Junior Pan Pacs: Several Meet Records Fall

GUAM, January 10. THE third day of swimming at the Junior Pan Pacs held in Guam featured a handful of meet records taking a tumble.

Women's 400 free
Australia's Ellen Fullerton held off a pair of Americans to grab the middle distance title with a time of 4:11.00. That effort held off Andrea Taylor of the U.S., who grabbed silver in 4:11.66. American Catherine Breed completed the podium with a time of 4:13.25 to edge Japan's Sakiko Nakamura for bronze.

Men's 400 free
Australia dominated the race with a stout 1-2 performance. Ryan Napoleon scorched to a meet-record time of 3:51.12 for the gold. That swim pipped the 3:51.56 set by compatriot Nic Donald in 2007.

Teammate Ned McKendry snatched silver in 3:54.70, while Japan's Jumpei Higashi knocked off American Matthew Barber, 3:54.73 to 3:55.41, for bronze.

Women's 100 fly
In a close battle, Japan's Natsuki Akiyama overtook American Lauren Harrington, 1:00.19 to 1:00.51, for the gold medal. Harrington had been out ahead of Akiyama, 29.27 to 29.63. Incredibly, the rest of the field turned first before the duo came rocketing home. Canada's Kendra Chernoff snared bronze in 1:00.53, right behind Harrington, after turning at 28.79.

Men's 100 fly
New Zealand's Daniel Bell struck down his preliminary meet record with a blazing time of 52.37. That performance wiped out his 52.75 set during prelims, which in turn beat Andrew Lauterstein's previous meet record of 53.77 set in 2005.

Lachlan Staples of Australia sprinted to a silver-winning time of 53.21, while American Timothy Phillips picked up bronze in 53.27.

Women's 200 back
If not for Elizabeth Pelton turning 15 just a few months ago in November, Beth Botsford's 13-14 U.S. national age group record (2:10.66) from 1996 would have taken a tumble. Pelton crushed the meet record with a time of 2:10.25, which cleared her preliminary meet mark of 2:11.67. That readout cleared the former meet record of 2:12.11 set by Japan's Tomoyo Fukuda in 2007.

Now 15, Pelton is battling with the likes of Olympian Elizabeth Beisel for national age group records, as she set the 15-16 standard at 2:06.92 in 2008.

Japan's Shiho Sakai claimed silver in 2:12.00, while American Dagny Knutson snagged bronze in 2:12.32.

Men's 200 back
Another meet record bit the dust in the event as New Zealand's Gareth Kean became the first sub-2:00 swimmer at Junior Pan Pacs. He clocked a time of 1:59.52 to erase the 2:00.03 set by Canada's Tobias Oriwol in 2001.

Japan's Takahiro Yamazaki took silver in 2:00.56, while Canada's Matthew Swanston clinched bronze in 2:01.24.

Women's 400 free relay
The U.S. contingent of Elizabeth Pelton (56.59), Samantha Tucker (55.61), Andrea Taylor (56.11) and Dagny Knutson (54.42) smacked the meet record around with a time of 3:42.73. Australia held the previous record with a 3:45.71 from 2007.

Canada's Hannah Riordan, Paige Schultz, Sinead Russell and Heather MacLean touched for silver in 3:44.22, while Australia's team of Brittany Elmslie, Ellen Fullerton, Fany Papaemanouil, and Ellese Zalewski took bronze in 3:44.52.

Men's 400 free relay
The meet records kept on falling as the Australian foursome of Tommaso D'Orsogna (49.87), Hayden McEvoy (50.28), Ryan Napoleon (50.05) and Daniel Smith (49.52) stopped the clock in a swift 3:19.72. That clocking downed the previous record set by the Aussies in 2005 with a 3:21.38.

Japan's Yuki Kobori, Takashi Koike, Yuta Takahashi and Kenta Ito placed second in 3:22.11. Canada's quartet of Matthew Swanston, David Woodman, Bogdan Knezevic and Hassaan Abdel-Khalik took third in 3:23.67.

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