By Dana Lawrence<\/p>\n
AUSTIN, Texas, March 3. THREE more American records were wiped from the books on Friday, the second day of action at the American Short Course Championships, hosted by the University of Texas. The meet has attracted a star-studded field \u2013 and its timing five months prior to this summer\u2019s Pan Pac Championships has suited many athletes\u2019 training schedules, to sizzling results.<\/p>\n
One night after breaking the American record in the 400 individual medley, Michael Phelps crushed his own 2003 record in the 200-yard butterfly (1:41.72) by more than two seconds, touching tonight in 1:39.70 as spectators roared to a crescendo. He later credited the crowd in part for his performance. \u201cIt feels good hearing the crowd and really gets (me) going.\u201d <\/p>\n
If his performance isn\u2019t indication enough, his left hip also signals his successful adaptation to the University of Michigan. He now sports a tattoo of the university logo. Jayme Cramer built off Thursday night\u2019s victory in the 200 freestyle by swimming 1:42.52, good for second, while Michael Klueh took third in his home pool (1:45.18). On the women\u2019s side, Kaitlin Sandeno\u2019s 1:55.03 placed her first, followed by Margaret Hoelzer in 1:55.43.<\/p>\n
Brendan Hansen and Tara Kirk took to the blocks in the 200-yard breaststroke with a shared goal \u2013 break their respective American records \u2013 and both were successful. Hansen, whose impressive past performances as a Longhorn are prominently displayed at the venue, bettered his earlier record (1:52.62) in commanding style. He led by a body length at the 100 and three body lengths at the 150, finishing in 1:51.74. <\/p>\n
Kirk was deservedly delighted with her win in 2:05.73, a time which blew away her former mark (2:07.13). \u201cI had my stroke count down \u2026 and was keeping with my race strategy. I\u2019ve never been under 2:06, so YEA!\u201d In a finish reminiscent of their joint dominance at the New York World Cup, Megan Jendrick followed Kirk in 2:08.54.<\/p>\n
The men\u2019s 50-yard freestyle served as the night\u2019s marquee matchup, with a stacked A-final including four Olympic medalists. Ian Crocker led the field in 19.22 on the strength of his powerful walls. \u201cIn a field as strong as this, it\u2019s important to get under the wave,\u201d he said. He was followed by Roland Schoeman (19.40), Neil Walker (19.53), Jason Lezak and Nick Brunelli (both 19.60). This event included 31 swimmers posting preliminary times under 21.5. Meanwhile, Irvine Nova up-and-comer Tara Thomas cited her fast start as a reason for her 50-yard freestyle win in 23.01. <\/p>\n
Hoelzer returned to win the women\u2019s 100-yard backstroke in 52.55 while Aaron Peirsol cruised to a victory in 45.02, just a tenth over the American record set in 1997 by fellow Longhorn Neil Walker. \u201cIt was an amazing swim. That record is one of the hardest on the books.\u201d Peirsol positioned his result in a team context: \u201cWe are ready for this meet, and (with respect to the record, we are) keeping it in the family.\u201d <\/p>\n
Just a few minutes later, Kelsey Ditto brought home another win for the Longhorn Aquatics family, winning the women\u2019s 500-yard freestyle in 4:42.77. This race was between two women most of the way, with North Coast\u2019s Blake Hayter closing strong to finish second in 4:44.67. Klete Keller won the men\u2019s 500-yard freestyle handily in 4:16.62, over eight seconds ahead of Scott Weltz (4:24.72). <\/p>\n
Emilee and Leona Jennings joined Ariana Kukors and Jendrick in winning the 200-yard freestyle relay for King Aquatic Club in 1:34.40. UC-Santa Barbara\u2019s consistency won it the men\u2019s 200-yard freestyle relay (1:22.86), as Curtis Bauer, Bradley Matsumoto, Mason Edwards and Robert Hansen all handed in times within nine-tenths of each other.<\/p>\n
The American Short Course Championships come to a close Saturday with the 100-yard freestyle, the 200-yard individual medley and 200-yard backstroke, the 1,650-yard freestyle and the 400-yard medley relay. Preliminaries begin at 9 AM, while finals kick off at 6 PM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Dana Lawrence AUSTIN, Texas, March 3. THREE more American records were wiped from the books on Friday, the second day of action at the American Short Course Championships, hosted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,7,10,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college","category-usa","category-world","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n