By Sarah Tolar LONG BEACH, Calif., July 9. THE men’s 200 butterfly preliminaries set the stage for what will be Michael Phelps’ second duel tonight. He will begin the evening

By John Lohn LONG BEACH, Calif., July 9. SWIMMING in a non-seeded heat, Dana Vollmer unfurled the fastest time of the morning preliminaries in the 200-meter freestyle, as the 16-year-old

By Stephen J. Thomas BRISBANE, Australia, July 9. GRANT Hackett sent world record-holder Ian Thorpe a clear message that he will give him a real challenge in the 400 free

By Phillip Whitten LONG BEACH, Calif., July 8. KAITLIN Sandeno thought it was ironic. Here she was seeded first in the finals of the 400 meter freestyle at the US

By Sarah Tolar LONG BEACH, Calif., July 8. THE men’s 100 backstroke semifinals kept the crowd on its toes tonight, and left everyone guessing as to which two men will

By Sarah Tolar LONG BEACH, Calif., July 8. TONIGHT Brendan Hansen avenged the hurts of the 2000 Olympic Trials in a big way. Four years ago at this meet, he

By Phillip Whitten LONG BEACH, Calif., July 8. WITH only six-tenths of a second separating the eight finalists in the women’s 100 meter butterfly, the race was wide open. Any

By Sarah Tolar LONG BEACH, Calif., June 8. IT seems that we may have found the American equivalent of the Thorpe vs. Hackett rivalry: Phelps vs. Keller. Klete Keller slashed

By Phillip Whitten LONG BEACH, Calif., July 8. NATALIE Coughlin breezed to the top seed in tomorrow’s final of the women’s 100-meter backstroke tonight at the US Olympic Trials in