FEDERAL WAY, Washington, December 5. THE last night of swimming at the U.S. short course nationals featured a near American record from Trojan's Rebecca Soni.<\/p>\n
Soni checked in with a meet record in the women's 200 breast. She clocked a 2:05.12, which finished just a whisker back of her American record of 2:04.75. Annamay Pierse of Canada placed a distant second in 2:07.62, while KING's Megan Jendrick claimed third in 2:07.88.<\/p>\n
Southern California's Haley Anderson won the women's 1650 free in 16:05.27. Cal's Lauren Boyle placed second in 16:07.21, while Natalie Adams picked up third in 16:16.59. Club Wolverine's Peter Vanderkaay followed in the men's 1650 free with a smoking fast 14:37.98. SwimMAC's Joseph Arnold earned second in 15:05.86, while SwimAtlanta's Will Freeman raced to third in 15:08.41.<\/p>\n
Indiana's Kate Fesenko cruised to victory in the women's 200 back with a 1:52.54, while FAST's Katie Hoff touched second in 1:53.65. Margaret Hoelzer wound up third in 1:54.57. Cal's David Russell captured the men's 200 back title in 1:40.41, just beating SwimMAC's Nick Thoman (1:40.72). Michigan's Tyler Clary grabbed third in 1:42.74.<\/p>\n
In an exciting finish, SwimAtlanta's Amanda Weir (47.84) and Cal's Dana Vollmer (47.86) finished just a second off Natalie Coughlin's American record of 46.85 in the women's 100 free. ASK's Dagny Knutson beat Hoff to the wall for third, 48.27 to 48.70. Cal's Nathan Adrian came less than a second away from his American record in the men's 100 free with a 41.80. He set the national mark with a 41.08 at the 2009 NCAA Championships. Teammate William Copeland took second in 42.59, while Tucson Ford's Matt Grevers wound up third in 42.67.<\/p>\n
Mike Alexandrov surfaced from a strong men's 200 breast championship heat triumphant with a 1:52.81. Longhorn's Eric Shanteau picked up second in 1:53.67, while Japan's Kosuke Kitajima touched third in 1:54.06 as he comes back from a sabbatical from the sport.<\/p>\n
USC's Katinka Hosszu backhalfed her way to the women's 200 fly title in 1:53.37. Cal's Dana Vollmer placed a close second in 1:53.59, while USC's Lyndsay DePaul earned third in 1:54.95. Trojan's Hidemasa Sano raced to victory in the men's 200 fly with a 1:41.15. Matthew Bartlett took second in 1:43.61, while Clary placed third in 1:45.54.<\/p>\n
Cal's Amanda Larson, Sara Isakovic, Erica Dagg and Liv Jensen won the women's 400 free relay in 3:17.60. USC's DePaul, Hosszu, Joan Christel Simms and Katherine Shumway wound up second in 3:20.74. Palo Alto Stanford's Madeline Schaefer, Jasmine Tosky, Julia Ama and Alicia Grima completed the top three in 3:21.13.<\/p>\n
Adrian led California to a men's 400 free relay victory with a 42.03 leadoff led. Cal's team of Adrian, Graeme Moore, Josh Daniels and Tom Shields won in 2:51.80. USC's Jeff Daniels, Clement Lefert, James White and Emmett Walling took second in 2:56.61. SwimMAC's Thoman, Cullen Jones, Joseph Skuba and Kyle Cormier touched third in 2:57.05.<\/p>\n