April/May Swimmers of the Month

Since most international athletes had a down month in May, and I never did April awards, I'll do the awards together. Some very fast swimming over the past few months, and I'm getting very excited for the summer - shockingly, I know! Let me know what you guys think.

Pacific Rim - Gao Chang (China) and Ryo Tateishi (Japan)

Africa - Wendy Trott and Roland Schoeman (both South Africa)

European - Katinka Hosszu (Hungary) and Yannick Agnel (France)

America - Rebecca Soni and Nick Thoman (both USA)

Honorable mention: Liz Pelton and Eric Shanteau (both USA) and Thiago Pereira (Brazil)

Additionally, I'm gonna give my picks for High School Swimmer of the Year. Swimming World will unveil the winners in its July issue. I think the winners should be: Dagny Knutson and Vlad Morozov.

Speedo Grand Challenge

The Grand Challenge is the first in a series of meets in Southern California in the lead-up to Nationals. It will run Friday, May 28 to Sunday, May 30. The meet is held in Irvine, California at the William Wollett Aquatics Center, the same pool which will hold Nationals in just two months. As is the case most years, they have assembled a huge field of U.S. National teamers and foreign stars. Some swimmers from FAST will be there, as will Dave Salo's squad from the "International Center of Excellence" at USC. Some swimmers from Cal and Stanford will be there, as will U.S. relay hero Jason Lezak. Unfortunately, none of the major outlets have from-the-deck coverage of the meet, but live results will be available, and recaps will be available on SwimmingWorld.com following each session. You can view the psych sheet here.

The Grand Challenge is unique in holding four-swimmer finals. They hold two consolation finals of eight swimmers before the final four take the blocks. Third place in the finals receives $100, second place $200, and first place gets anywhere from $300-$1,000, decided by spinning a "Mystery Wheel," which can also change how money is awarded.

A quick preview of the races:

Women's Races:

Two of the top female swimmers in Irvine are Trojan teammates Rebecca Soni and Jessica Hardy. Soni dominated the breaststrokes at the Charlotte UltraSwim, posting blazing times of 1:05 and 2:22. Expect another dominating 200, but Soni and Hardy will battle it out in the 100, as they do so often. Hardy, meanwhile, will also be a top contender in the 50 and 100 freestyles.

FAST's Ariana Kukors, the world record-holder in the 200 IM; her teammate Katie Hoff, a former world champion in both IMs; and Stanford's Julia Smit should have good races in both IMs. Could be very fast. Hoff, meanwhile, will go head-to-head with Mission Viejo's Chloe Sutton, the youngster who has dominated the distance races on the Grand Prix circuit.

Another big race is the women's 200 fly, where Stanford's Elaine Breeden, the NCAA champion, will go head-to-head with USC's Katinka Hosszu, the Hungarian who won bronze in this event at the Worlds in Rome. Other international players on the women's side include FAST's Margaret Hoelzer and Kara Lynn Joyce, both two-time Olympians, and Stanford's Kate Dwelley, a member of the U.S. World Championship team.

Men's Races:

The most anticipated races of the meet will be the men's sprints, where 50 and 100 free national champion Nathan Adrian will face off against the great Jason Lezak. Also, the men's backstrokes will be competitive with double Olympic silver medalist from 2004 Markus Rogan, short course 50 back world record-holder Peter Marshall, and Cal-trained David Russell, Mathias Gydesen, and Guy Barnea.

The most decorated individual swimmer at the meet is Japan's Kosuke Kitajima, who won gold in both breaststrokes at the last two Olympics. He is the class of the field in both breaststrokes, but he could get some pressure from Cal's Damir Dugonjic and Sean Mahoney.

Another big race will be Tyler Clary vs. Thiago Pereira in the 400 IM, who finished second and fourth, respectively, at the Worlds in Rome. Clary recently relocated to FAST while Pereira now trains with Dave Salo at USC.

The 400 and 1,500 free could be interesting races as well, where Stanford's Chad LaTourette, the young hope in American distance swimming, will face off against Texas-based Michael Klueh. In addition, Cal's break-out swimmer of NCAA's Tom Shields will make his long course season-debut in Irvine, which will include a race with Kenya's Jason Dunford in the 100 fly. Dunford's brother David, who just finished his eligibility at Stanford, will also compete, as will some experienced swimmer's new to FAST: Charlie Houchin, who just graduated from Michigan; rising Stanford junior Bobby Bollier; and U.S. Olympian and 2004 bronze medalist in the 400 free relay Gabe Woodward.

