By David Rieder<\/i><\/p>\n
ATHENS, Georgia, July 14. THE USA Swimming Sectionals meet in Athens got underway tonight with high school swimmers upstaging their collegiate counterparts for the majority of event wins. Meanwhile, French superstar Laure Manaudou returned to the sport following a soap opera the last four years.<\/p>\n
Manaudou won a medal of each color at the 2004 Olympics, including gold in the 400 free. She continued her successes over the next three years, winning world titles and setting world records. However, numerous coaching changes and love drama led to a disappointing performance at the 2008 Olympics, where she made two finals but won no medals. Manaudou retired in 2009, only to return to the sport in 2010, training at Auburn under coach Brett Hawke and alongside boyfriend (and father to her daughter Manon) Fred Bousquet.<\/p>\n
Today, Manaudou took to the blocks in the women's 50 free. She led prelims in 25.93, a lifetime best time. In finals, Athens Bulldogs' Megan Romano touched out Manaudou, 25.81 to 25.84, another best time for Manaudou. Star's Faith Johnson ended up third in 25.98. Manaudou's Auburn teammates went 1-2 in the men's 50 free, as Kohlton Norys won in 22.70, while teammate Drew Modrov touched out Rays' Bryan Lundquist, 23.00 to 23.01.<\/p>\n
SwimMAC's Katherine Mills won the women's 200 fly in 2:13.24. Georgia Coastal's Patricia Forrester took second in 2:15.76, while Dynamo's Nicole Stafford ended up third in 2:17.07. Hershey's Katie Nolan just out on the podium, touching in 2:17.08. Mount Pleasant's Jonathan Lierley took the win in the men's 200 fly in 2:01.81, edging Rays' Jimmy Yoder, who touched in 2:01.89. Lierley will compete for the University of Pittsburgh in the fall. Aiken-Augusta's Steven Kekacs grabbed third in 2:03.02. Notably, U.S. National Team member Mark Dylla posted a strong swim in the B-final. Athens Bulldogs' Dylla touched in 2:02.32.<\/p>\n
Athens Bulldogs' Shannon Vreeland held off Auburn rival Katie Gardocki in the women's 800 free, 8:49.04 to 8:49.34, while Lakeside's Leah Stevens picked up third in 8:52.76. Yoder took the win in the men's 800 free, clocking 8:17.46. Dynamo's Jay Litherland checked in at 8:22.83 for second place, and Mount Pleasant's Dirk Bell finished in third place at 8:24.77.<\/p>\n
Rays' Alec Cohen took the win in the men's 200 IM ahead of Athens Bulldogs' Bill Cregar. Cohen touched in 2:04.25, while Cregar, the NCAA Champion in the 400 IM, clocked 2:04.99. Dynamo's Gunnar Bentz earned third in 2:06.05. Saint Petersburg's Melane Margalis won the women's 200 IM in 2:16.07, defeating SwimMAC's Micah Lawrence, who took second in 2:17.59. Auburn's Lauren Norberg finished third in 2:19.93, while two swimmers in consolation rounds also broke 2:20; Swim Atlanta's Amber McDermott clocked 2:19.91 to win the B-final, while her teammate Jana Mangimelli clocked 2:18.16 to take the bonus final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By David Rieder ATHENS, Georgia, July 14. THE USA Swimming Sectionals meet in Athens got underway tonight with high school swimmers upstaging their collegiate counterparts for the majority of event<\/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":[7,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-usa","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n