USA Swimming Grand Prix, Columbus: North Baltimore, Hungary Have Strong Nights; Phelps Impressive

COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 9. THE initial evening of long course meter action at the USA Swimming Grand Prix in Columbus featured a healthy mixture of national and international talent capturing event titles.

North Baltimore's Allison Schmitt claimed the women's 200 free title in 1:57.54, while Athens Bulldog Chelsea Nauta placed second in 1:58.12. Point Claire's Samantha Cheverton rounded out the top three in 1:58.95. Schmitt finished about a second-and-a-half back of her second-ranked season best of 1:55.83 from the Austin Grand Prix. Nauta jumped to 14th in the world, while Cheverton came up short of her 1:58.46 from the Missouri Grand Prix.

NBAC's Michael Phelps followed up in the men's 200 free with a 1:45.69 for the win. He moved to second in the world rankings behind only Yannick Agnel's 1:45.52 from Nice in February. Trojan's Dimitri Colupaev finished second tonight in 1:48.70, while Tucson Ford's Nicholas Oliveira placed third in 1:49.99. Colupaev improved to 18th in the rankings with his swim.

Tucson Ford's Annie Chandler, fresh off a month of being on cloud nine after her podium engagement with fianc? Matt Grevers at the Missouri Grand Prix, turned in a 1:08.59 for the win in the women's 100 breast. She improved to 14th in the world rankings with the swim, and is the third-fastest American so far this year behind Rebecca Soni (1:06.88) and Breeja Larson (1:08.29). Rattler's Andrea Kropp finished second in 1:09.40, while Catherine Meili earned third in 1:09.69.

Kosuke Kitajima became only the second near sub-1:00 of the year with a 1:00.13 to win the men's 100 breast. Daniel Sliwinski owns the top time in the world with a 1:00.09 from British Trials this week. California's Damir Dugonjic placed second in 1:00.60 to move to seventh in the world, while John Criste touched third in 1:01.56.

California's Natalie Coughlin picked up the women's 100 fly title in 58.37, tying Camille Muffat for seventh in the world rankings. Stanford's Elaine Breeden placed second in 58.96, jumping into the top 20, while Tucson Ford's Christine Magnuson earned third in 59.81.

SwimMAC's Tim Phillips put together a 52.86 to claim the men's 100 fly, and vault to 12th in the world rankings. NBAC's Chris Brady touched second in 53.22, while Pinheiros Henrique Martins placed third in 53.32.

Hungary's Zsuzsanna Jakabos dominated the women's 400 IM with a 4:38.25, taking sixth in the world rankings with the swim. York YMCA's Hali Flickinger took second in 4:46.11, while Annie Zhu wound up third overall in 4:48.04.

Hungary's David Verraszto concluded the first night of individual swims with a 4:14.58 to win the men's 400 IM. That swim pushed him to fourth in the world rankings behind Roberto Pavoni (4:12.43), Daiya Seto (4:13.78) and Joe Roebuck (4:14.48). NBAC's Chase Kalisz touched second in 4:20.93, while Santa Maria's Josh Prenot snagged third in 4:23.24.

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