David "The Swim Geek" Rieder

Hey, I'm PROUD to be given such a distinction, by Garrett McCaffrey no less! I did this video with him after Saturday finals at the Charlotte UltraSwim. This blog will be back on full swing next week!

Charlotte UltraSwim From the Deck

The Charlotte UltraSwim was an amazing experience for me. As Garrett put it in the recap video I did with him on Saturday night, I was in swim geek heaven. I’d never been to any meet with Olympians swimming, so it was quite something to see Phelps, Lochte, Berens, Soni, and Knutson all warming up when I got to the Mecklenburg Aquatic Center on Friday afternoon. I recognized coaches and swimmers around the deck and was in awe of what I saw, because of the names and soon enough because of the times they posted. Almost immediately, Phelps pulled off another Phelps Phinish in the 200 free, taking out Peter Vanderkaay by just four one-hundredths of a second. Quite possibly the best weekend of my life, here were some of the highlights:

I was walking through the warm-down area on Saturday morning when Felicia Lee tapped me on the shoulder. “Excuse me, aren’t you David?” It turns out Bob Bowman, her coach, saw my Morning Swim Show interview and told her about it, and she saw it, so she recognized me on deck. Wow.

Elizabeth Beisel’s hilarious. Duh.

I said that Beisel was “slacking off” Sunday morning for swimming only two events, when she swam three on Saturday. I told her coach, Chuck Batchelor, that he was getting slack, especially since Missy Franklin did swim three (consecutive) events that morning. I also gave Beisel a hard time for forcing a re-seed of the 400 free finals since she late-scratched.

In addition to their duels over toughest event schedule and in the 200 back specifically, where Franklin just held off Beisel, the two girls had a competition to see whose coach was loudest. Batchelor had his familiar high-pitched whoop which made it very clear when one of his swimmers was swimming, while Franklin’s coach, Todd Schmitz, screamed for his swimmers at unheard of volumes. Even when the doors were closed, one could hear both from the media room on the opposite side of the facility.

People on the deck at swim meets often talk about how laid-back Aaron Peirsol is. I experienced that myself. During the C-Final of the 100 fly, I walked into the warm-down pool and saw Peirsol, who was supposed to be in the B-Final, which would begin in about 45 seconds. “Umm, aren’t you in the next race?” I asked. “Yeah; did they send you to come get me?” replied Peirsol with a chuckle. He then casually got up, slowly walked to lane one, put his cap on, and dove in (and dropped several places from his prelim swim).

I met Nick Thoman two weeks prior to the meet at a Fitter and Faster clinic in Charleston, SC, where I live. I asked him about UltraSwim, and he told me he wanted to go 53.7 in the 100 back, and he was looking forward to racing a great field. He remembered me at the meet and remembered the prediction he gave me. In the meet’s most highly-anticipated race, he went 53.70 and held off Michael Phelps to win the thing. I was very excited for him, as was the rest of the house.

Since the Long Beach Grand Prix, I have asked Bob Bowman a bunch of questions on Facebook, mainly about what he expects from his athletes. As anyone who is familiar with Bowman knows, he doesn’t tell anyone what he expects or give away any secrets. I introduced myself at the meet and continued asking questions about his athletes’ swims. I was walking to the media risers before finals on Saturday, and I passed him. He asked me, “What, you’re not gonna ask me any questions?” I replied, “I know you wouldn’t answer them!”

An interesting note about me and Bob Bowman: I first met him at the Swim With The Stars camp in 2007. I asked him questions such as “What is Michael swimming at Nationals?” He asked me if I was an undercover reporter for Swimming World Magazine. At the time, I wasn’t, but less than three years later, here I am, working at a swim meet for Swimming World Magazine!

I met and interacted with a bunch of athletes and coaches on deck, and I wanted to give them recognition for making this weekend so awesome: Bradley Ally, Conor Dwyer, Ryan Lochte, Gregg Troy, Kris Kubik, Natalie Coughlin, Matt Grevers, Mark Gangloff, Tyler McGill, Brett Hawke, David Marsh, Cullen Jones, Josh Schneider, Monty Hopkins, Nate Boyle, Bill Pilczuk, Bob Bowman, Chuck Batchelor, Felicia Lee, Elizabeth Pelton, Elizabeth Beisel, David Plummer, Aaron Peirsol, Nick Thoman, Dagny Knutson, Todd Schmitz, George Bovell, Rebecca Soni, Peter Vanderkaay, Mike Bottom, Chloe Sutton

It was awesome as well to finally meet Garrett McCaffrey and Mike Gustafson, who I’ve talked plenty of swimming with but never in person.

