ATLANTA, GEORGIA (December 17, 2011) Team USA took home the overall team title Saturday afternoon at the 2011 Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool. The dual meet, taking place at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, saw three American records fall today, one in the women’s 4x100m free relay and the others in the men’s and women’s 200m butterfly. The final team score was Team USA - 181.5 to the European All–Stars – 80.5.
Team USA set American records in both portions of the
200m fly. In her hometown Kathleen
Hersey (Atlanta, Ga.) went 2:03.49, nearly a second faster than the old
record, which was a 2:04.26 held by Elaine
Breeden (Lexington, Ky.). Breeden finished second to Hersey in this
event with a 2:04.98 and Sweden’s Martina Granstroem came in third at 2:06.08.
Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh got on the medal stand as he
finished the 200m fly in 1:51.18. Davis
Tarwater (Knoxville, Tenn.) touched the wall with an American record
time of 1:51.90. Hungary placed another on the stand as Bence Biczo took bronze
in 1:55.26.
The women’s 4x100m free
relay was won by the European Team with a time of 3:27.53. The time, which
would have broken the world record, did not count as a record as the swimmers
on the relay do not all represent the same country. The U.S. Team of Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif.), Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif.), Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas) and Missy Franklin (Centennial, Colo.)
finished second in 3:28.46 to set an American record in the event.
The U.S. men came from
behind in the final 50 meters of the 4x100m free relay to win in 3:07.22. The
team of Matt Grevers (Lake
Forest, Ill.), Garrett Weber-Gale
(Milwaukee, Wis.), Nick Brunelli (Mansfield,
Mass.) and Ricky Berens (Charlotte,
N.C.) beat the European All-Stars, who finished in 3:07.98. Berens’ strong
anchor leg put the U.S. Team ahead of the Europeans for the win in the final
event of the competition.
Just as the U.S. swept the opening races on Friday
night, the E-Stars did the same today with wins in the women’s and men’s 800m
free. Denmark’s Lotte Friis won for the women’s in 8:04.77, just .24 seconds
off the world record pace. Chloe Sutton
(Mission Viejo, Calif.) and Great Britain’s Grainne Murphy went second and
third, respectively, with 8:14.29 and 8:18.03 swims. Pal Joensen from Faroe
Islands won for the men in 7:36.24. Michael
Klueh (Evansville, Ind.) came in second with 7:39.90 and Denmark’s Mads
Glaesner was third in 7:42.27.
The women’s 200m free saw the first all-U.S. podium
as Missy Franklin took the heat
in 1:53.19. Dana Vollmer stayed
close to Franklin all race as she came in second with a 1:53.92. Katie Hoff (Towson, Md.) helped the
Americans finish the medal stand sweep coming in third at 1:54.24.
Berens, Matt McLean
(Sterling, Va.) and Conor Dwyer
(Winnetka, Ill.) won gold, silver and bronze, respectively, for the U.S. in the
200m free. It was the second straight medal sweep by the Americans. Berens swam
a 1:42.48 – the second fastest time in the world this year – as McLean went
1:44.26 and Dwyer went 1:44.45.
Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif.) won the women’s 100m breast
with the fastest swim of the year, a 1:03.33. Trojan teammate Rebecca Soni (Plainsboro, N.J.) comes
in second in 1:04.53 and Denmark’s Rikke Pedersen finished third at 1:05.50.
Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa.) swept both the men’s breaststroke
events at the Duel in the Pool with a win in the 100m distance Saturday. Hansen
touched the wall in 57.47 as Hungary’s Daniel Gyurta was close behind in 57.62.
U.S. teammate Michael Alexandrov (Champaign, Ill.) rounded
out the podium with a 57.81.
The European women swept the 50m free with Marleen Veldhuis
of the Netherlands winning in 23.43. Ranomi Kromowidjojo, also of the
Netherlands, was second in 23.61 and Francesa Halsall of Great Britain was
third in 23.73.
In other races, Elizabeth Simmonds of Great Britain won the women’s 100m back with a time of 56.82. Grevers led the men’s sweep of the 100m back, finishing in 49.85. Caitlin Leverenz (Tucson, Ariz.) won the women’s 200m IM with a time of 2:04.91. Nick Brunelli (Mansfield, Mass.) won the men’s 50m free in 21.29, beating Russia’s Vladimir Morozov by just .01 seconds.
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