Streamlined News: March 5, 2012

PHOENIX, Arizona, March 5. AFTER two days of finals at the British Olympic Trials, we’re not seeing any major surprises in terms of who has made the team, and who has not. Most of the country’s big names are getting those top two finishes and adding their names to the Olympic roster. The one race that had people buzzing was the women’s 100 fly final on Sunday. Ellen Gandy, Fran Halsall and Jemma Lowe all had legitimate shots at making the team, but it was Gandy and Halsall who got first and second, with Lowe five tenths behind Halsall for third. Lowe will have the 200 fly later this week, which is her best event. On Saturday, Hannah Miley kicked off the meet with a 4:32.67 in the women’s 400 IM, which is her best time in a textile suit, two seconds faster than she swam last summer at the world championships and less than a second short of the time Elizabeth Beisel swam to win the world title last year.

The Brits could have a man in the final of the 400 IM this summer, as Roberto Pavoni put up the top time in the world in the 400 IM this weekend in 4:12.43, a time that would have been fourth at the world championships. Daniel Sliwinski also put up the world’s top time in the 100 breast with a 1:00.09.

Rebecca Adlington and Joanne Jackson will return to the Olympics in the 400 freestyle after finishing 1-2 in Sunday’s Olympic Trials final. Adlington, the reigning Olympic champion, swam a 4:02.35, the fastest time in the world, while Jackson, the bronze medalist from 2008, swam the fourth-fastest time with a 4:06.47.

Non-British swimmers had the opportunity to test out the Olympic pool as well, swimming in special finals races apart from the Brits. Sarah Sjostrom has been the star of those “guest finals” so far, putting up a very fast 56.79 in the 100 fly. This morning, Sjostrom laid back in the 200 free prelims with a 1:58.51, likely setting up for a faster swim in tonight’s final.

Many of the other top foreign swimmers elected only swim in prelims. France’s Yannick Agnel and Camille Muffat, prepping for the French Olympic Trials two weeks away, had some good results in their best events. Agnel swam a 1:46.73 in the 200 free, while Muffat put up a 4:04.01 in the 400 free prelims. Clement Lefert, who is skipping this collegiate season in the United States to chase an Olympic spot for France, swam a 1:48.76 in the 200 free prelims.

Germany’s Paul Biedermann also showed up to swim a couple of events in prelims. He won the 400 free guest final in 3:50.95 and posted a 1:48.72 in the 200 free prelims.

Four finals will take place today to determine more British Olympians: the men’s and women’s 100 back, women’s 200 free and women’s 100 breast. We’ll bring you results from London on swimmingworld.com. Editor’s note: We incorrectly stated that the women’s 200 free final was today. It is actually the men’s 200 free final taking place today.

The NCAA conference championship season wrapped up this weekend with the Pac-12 men’s championship. The Stanford Cardinal cruised to their 31st straight conference title, and freshman Dave Nolan met all expectations in his first Pac-12s. After winning the 200 IM on Thursday, Nolan took down the reigning NCAA Champions in both backstroke events. Nolan swam the fastest 100 back in the country with a 45.76, a couple of tenths ahead of Tom Shields. A day later, Nolan passed Cory Chitwood at the 100-yard mark for the win in the 200 back. His time of 1:40.70 is second in the country this year, behind Chitwood’s 1:38.85 from December.

A year after winning the NCAA team title, the Cal Bears felt the loss of a strong senior class, including Olympian Nathan Adrian. That didn’t matter to Shields, who swept the butterfly events with the top times in the country. Shields posted a 45.04 in the 100 fly and then a 1:41.87 in the 200 fly on the way to a Cal 1-2-3 finish, well off the NCAA record he set at this meet last year. Shields wrapped up the meet with a blistering 41.65 anchor leg on the 400 free relay as Cal came from behind to beat USC and Stanford.

USC’s Vlad Morozov put up the time in the country in the 100 free with a 41.86 for the win. On the other end of the distance spectrum, Stanford’s Chad La Tourette took his fourth-consecutive conference title in the men’s 1650, joining Arizona’s Ryk Neethling as the only four-time mile winners at the meet. La Tourette posted a 14:41.90 to move ahead of Michigan’s Connor Jaeger as the top swimmer in the country. La Tourette will aim to reclaim his NCAA title in this event from 2010 after he tied for second behind Michael McBroom last year.

Three Olympians highlighted the American Short Course Championships over the weekend in Austin. Brendan Hansen picked up wins in both breaststroke events after winning the 200 IM on Thursday, and Garrett Weber-Gale added first place finishes in the 100 and 200 free after Thursday’s 50 free win. Kathleen Hersey also picked up a handful of wins. Some college swimmers used this meet as a last chance opportunity to pick up NCAA qualifying times, and the psych sheet for the men’s NCAA meet that will be out this week could include some of the collegiate swims from the meet.

Kirsty Coventry ventured south from Austin this weekend for Sectionals in College Station. In her first meet since returning to Texas to train with Kim Brackin, Coventry won both the 400 free and 400 IM. She didn’t post any especially impressive times but did move into the world top-15 in the 400 IM. Jasmine Tosky, meanwhile, swept the breaststroke and butterfly events with a top-15 time in the 200 fly.

The NAIA Championships wrapped up this weekend with Fresno Pacific dominating the women’s team race by more than 200 points over second place Oklahoma Baptist. For the men, the top two teams reversed, as Oklahoma Baptist edged Fresno Pacific by just five points. It came down to the final relay, which Oklahoma Baptist won by about a second over Fresno Pacific. This was Oklahoma Baptist’s first season in the NAIA, and could very well be the first time a new team has won a national collegiate title in its debut season. Cheyenne Coffman, a senior at Fresno Pacific was the star of the meet, winning the 50 free, 100 back and 200 back in meet record time and helping Fresno Pacific break division records in four relays. The 200 backstroke may have been her best performance, beating the meet record by four seconds with a time of 1:58.20 to be the first swimmer in NAIA history under two minutes in that event.

Diana Nyad announced on her website on Sunday that she is going to make another attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida after three previous failed attempts. Nyad said she will take to the water this summer, when conditions are normally the best. She didn’t experience ideal conditions last summer, when jellyfish and Portuguese man-of-war continually stung her, forcing her to quit about halfway through the 103-mile swim, which would be the longest open water swim in history.

David Rieder contributed to today’s Streamlined News.

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