Pan Pacific Championships: Day Four Prelims – Coverage Sponsored by TYR

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IRVINE, California, August 21. THE fourth and final day of prelims is complete at the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships.

Women's 200 IM
The U.S. demonstrated a remarkably deep pool of available talent with the four top swims of the morning. Ariana Kukors (2:11.44) and Caitlin Leverenz (2:11.62) earned the two A final swims due to the two-per-country rule, and definitely have the speed to go faster with season bests of 2:10.34 and 2:10.84 from earlier this year.

Morgan Scroggy claimed the B final spot for the U.S. with a third-place 2:11.87, while USA's Elizabeth Beisel ran out of gas after a pair of gold medals with a fourth-place 2:12.13 that could cost her a chance at the world team in the event since at this point she will not swim this evening. The way some scratches have occurred this meet, there is an outside shot that Beisel could still wind up making the B final.

Canada's Julia Wilkinson (2:12.15), Australia's Alicia Coutts (2:12.66), Canada's Erica Morningstar (2:12.80) and Australia's Emily Seebohm (2:12.82) finished fifth through eighth.

New Zealand's Natalie Wiegersma (2:14.60) and Japan's Izumi Kato (2:14.99) slotted into the bump vacancies left in the A final.

Men's 200 IM
With Michael Phelps scratching the 200 IM this morning, as first reported by Swimming World, Tyler Clary has the opening to take a spot at the World Championships.

USA went 1-2 in qualifying with Ryan Lochte (1:58.03) and Clary (1:58.56) finishing first and second in the morning. While Lochte is already assured a spot in the 200 IM at Worlds, Clary will be looking to surpass Phelps' 1:55.94 from U.S. Nationals to snatch a 200 IM spot at Worlds. Should Clary be successful, Phelps would not swim either IMs next year at Worlds.

Japan's Ken Takakuwa (1:58.72), Brazil's Henrique Rodrigues (1:59.37), Australia's Leith Brodie (1:59.86) and Brazil's Thiago Pereira (1:59.88) finished third through sixth, while Japan's Kosuke Hagino (2:01.19) earned seventh. Japan's Yuya Horihata was bumped to the B final with an eighth-place 2:01.32, while Australia's Tommaso D'Orsogna moved up into the vacancy with an 11th-place 2:02.37.

Women's 50 free
Five of the top eight swims went to the U.S. in what turned out to be a remarkably deep event for the hosts. Jessica Hardy posted a swift time of 24.75 to lead the way and move into sixth in the world, while Amanda Weir took the second A final spot for the Americans with a 24.97 to move into the top 10 in the world. Hardy's performance downed the Pan Pac record of 25.03 set by Amy Van Dyken back in 1995.

Kara Lynn Joyce finished third in 25.00, but is bumped to the B final due to the two-per-country rule, while teammates Madison Kennedy (25.07) and Dana Vollmer (25.20) took fourth and seventh, but are likely not to swim tonight due to the three-per-country rule. Scratches can still allow more swimmers in the finale.

Canada's Victoria Poon (25.16), Australia's Yolane Kukla (25.18) and Australia's Marieke Guehrer (25.25) qualified fifth, sixth and eighth, while New Zealand's Hayley Palmer (25.48), Brazil's Flavia Delaroli-Cazziolato (25.52) and Japan's Tomoko Hagiwara (25.74) moved up into the vacated A final slots.

Men's 50 free
Brazil's Cesar Cielo put a little emphasis on his Pan Pacific record in the splash-and-dash by figuratively "shooting down" the mark with his hand after posting a 21.64 in prelims. He came up just short of his second-ranked season best of 21.55, while training partner Fred Bousquet owns the top time with a 21.36 from the European Championships. Cielo bettered the meet record of 21.84 set by USA's Cullen Jones in 2006.

USA's Nathan Adrian placed second in prelims with a 21.85, just off his fourth-ranked season best of 21.70, while Canada's Brent Hayden qualified third in 22.04. South Africa's Gideon Louw (22.14), Jones (22.15), Brazil's Bruno Fratus (22.16) and Australia's Ashley Callus (22.18) finished fourth through seventh, while USA's Jason Lezak (22.27) was bumped to the B final. Australia's Cameron Prosser moved into the bump vacancy with a 10th-place 22.36.

Women's 200 breast
USA went 1-2 in the event with Rebecca Soni posting an easy 2:23.97, just off Penny Heyns' meet record of 2:23.64 set back in 1999. Soni's been much faster this year with a top-ranked 2:21.41 from the Mare Nostrum meet. Meanwhile, Amanda Beard continued her remarkable comeback just a year away from giving birth with a second-seeded 2:25.52 to move to 14th in the world rankings.

Japan's Rie Kaneto (2:25.80) took third, while USA's Micah Lawrence was bumped to the B final with a fourth-place 2:25.90.

Australia's Sarah Katsoulis (2:26.01) and Canada's Annamay Pierse (2:26.07) placed fifth and sixth, while USA's Katy Freeman (2:26.15) missed finals completely due to the three-per-country rule even while qualifying seventh. Australia's Leisel Jones took eighth in 2:26.16, while Japan's Satomi Suzuki (2:26.60) and Canada's Martha McCabe (2:27.47) grabbed the final two vacancy transfer spots.

Men's 200 breast
Japan's Kosuke Kitajima cruised through prelims with a strong time of 2:09.23, moving to third in the world rankings in what looked to be an effortless swim. Only Danile Gyurta (2:08.95) and Ryo Tateishi (2:09.21) have been faster.

USA's Eric Shanteau finished second overall in 2:10.10, just missing his sixth-ranked season best of 2:10.09 from U.S. Nationals. Japan's Naoya Tomita qualified third in 2:10.47, while Tateishi surprisingly was bumped to the B final with a fourth-place 2:10.55.

Australia's Brenton Rickard (2:10.93) qualified fifth, while Japan's Yuta Suenaga finished sixth in 2:11.38 but will miss finals due to the three-per-country rule. USA's Scott Spann (2:12.15) and Australia's Craig Calder (2:12.42) touched seventh and eighth. Brazil's Henrique Barbosa (2:12.57) and Canada's Scott Dickens (2:13.35) picked up the bump vacancy slots.

Slower heats of the men's 800 and women's 1500 free also took place during prelims.

Day Four Prelims Results

Coverage Sponsored by TYR

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