By Phillip Whitten<\/p>\n
LONG BEACH, Calif., July 9. THE problem for the US in the women\u2019s 100-meter breaststroke is one many countries would love to have:too much talent<\/i>.<\/p>\n
At least six young women entered tonight\u2019s final with a legitimate shot at making the US Olympic team. Stacianna Stitts had posted the top prelim time, 1:07.20, the third-fastest time in the world this year. As it turned out, that would have won the final. <\/p>\n
After the semis, it was Tara Kirk \u2013 the short course world record-holder — who ranked first off her 1:07.33. Amanda Beard was second in 1:07.54, while Stitts, who had a poor start, was third.<\/p>\n
The field was d-e-e-p\u2026deep! It included 2000 Olympic gold medallist Megan Quann, the American record-holder; 2000 Olympic silver medallist at 200 meters, Kristy Kowal; and local favorite, Jessica Hardy, who set a national high school record this year and was named female \u201cHigh School Swimmer of the Year\u201d by Swimming World<\/i> magazine.<\/p>\n
With nothing to lose it was Hardy, the high school junior, who took the race out first, splitting 31.57 seconds at the 50, just off the world record pace of 31.40 by Australia\u2019s Leisel Jones. Beard followed at 31.72, with Kirk (31.76), Quann (31.80) and Stitts (31.81) breathing down her neck.<\/p>\n
Hardy held on to the lead until the 90-meter mark, when she faltered. Sensing an opening, the more experienced Beard, Kirk, Quann and Stitts swept by.<\/p>\n
At the wall it was Beard in 1:07.64, with Kirk five-hundredths behind. Quann came oh-so-close at 1:07.80, followed by Stitts (1:08.00) and Hardy (1:08.29).<\/p>\n
An elated Kirk commented: \u201cIt was ugly, but it was very competitive and a very good race.\u201d<\/p>\n
A dejected Megan Quann reflected: \u201cIt was so close, by one-tenth\u2026it was so close. It came down to the last second.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the winner, Amanda Beard, she had to warm down and get the lactic acid out of her system. After all, she was swimming in the semifinals of the very next women\u2019s race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Phillip Whitten LONG BEACH, Calif., July 9. THE problem for the US in the women\u2019s 100-meter breaststroke is one many countries would love to have:too much talent. At least<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71666,"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-7557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n