AUSTIN, Texas, January 14. THE second evening of racing at the USA Swimming Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, produced some intriguing storylines, as well as some lightning fast swims.<\/p>\n
California's Nathan Adrian blasted through 22 seconds in the men's 50 free with a winning effort of 21.94. That swim came up just shy of his fourth-ranked time of 21.84 from last year at the U.S. Summer Nationals. He's definitely in a good spot in the men's splash-and-dash heading to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials. Auburn's Fred Bousquet cruised into second with a strong time of 22.05, after ranking third last year with a 21.78 at the Paris Open in June. <\/p>\n
The most intriguing storyline came by way of third-place Anthony Ervin. The 30-year-old, who is on the comeback trail with a slew of other top-flight previously retired swimmers, earned third with a 22.27. Most importantly, he was the second-fastest American in the field, finishing behind Adrian, which would be good enough to make the 2012 U.S. Olympics if he can replicate a similar finish at Trials in Omaha. Ervin won Olympic gold in the 50 free at the 2000 Sydney Games, and originally retired from competitive swimming in 2003. <\/p>\n
NBAC's Allison Schmitt put a scare into the rest of the world with a blazing time of 1:55.83 in the women's 200 free. That swim came up just short of her top 2012 time of 1:55.82 that ranked sixth, while also being less than a second off Missy Franklin's top-ranked time of 1:55.06 from Worlds last year. Franklin, with Colorado Stars, finished second in 1:57.86, while FAST's Katie Hoff earned third in 1:59.34. <\/p>\n
Franklin went back-to-back from the 200 free with a win in the women's 200 back. Her time of 2:08.18 topped the field. BSS's Georgia Davies touched second in 2:11.10, while North Coast's Kendyl Stewart pocketed third in 2:11.60. <\/p>\n
Trojan's Ricky Berens, back in his collegiate training grounds, cleared 1:48 to capture the men's 200 free title. His top time last year was a 15th-ranked 1:47.12 from U.S. Winter Nationals last month. FAST's Matt McLean picked up second in 1:48.02, while teammate Michael Klueh placed third in 1:49.79. <\/p>\n
Texas A&M's Cammile Adams closed out a strong effort in the women's 400 IM with a top time of 4:38.80. That swim would have put her 14th in the world just a year ago. FAST's Katie Hoff, who ranked 23rd in the world last year with a 4:40.51, improved upon that time with a second-place 4:39.74, while Canada's Alexa Komarnycky finished third in 4:46.06. <\/p>\n
NBAC's Michael Phelps, who had sworn off the 400 IM in long course format after winning at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, gave the world something to think about with a winning time of 4:16.95 in the distance medley this evening. It was nowhere near Ryan Lochte's top time of 4:07.13 from last summer at Worlds, but it definitely made the swimming community think twice about what his final Olympic schedule might be. Florida's Conor Dwyer finished a distant second with a 4:21.16, while Andrew King claimed third in 4:21.99. Notably, Tyler Harris of Trojan won the B final in 4:21.66. <\/p>\n
Tucson Ford's Matt Grevers raced to victory in the men's 200 back with a 1:57.76, about a half-second back of his 13th-ranked time of 1:57.26 from last August. BSS's Ryan Murphy took second in 1:58.96. Daytona Beach's Ryan Lochte, the two-time reigning Swimming World<\/i> World Swimmer of the Year, finished third in 1:59.53. <\/p>\n
SwimAtlanta's Amanda Weir closed out the women's 50 free field with a winning 25.23. Madison Kennedy placed second in the sprint event with a 25.43, while Jane Trepp earned third in 25.52.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AUSTIN, Texas, January 14. THE second evening of racing at the USA Swimming Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, produced some intriguing storylines, as well as some lightning fast swims. California's<\/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":[3,7,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-usa","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n