Southwest Classic: Australia, Tucson Ford Trade Victories; Amanda Beard Returns to Swimming

TUCSON, Arizona, June 11. THE second day of long course meter swimming at the Southwest Classic featured the Australian and Tucson Ford contingents trading victories. Meanwhile, Olympic gold medalist Amanda Beard returned to the sport.

Australia started the second day off with a podium sweep in the women's 100 free. Marieke Guehrer topped the event in 56.11, while Meagen Nay finished second in 56.88. Yolane Kukla, 14, grabbed third in 57.48.

Australia's Kenrick Monk followed in the men's 100 free with a winning time of 50.97. Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or, swimming unattached for Arizona, took second in 51.13, while Tucson Ford's Nicolas Oliveira snatched third in 51.46.

Tucson Ford's Alyssa Anderson claimed the women's 200 fly in 2:15.99, while Santa Clara's Charlotte Ruby placed second in 2:18.92. Albatros' Melisa Mexia completed the top three in 2:19.92, while Sun Devil's Shanna Rutemiller earned fourth-place honors in 2:20.94.

Tucson Ford went 1-2 in the men's 200 fly. A.J. Tipton touched first in 2:05.39, while teammate Jordan Slaughter finished just behind in 2:05.92. Santa Clara's Ryan Hinshaw wound up third overall in 2:08.93.

Nay claimed her second podium of the day with a winning time of 2:12.64 in the women's 200 back. She has been much faster this year with a fourth-ranked 2:08.02 from March. Tucson Ford's Hannah Ross and Australia's Grace Loh tied for second with matching 2:19.84s.

In an exciting finished, Tucson Ford's Matt Grevers and Cory Chitwood tied for the men's 200 back title with matching 2:03.69s. Bolles' Ryan Murphy placed third in 2:06.93.

Wild West's Sam Harding captured the women's 400 free crown in 4:26.83, while Bolles' Ashley Neidigh took second in 4:27.02. Tucson Ford's Susana Helms grabbed third in 4:27.88.

Australia turned in another podium sweep in the men's 400 free. Patrick Murphy touched in 3:55.42 for the triumph, while Robert Hurley finished just behind with a second-place 3:55.74. Thomas Fraser-Holmes turned in a third-place 3:56.31.

In relay action, Guehrer, Nay, Kukla and Rachel Goh won the women's 400 free in 3:51.89 for Australia. Tucson Ford's Oliveira, Grevers, Simon Burnett and Darian Townsend won the men's 400 free in 3:24.49.

Barry Roth, Scott Shake, Jeffrey Krongaard and Jeffrey Utsch, representing Arizona Masters, swam a 3:59.28 in the 400 free relay, swimming faster than the published world record of 4:34.10 set by Rose Bowl Aquatics this past January in the men's 200-239 age group.

However, the time did not eclipse the USMS national record of 3:56.19 set last August by Roth, Shake, Krongaard and Al Jaegers. World records in the 400 relays were not made official in the FINA record books until September 2009.

The meet also served as Olympian Amanda Beard's return to the pool after giving birth to Blaise Ray Brown on Sept. 15, 2009. Beard swam the third leg of Tucson Ford's second-place effort of 3:55.31 in the women's 400 free relay. She also took eighth in the women's 100 free with a 59.47 after clocking a 59.29 in prelims.

Special thanks to Jeff Commings for contributing to this report.

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