (2:02.22), NBAC's Patrick Murphy (2:02.30), Ohio State's Andrew Elliott (2:02.56), Ohio State's Quinn Bartlett (2:02.58), Palo Alto's Nick Trowbridge (2:02.61), Rockville's Jack Conger (2:02.74), North Texas' Aaron Greene (2:02.81), NBAC's Andrew Cosgarea (2:02.97) and FAST's Robert Margalis (2:03.32) made the consolation heat.

Competing as an international swimmer, and thus not eligible for a finals swim, Arkady Vyatchanin posted a 2:01.64. Meanwhile, some potential heavy hitters were disqualified during prelims with David Nolan, Eric Ress, Cole Cragin and Tyler Harris all drawing DQs.

Women's 200 breast
SwimMAC's Micah Lawrence paced prelims with a 2:27.56, nearly a second faster than Minnesota's Haley Spencer, who qualified second in 2:28.38. Rattler's Andrea Kropp (2:28.65) and Center Grove's Emma Schoettmer (2:29.12) qualified third and fourth.

Athens Bulldog Michelle McKeehan (2:29.28), Santa Barbara's Katy Freeman (2:29.28), Wisconsin's Ashley Wanland (2:29.54), Bluefish's Laura Sogar (2:29.56), Canton City's Laura Lindsay (2:30.23) and Nittany Lion's Corrie Clark (2:30.29) also will swim in the championship finale.

Missouri's Rachel Ripley (2:30.62), South Florida's Julia Stupp (2:31.10), Virginia's Christine Olson (2:31.23), Team Bruin's Keri Hehn (2:31.33), Branford's Emily Barber (2:31.63), T2's Karie Haglund (2:31.91), Stanford's Elizabeth Smith (2:31.92), FAST's Katie Hoff (2:32.09), J-Hawk's Emily McClellan (2:32.24) and Tucson Ford's Annie Chandler (2:32.32) picked up the consolation heat transfer spots.

Bluefish's Elizabeth Beisel, who had swum in and made finals in two different events a day all week, winning three national titles along the way, finished 81st in the event with a 2:38.06. Two international swimmers competed as well with Hayley Johnson (2:30.18) and Alia Atkinson (2:35.12) also swimming this morning.

Men's 200 breast
California's Sean Mahoney, who is looking to bounce back after getting tagged with a six-month doping suspension last summer for testing positive for methylhexanamine, led all qualifiers with a 2:12.17. Longhorn's Brendan Hansen, still on the comeback trail, posted a 2:13.30 in the morning, while Tucson Ford's Clark Burckle took third in 2:13.47.

Stanford's Bernard Johnson (2:14.07), Longhorn's Eric Friedland (2:14.21), Stanford's Curtis Lovelace (2:14.40), Marin Pirates' Scott Weltz (2:14.44), Peoria Area's Matt Elliott (2:14.60), Trojan's John Criste (2:14.81) and Auburn's Adam Klein (2:15.02) grabbed the other championship heat spots.

Missouri's Jack Brown (2:15.30), Trojan's Mike Alexandrov (2:15.39), Sandpipers' Cody Miller (2:15.43), Trojan's Ed Moses (2:15.55), California's Trevor Hoyt (2:15.61), Wilton Y's Eric Ronda (2:15.77), NBAC's Chase Kalisz (2:15.79), Tucson Ford's Carl Mickelson (2:15.98), NASA Wildcat's Kevin Puskaric (2:16.19) and Wilton Y's Christian Higgins (2:16.42) earned the consolation heat spots.

International swimmers Neil Versfeld (2:14.34) and Kyle Duckitt (2:18.60) also swam.

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