Speedo Grand Challenge: Katinka Hosszu Doubles; Thiago Pereira, Tyler Clary Post Fast Times

By David Rieder, Swimming World high school intern

IRVINE, California, May 29. The second night of long course racing at the Wollett Aquatic Center featured a strong double by Trojan's Katinka Hosszu, while Trojan's Thiago Pereira and FAST's Tyler Clary posted times that rank in the top ten in the world in the 400 IM and 200 back, respectively. Only four swimmers compete in the finals at the Grand Challenge.

Men's 50 Free
Cal's Nathan Adrian opened the second night of racing with a 22.58 blast in the men's splash-and-dash. Adrian came in ahead of his teammate, Will Copeland, who clocked 22.85, while Kenya's Jason Dunford was third in 23.12. Santa Barbara's Gabe Woodward rounded out the field with a fourth-place time of 23.26. In the consolation heat, Rose Bowl's Jason Lezak posted a 22.78 for the win ahead of Cal's Josh Daniels, who posted a 23.16.

Women's 200 Free
Trojan's Katinka Hosszu posted another strong performance in the 200 free. After a dominating 2:11.12 swim in the 200 IM on Friday night, Hosszu destroyed the field once again, clocking a time of 1:59.10, which ranks her 22nd in the world for 2010. She finished more than a second and a half ahead of Stanford's Julia Smit, who clocked 2:00.84, while Smit's teammate Andi Murez was third in 2:01.44. Trojan's Jessica Hardy went out quickly and had the lead at the first turn, but she faded badly throughout the race, finishing in 2:03.64, well off even her preliminary time of 2:01.22.

Men's 400 IM
Trojan's Thiago Pereira used a strong backhalf to overtake FAST's Tyler Clary and win a convincing victory. Pereira checked in at 4:14.06, which moves him to second in the world this year behind Japan's Yuya Horihata (4:12.02). Clary, meanwhile, clocked 4:18.10, the 19th best time in the world. Pasadena's Young Tae Seo claimed third, ahead of FAST's Bobby Bollier. Full results were not available at press time.

Women's 400 IM
Trojan's Katinka Hosszu dominated her second event of the night, posting a winning time of 4:39.89, the 12th best time in the world this year. She build a two second lead on Stanford's Julia Smit on the fly and held that for the remainder of the race. Just as she did in the 200 free earlier, Smit ended up second in 4:41.79, which ranks her 19th in the world. Her teammate Liz Smith claimed the third spot in 4:43.90, which leaves her just outside of the world top 25. Rattler's Andrea Kropp finished fourth in the field in 4:49.20.

Men's 100 Fly
Cal's David Russell outtouched Kenya's Jason Dunford by just one one-hundredth of a second, 53.18 to 53.19. Those times just put the two men into the top 30 in the world. Trojan's Clement Lefert, who swam the butterfly leg on France's fifth-place medley relay at the Worlds in Rome, claimed third in 54.30, just ahead of FAST's Bobby Bollier, who clocked 54.44. Cal's Tom Shields and Mathias Gydesen went 1-2 in the consolation heat, similar to the NCAA final in this event, clocking times of 54.48 and 54.84, respectively.

Women's 100 Fly
Stanford's Elaine Breeden posted the only sub-1:00 time, touching at 59.20. The time, however, leaves her just outside the world top 25. UCLA's Yasi Jahanshahi, who qualified sixth in prelims but moved up due to scratches, came in second at 1:00.47, ahead of Trojan's Tanya Krisman (1:00.67) and Breeden's Stanford teammate Sam Woodward (1:00.71).

Men's 200 Back
FAST's Tyler Clary rebounded from a second-place finish in the 400 IM earlier in the night to post a strong time in the 200 back. Clary overtook Trojan's Markus Rogan in the final 50 and recorded a time of 1:58.15, which moves just ahead of Rogan's 1:58.21 from Brazilian Nationals earlier this month for sixth in the world. Additionally, Clary moves past Nick Thoman as the top-ranked American this year, as Thoman checked in with a 1:58.65 at the Ohio State Grand Prix last month. Rogan finished just off his best this year in second, with a 1:58.41. Orange City Waves' Jiheun Kim came in third at 2:02.17, ahead of Stanford's Matt Thompson, who clocked 2:03.44.

Women's 200 Back
After twice finishing second to Katinka Hosszu already in this session, Julia Smit finally beat Hosszu to the wall in an event. Stanford's Smit clocked a time of 2:13.43, more than two seconds ahead of Trojan's Hosszu, who came in at 2:15.53. Mission Viejo's Melanie Klaren finished third in 2:18.39, while Terrapins' Kate Dwelley rounded out the field with a 2:19.37 showing.

Men's 400 Free
Longhorn's Michael Klueh out-split FAST's Charlie Houchin by more than a second on the final 50 to overtake him and win the race. Klueh clocked a time of 3:51.76, which ranks 28th in the world and also moves him past Ryan Lochte as the second fastest American in the world. Houchin, meanwhile, held on for second in 3:52.05, exactly a second ahead of Stanford's Chad LaTourette, who posted a 3:53.05. Trojan's Dominik Meichtry, who stood in second at the final turn, faded to fourth, clocking 3:53.51.

Swimming World high school intern David "The Swim Geek" Rieder is a high school swimmer in Charleston, S.C. He swims for the Southern Marlins Racing Team and often negative splits his races. He can be found on the web at swimdr549.blogspot.com and twitter.com/david2swim.

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