Meeting Rowdy Gaines was truly special. I’ve watched his coverages of swim meets, especially the Olympics, all of my life. He is an extremely nice guy, and, like me, he genuinely loves swimming.

Thanks also to all of the people from USA Swimming and SwimMAC Carolina who hosted me, a 16 year old “swim geek,” and were awesome.

Shout-out to Gold Medal Mel, Mel Stewart, who helped me get my media credential and get into the meet when I got there on Friday.

Finally, a big thank-you to a man I’ve never met in person, but he’s the guy that gave the huge opportunity I had this weekend: Jason Marsteller. He first let me write on the Swimming World website in July, and since then I have become a correspondent and have been covering meets for him since January. He got me the media credential and let me write articles from this weekend, while constantly giving me tips to make my writing more worthwhile and credible. Thanks, Jason!

2010 Charlotte Ultra-Swim

Been a while since I've posted, I know kinda pathetic, but I'm back and ready to get rolling for this awesome summer swim season ahead of us. Starts with complete coverage live from the deck of the Charlotte Ultra-Swim. First time I've been to a big-time meet (starting at Friday finals), and it's gonna be awesome. Check out live reports and analysis on Swimming World.TV as well as my Twitter, and live video will be available on Swimnetwork.com (prelims and finals) and also at Universal Sports (finals only but better quality). Meanwhile, some analysis from night one and some predictions for the remainder of the meet.

Nothing big-time out of the women's 800. Chloe Sutton, the 2010 Grand Prix dominator, took an easy win in the 800, almost breaking 8:30, but based on some of her comments it appears she cruised the swim, as she often does at these Grand Prix meets. She will be good in some tough races in the 200, 400, and 1,500 free throughout the weekend. Also a pretty good swim from Club Wolverine's Emily Brunemann (8:35). But the story of the first night was Brunemann's teammate Peter Vanderkaay, who threw down a 15:05, taking 13 seconds off his season-best of 15:18 from the Austin Grand Prix. He was four seconds faster than his swim of 15:09 from last year, which was in a LZR. Vanderkaay has been a swimmer has so far suffered from not having bodysuits in-season, based on times recorded earlier Grand Prix meets. However, look for some good stuff in the 200 and 400 in the next couple of days; he might be able to throw down a challenge against Phelps in that 200 tomorrow. (Before his mile, I would have picked him for third in the 200 but I have changed some things around - see below).

Predictions:

Friday, May 14:

Women's 200 Free

1 - Allison Schmitt, Georgia/North Baltimore

2 - Dagny Knutson, A.S.K.

3 - Chloe Sutton, Mission Viejo

Men's 200 Free

1 - Michael Phelps, North Baltimore

2 - Peter Vanderkaay, Club Wolverine

3 - Ricky Berens, Longhorn

Women's 100 Breast

1 - Rebecca Soni, Trojan

2 - Corrie Clark, Unattached

3 - Justine Mueller, SwimMAC

Men's 100 Breast

1 - Eric Shanteau, Longhorn

2 - Scott Spann, Texas/North Baltimore

3 - Mark Gangloff, Auburn

Women's 100 Fly

1 - Natalie Coughlin, California

2 - Felicia Lee, North Baltimore

3 - Samantha Tucker, Stanford

Men's 100 Fly

1 - Michael Phelps, North Baltimore

2 - Ricky Berens, Longhorn

3 - Mark Dylla, Athens Bulldogs

Women's 400 IM

1 - Elizabeth Beisel, Bluefish

2 - Dagny Knutson, A.S.K.

