AUBURN, Alabama, December 7. WHEN Mary T. Meagher — the original Madame Butterfly — set her then American record of 1:52,99 in the 200 fly at the U.S. Nationals in Harvard's Blodgett Pool on April 8, 1981, she split 54.43 going out and came home in 58.56.<\/p>\n
When Natalie Coughlin broke the record here this evening at the Tiger Invitational with her 1:51.91, she was out in 52.88, back in 59.03.<\/p>\n
Her opening 100 split of 52.88 would have been a fast NCAA Division 1 100 fly just a few years ago and is still very respectable. But to go 52.8 en route to a 1:51.9…now that's flying.<\/p>\n
Below is a comparison of T.'s and Coughlins splits:<\/p>\n
Mary T. Meagher U.S. Nationals Cambridge 04\/08\/81<\/p>\n
25.90 54.43 [28.53] 1:23.37 [28.94] 1:52.99 [29.62]<\/p>\n
Natalie Coughlin Tiger Invitational Auburn 12\/07\/02<\/p>\n
24.95 52.88 [27.92] 1:21.22 [28.78] 1:51.91 [30.25]<\/p>\n
Although T. got home a bit quicker, Coughlin was out a full second and-a-half faster, and of course she holds the American\/NCAA 100 fly record with her 50.01.<\/p>\n
(When she did that time last March at NCAAs in Texas, a collective groan was heard from spectators and coaches alike. Why? People were disappointed she hadn't cracked the "magic" 50.0 barrier as she did a few moments later in the 100 back.) <\/p>\n
T.'s still No. 2 all-time (performer-performance) and her performance at Harvard is still the 17-18 NAG record. The record she broke was her own, a 1:53.21 from a meet in Cincinnati the previous March<\/p>\n
Her 100 fly pr is 52.42 that won her the NCAA title for Coughlin's alma mater, Cal, at the '87 Championships in Indianapolis — her final collegiate competition. She also won the 200 that season in 1:55.54, which was about a second slower than her then- collegiate record of 54.52 from the previous year's NCAAs at Arkansas.<\/p>\n
Subsequent to T.'s record-breaking effort at Harvard, where she also swam the 100 fly in 53.00, just .01 shy of current Texas women's coach Jill Sterkel's 52.99 that won — MTM set a pair of world records that summer during the U.S. Nationals in Brown Deer, WI.<\/p>\n
She swam 2:05.96 on opening day to set the 200 record, then did a 57.93 in the 100 three days later — records that would remain on the books for nearly two decades.<\/p>\n
— Bill Bell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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