FEDERAL WAY, March 29. THIRTY-TWO-year-old Dara Torres led all qualifiers in the women's 100m freestyle when she clocked a lifetime best 55.03 this morning at the USA Swimming Spring National Championships being held in Kings County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington.
\n\tTorres led the next fastest qualifier, Dallas Mustangs' (and Slovakia's) Martina Moravcova by almost a second, as Moravcova clocked 55.97. Third through eighth were tightly bunched with NCAA champion Courtney Shealey third in 56.44 and another comebacking 32-year-old, Angel Martino, sixth in 56.78.
\n\tBrazil's Gustavo Borges, 27, was the fastest man in the 100m freestyle prelims with a strong 40.30. Two other swimmers cracked the 50-second barrier: Neil Walker (49.51) and Scott Tucker (49.72). Josh Davis qualified fourth in 50.38.
\n\tThe women's 200m breaststroke final will be set-up precisely as advertised. Puyallup Swim Club's Megan Quann, 16, swam a lifetime best, to lead the field at 2:29.35, followed closely by NCAA champion, Kristy Kowal (2:29.41). Foxcatcher's Maddie Crippen qualified third at 2:31.15.
\n\tRio Salado's Kyle Salyards surprised the field to lead all qualifiers in the men's 200m breaststroke at 2:16.36. Pre-meet favorite, Ed Moses, who only days ago set world records in both the 100 and 200 meter short course breaststroke, followed in 2:17.09. Thirty-three year-old Ron Karnaugh, Circle C, was sixth in 2:18.89.
\n\tAnother Puyallup 16-year-old, Jamie Reid, was the unexpected top qualifier in the women's 200m backstroke (2:13.80), just ahead of Linda Riker (2:14.27). Pre-meet co-favorites Lea Maurer and B.J. Bedford qualified fourth and fifth at 2:14.97 and 2:15.35, respectively.
\n\tIn the absence of Lenny Krayzelburg, the men's 200m backstroke qualifiers were led by Brian Walter (1:59.62). Sixteen-year-old Aaron Peirsol was second in 2:01.19 followed by local hero Trevor Gray 92:01.59). 1996 Olympic champ Brad Bridgewater qualified ninth 92:02.24) but moves up to finals as two foreigners qualified ahead of him and will be relegated to consols.
\n\tBritain's Margaret Peddar was the two qualifier in the women's 200m butterfly at 2:11.81. She, too, will swim in consols tonight, making room for Kristine Quance-Julian, ninth this morning in 2:14.70. Any one of the eight finalists has a legitimate shot at winning. Kaitlin Sandeno was second in prelims (2;13.01), with Molly Freedman third (2:13.62) and 14-year-old Kalyn Keller fifth (2:13.91).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FEDERAL WAY, March 29. THIRTY-TWO-year-old Dara Torres led all qualifiers in the women's 100m freestyle when she clocked a lifetime best 55.03 this morning at the USA Swimming Spring National<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"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":[4],"tags":[3622,815,285,356,37,5641,5415,5644,4496,5602,1677,1422,1846,364,2814,3781,5307,2280,488,5643,491,358,3122,3773,5640,359,1852,2357,251,507,5645,1041,618,508,475,3668,5642,165,750],"class_list":["post-1359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz","tag-aaron-peirsol","tag-angel-martino","tag-b-j-bedford","tag-brad-bridgewater","tag-brazil","tag-brian-walter","tag-courtney-shealey","tag-dallas-mustangs","tag-dara-torres","tag-ed-moses","tag-federal-way","tag-gustavo-borges","tag-jamie-reid","tag-josh-davis","tag-kaitlin-sandeno","tag-kalyn-keller","tag-kings-county-aquatic-center","tag-kristine-quance-julian","tag-kristy-kowal","tag-kyle-salyards","tag-lea-maurer","tag-lenny-krayzelburg","tag-linda-riker","tag-maddie-crippen","tag-margaret-peddar","tag-martina-moravcova","tag-megan-quann","tag-molly-freedman","tag-ncaa","tag-neil-walker","tag-puyallup-swim-club","tag-qualifier","tag-ron-karnaugh","tag-scott-tucker","tag-slovakia","tag-the-usa-swimming-spring-national-championships","tag-trevor-gray","tag-united-kingdom","tag-washington"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n