3 - Justine Mueller, SwimMAC

Men's 400 IM

1 - Alex Vanderkaay, Club Wolverine

2 - Billy Cregar, Athens Bulldogs

3 - Todd Patrick, North Baltimore

Saturday, May 15:

Women's 200 Fly

1 - Felicia Lee, North Baltimore

2 - Elizabeth Beisel, Bluefish

3 - Jemma Lowe, Gator/Great Britain

Men's 200 Fly

1 - Wu Peng, Club Wolverine/China

2 - Dan Madwed, Club Wolverine

3 - Mark Dylla, Athens Bulldogs

Women's 50 Free

1 - Amanda Weir, SwimAtlanta

2 - Victoria Poon, CNC/Canada

3 - Missy Franklin, Colorado Stars

Men's 50 Free

1 - George Bovell, Auburn/Trinidad and Tobago

2 - Cullen Jones, SwimMAC

3 - Garrett Weber-Gale, Longhorn

Women's 100 Back

1 - Natalie Coughlin, California

2 - Gemma Spofforth, Gator/Great Britain

3 - Elizabeth Pelton, North Baltimore

Men's 100 Back

1 - Nick Thoman, SwimMAC

2 - Aaron Peirsol, Longhorn

3 - Matt Grevers, Tucson Ford

Women's 200 Breast

1 - Rebecca Soni, Trojan

2 - Justine Mueller, SwimMAC

3 - Corrie Clark, Unattached

Men's 200 Breast

1 - Eric Shanteau, Longhorn

2 - Scott Spann, Texas/North Baltimore

3 - Adam Klein, Auburn

Women's 400 Free

1 - Chloe Sutton, Mission Viejo

2 - Allison Schmitt, Georgia/North Baltimore

3 - Dagny Knutson, A.S.K.

Men's 400 Free

1 - Peter Vanderkaay, Club Wolverine

2 - Adam DeJong, Club Wolverine

3 - Hassaan Abdel-Khalik, Michigan/Canada

Sunday, May 16:

Women's 1,500 Free

1 - Chloe Sutton, Mission Viejo

2 - Emily Brunemann, Club Wolverine

3 - Ashley Steenvoorden, Minnesota

Men's 800 Free

1 - Adam DeJong, Club Wolverine

2 - Josef Kinderwater, North Carolina

3 - Ian Rowe, NOLE

Women's 200 IM

1 - Dagny Knutson, A.S.K.

2 - Elizabeth Pelton, North Baltimore

3 - Elizabeth Beisel, Bluefish

Men's 200 IM

1 - Michael Phelps, North Baltimore

2 - Eric Shanteau, Longhorn

3 - Alex Vanderkaay, Club Wolverine

Women's 200 Back

1 - Gemma Spofforth, Gator/Great Britain

2 - Elizabeth Beisel, Bluefish

3 - Teresa Crippen, Florida/Germantown

Men's 200 Back

1 - Aaron Peirsol, Longhorn

2 - Nick Thoman, SwimMAC

3 - Ryan Lochte, Daytona Beach

Women's 100 Free

1 - Natalie Coughlin, California

2 - Amanda Weir, SwimAtlanta

3 - Missy Franklin, Colorado Stars

Men's 100 Free

1 - Garrett Weber-Gale, Longhorn

2 - Matt Grevers, Tucson Ford

3 - Ricky Berens, Longhorn

Impressions of the Ohio State Grand Prix

The Ohio State Grand Prix featured an interesting combination of hard-training youngsters and professionals along with some rested collegians coming off NCAA's. Some of these swimmers produced some fast times that stack up even against the best in other countries who have already tapered for their trials. Swimmers stepped up in some of the weaker events for the U.S., such as distance. Definitely some positive signs headed into this summer. Some of the bright spots included:

*Chloe Sutton: Much more than just an open water swimmer

This has been a given for quite some time, but the mid-season times she posted in the 200, 400, and 800 are nothing short of stellar. She finished two seconds shy of her best time, and she claimed that she wasn't going for a fast time at all! She has potential to be one of the best in the world in the 800 come London at the rate she is improving. She will go into Pan Pacs as one of the favorites, and a win wouldn't be surprising. Meanwhile, she is suddenly the second fastest American in the 200 free this year, less than a second behind Dana Vollmer. Could she end up as one of the top four Americans in the 200 free and make it onto the 800 free relay this summer? At this point, it wouldn't surprise me. She continues to prove her versatility, as she took fourth in the 200 fly in Columbus as well, and she could be the savior for a struggling U.S. women's distance squad.

*Eric Shanteau: The next Brendan Hansen?

