By Nicole Leffer<\/p>\n
LONG BEACH, Calif., June 11.THE first full day of the 2004 Janet Evans Invitational, being held June 10-13 at the Charter All Digital Aquatic Center in Long Beach, Calif., is in full swing, with the prelims complete and the all-star athlete cast ready to step it up and swim fast tonight. Here\u2019s a recap of this morning\u2019s action:<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 100m Free
\nNatalie Coughlin qualified first (55.39), finishing a full body length ahead of the next fastest person in her heat and .81 seconds ahead of tonight\u2019s second qualifier Colleen Lanne (56.20). Martina Moravcova touched the wall in this morning\u2019s third fastest time (56.52). Shelly Ripple-Johnston, Gabrielle Rose, Dana Vollmer, Lindsay Benko, and Kim Harada round out the final heat. <\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 100m Free
\nVenezuela\u2019s Luis Rojas swam the fastest time of the morning, clocking a 50.10. Jason Lezak (50.14) and Ryk Neethling (50.27) qualified second and third respectively. Aussie superstar Ian Thorpe disappointed prelim spectators, cruising in two seconds slower than his seed time at 50.56 to place fourth going into tonight\u2019s race. Brend Hayden, Salim Iles, Gabe Woodward, and Michael Klim round out a heat with only 6\/10 of a second between the fastest and slowest swimmers. <\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 200m Butterfly
\nAussie Petria Thomas, currently the top 200 flier in the world, and the US\u2019s Dana Kirk swam neck and neck in heat seven up until the final 15m where petria took of to win the race in 2:10.25. Kirk is seeded second with her time of 2:11.44.<\/p>\n
Kaitlin Sandeno won her own heat by over a body length (2:12.64) to earn a third place seed for tonight\u2019s final. Australia\u2019s Felicity Galvez is seeded fouth, and American record holder and 2000 Olympic Champion Misty Hyman is fifth. Emily Mason, Noelle Bass, and Courtney Eads finish the top eight. <\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 200m Butterfly
\nLess than a quarter of a second separates Moss Burmester (2:00.18), Justin Norris (2:00.37), and Tom Malchow (2:00.42), tonight\u2019s top three qualifiers. Davis Tarwater, Andrew Livingston, Juan Veloz, Josh Ilika, and Kellan O\u2019Connor round out the field, which should promise a fast final heat. <\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 200m Backstroke
\nNat came back for the 200 back and qualified for her second first place night seed in her second event of the meet. Her time of 2:13.92 was 2.21 seconds ahead of second place qualifier Kirsty Coventry who clocked in at 2:16.13. Margaret Hoelzer is seeded third only 2\/100 ahead of Coventry with a 2:16.15. Jeri Moss, Gisela Morales, Joanna Fargus, Eric Volcan, and Alenka Kejzar will also swim in tonights final. <\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 200m Backstroke
\nThree lesser known men qualified for the top spots in tonight\u2019s finals. Hongzhe Sun, 18, or Hawaii touched in this morning\u2019s fastest time (2:01.48). 19-year-old Matthew Grevers is seeded second (2:02.08) and Austria\u2019s Markus Rogan is third (2:02.21). Chris DeJong, Nathan O\u2019Brien, Keith Beavers, Peter Marshall, and Adam Lucas complete the morning\u2019s top-eight. <\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 400m Free
\nVeteran Olympians Lindsay Benko (4:12.75) and Kaitlin Sandeno (4:14.85) qualified first and second respectively. Lakeside Seahawks\u2019 Rachel Komisarz touched the wall in the third fastest morning time (4:15.88). Last night\u2019s 800 free duo of Kalyn Keller and Hayley Peirsol came in fourth and fifth. Emily Mason, Linda Mackenzie, and Carly Piper complete the top-eight. <\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 400m Free
\nAn Aussie hero swam this morning\u2019s fastest time, but it was not the Aussie most people would have expected. It was Craig Stevens, who gave up his 400 free spot on the Australian Olympic team in order to allow a disqualified Ian Thorpe swim his signature event, that hit the touchpad first in 3:53.77. Mission Viejo\u2019s Justin Mortimer touched second (3:54.41), Klete Keller third (3:54.57), and Mark Johnston fourth (3:55.01). Thorpe qualified fifth, a full 2.34 seconds slower than Stevens.
\nPeter Vanderkaay, Eric Vendt, and Cameron Mull are also in the running in tonight\u2019s final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Nicole Leffer LONG BEACH, Calif., June 11.THE first full day of the 2004 Janet Evans Invitational, being held June 10-13 at the Charter All Digital Aquatic Center in Long<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71520,"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":[],"class_list":["post-7375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n