By P.H. Mullen<\/p>\n
Federal Way, Wash., April 1. FOR 1,300 meters, Lake Erie's Diana Munz went toe-to-toe with 1996 Olympic
\ngold medallist Brooke Bennett in the women's 1,500-m freestyle at the
\nPhillips 66 National Championships before pulling away to a convincing
\nvictory and the second-fastest time in history.<\/p>\n
The two women, who had pulled away from the rest of the field within the
\nfirst 100 meters, exchanged the lead several times during the race and for
\nmuch of it were separated by less than .2 seconds.<\/p>\n
Then at the 1,300-meter mark Munz found a new gear and over the next 100
\nmeters established a nearly three-second lead. She finished in 16:03.30 to
\nBennett's 16:08.80. Only Janet Evans, who holds the world-record in
\n15:52.10, has gone faster.<\/p>\n
In the 200-meter individual medley, two rivals for the title of World's Best
\nAll-Around Swimmer once again found themselves battling on the final
\nfreestyle leg for the national title.<\/p>\n
But unlike Thursday's 400-m individual medley, when Santa Clara's Tom
\nWilkens pulled away from world-record holder Tom Dolan to win by a healthy
\nmargin, tonight's 200-m event came down to the last stroke before Wilkens
\ncould seal his second victory.<\/p>\n
Moving under world-record pace for 150 meters, Wilkens appeared in full
\ncontrol entering the last lap. But from lane seven Dolan began a tremendous
\nsurge and in the final 25 meters closed a body-length lead. Coming under
\nthe flags, Dolan appeared to be gaining speed but was out touched by
\nWilkens, 2:00.67 to 2:01.21.<\/p>\n
Dolan's final 50 meters was :28.0, compared to Wilkens' 29.71.<\/p>\n
"I come home stronger than anyone in the world," Dolan said, who believed
\nthe split was his fastest ever. "If it's close when we hit free, the race
\nis going to be mine."<\/p>\n
Wilkens' time, a lifetime best by .34, was the third-fastest ever by an
\nAmerican and seventh fastest ever.<\/p>\n
In the men's 50-m free, the amazing Neil Walker of Texas Aquatics continued
\nhis winning ways with another start-to-finish victory, clipping Hawaii's
\nSabir Mohammed, who was swimming virtually unnoticed in lane one, 22.10 to
\n22.68. Walker's time broke Matt Biondi's eight-year-old long-course
\nnational record by .02 seconds. Finishing third was the unheralded SMU's
\nMatt Weghorst, whose previous best finish at a national competition was
\neleventh at the 1999 summer nationals.<\/p>\n
In the women's 50 sprint, a.k.a, a race for the ages, 32-year-old Santa
\nClara's Dara Torres achieved her seventh personal best time of the meet and
\nwon her second event with a :25.09, the second-fastest time ever by an
\nAmerican. Only Olympic champion Amy Van Dyken has gone faster, with a
\n24.87. Tammie Stone of Texas Aquatics was second in 25.33 while another
\n32-year-old, Olympic veteran Angel Martino, took third in 25.88.<\/p>\n
Torres, a three-time Olympian who retired in 1992, had not put on a cap and
\ngoggles in seven years before deciding to make a run at the 2000 Olympics in
\nmid-1999.<\/p>\n
Martina Moravcova of the Dallas Mustangs won women's the 200-m I.M. in
\n2:14.44 over Kristine Quance-Julian who finished in 2:15.14.<\/p>\n
The British Invasion of the U.S. Championships continued with England's
\nStuart Trees winning the men's 1,500-m with a 15:10.35. Chris Thompson of
\nMichigan nabbed second in 15:18.47.<\/p>\n
Moravcova and Dolan won the women's and men's high point awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By P.H. Mullen Federal Way, Wash., April 1. FOR 1,300 meters, Lake Erie's Diana Munz went toe-to-toe with 1996 Olympic gold medallist Brooke Bennett in the women's 1,500-m freestyle at<\/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":[69,815,198,1814,4496,526,1465,111,2280,1413,5667,359,112,5661,546,507,5665,924,5664,5662,122,5666,363,513,165,5663,750],"class_list":["post-1365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz","tag-amy-van-dyken","tag-angel-martino","tag-brooke-bennett","tag-chris-thompson","tag-dara-torres","tag-diana-munz","tag-hawaii","tag-janet-evans","tag-kristine-quance-julian","tag-lake-erie","tag-last-stroke","tag-martina-moravcova","tag-matt-biondi","tag-matt-weghorst","tag-michigan","tag-neil-walker","tag-sabir-mohammed","tag-santa-clara","tag-stuart-trees","tag-tammie-stone","tag-the-2000-olympics","tag-the-u-s-championships","tag-tom-dolan","tag-tom-wilkens","tag-united-kingdom","tag-walker-win","tag-washington"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n