With Hansen on his hiatus, Shanteau continues to step up at every meet he attends and proving himself to be a worthy competitor for Kosuke Kitajima, the greatest breaststroker in history. He lost to a rested Marcus Titus in Columbus in the 100 distance, but his time of 1:01.19 is a big step up from the 1:01.51 he posted in Missouri. His 200 time of 2:10.84 was also a step-up from the 2:11.17 from February. Based on his one and two second drops in the 100 and 200, respectively, at the end of the season last year, he is in position to be in the 2:08-range in the 200 when he gets to his match-up against Kosuke Kitajima at Pan Pacs. In a textile suit, that's something only Hansen has done among Americans. Each time he goes out and swims, Shanteau continues to make strides towards becoming the best of the best, and he is getting very close.

*Nick Thoman: Good, but good enough?

American backstroke is deep and fast, just as it has been for quite some time. Nick Thoman has been one of many who has tried yet failed to break into the top two in either distance. However, Thoman has been the most consistent of any American backstroker this year, and like Shanteau, he drops his season best every time he goes out to race. In the past, Thoman has not been a strong in-season swimmer; in fact, his time in the 100 back from Columbus was eight tenths faster than his time from the Charlotte Ultra-Swim in 2009 when he was wearing a LZR. Thoman could very well be under 53 in that event this summer, and he has the ability and confidence to get the job done and win, although he will have Grevers and Peirsol and others to battle to the finish.

*The Young, Versatile Studs: Jasmine Tosky and Liz Pelton

Both Pelton and Tosky showed some big potential for the future of American women's swimming in Columbus. Pelton dominated both the 100 back and 200 IM, but she saved the best for last. Her 200 back time of 2:08.67 was faster than she swam to finish second at Nationals last summer and just off the 2:08.04 she used to finish sixth at Worlds. Oh yeah, and those times were in a LZR! She could definitely provide an answer to the blazing times recently posted by Great Britain's Lizzie Simmonds (2:06.79) in the coming months. Tosky, meanwhile, claimed three events and four more top-three finishes in Columbus, but the performance that stands out to me was her 200 fly. Barely 15 minutes after her win in the 100 free in a solid 55.60, Tosky came back and posted a time of 2:10.69, which would have placed her in the top eight at Nationals last summer and was obviously a best time. This is from a girl who didn't even swim the event at Nationals last year! There is some young potential in our women's swim team that will need to step up for the American women to become the dominant power once again in swimming.

*Stepping in the Right Direction: Arthur Frayler

Last summer, the top time in the 1,500 free at Nationals was Jackson Wilcox's 15:13. Based on his NCAA success as of late, Wilcox has clearly improved, and also Chad LaTourette will be racing at Trials this summer, and Peter Vanderkaay could come back to the mile. But overall, the U.S. is fairly weak in the 1,500. What we need is for guys like Arthur Frayler to continue to improve headed into the next six years before Rio to ensure that there is a strong distance background by then. And Frayler is definitely on the right track. Frayler's mile time tonight in Columbus was 15:28. It was an eight second personal best. His old personal best? 15:36 from January. While we cannot expect eight second drops every three months, we can expect that time to come off gradually. Only a sophomore in high school, Frayler has plenty of time to improve if he wants to be a medal hope come Rio. Watch out for this kid!

March Swimmers of the Month

Just like I did in February, I am giving my awards for the top swimmers from the month of April. Same categories, and I'm gonna try to do my best to keep the repeats to a minimum, but I can't make any promises! I try to avoid ties, but sometimes it just isn't possible!

Pacific Rim Women's: Emily Seebohm, Australia

*The iron-woman of the Australian championships, Seebohm posted a 59.21 in winning the 100 back, faster than the pre-techsuit world record. She also won the 100 free and 50 back, took second in the 200 IM, and placed third in the 50 fly and 200 back, meaning she will most likely tackle a Phelpsian-eight events (including two relays) at this summer's Pan Pacs and Commonwealth Games.

Pacific Rim Men's: Brenton Rickard, Australia

*Rickard posted stellar, world-leading times in all three breaststroke distances at Aussie trials, including becoming only the third man to crack 2:10 in the 200 breast (2:09.31) in a textile suit.

African Women's: Achieng Ajulu-Bushell, Kenya/Great Britain

*In the midst of her break-out meet at the British Championships, the 16 year-old posted the second fastest time in the world in the 50 breast (31.04), behind only Leisel Jones. Look out for her 100 breast in the next few days! She is sitting out from international competition this year as she switches nationalities from Kenya to Britain/England.

African Men's: Jason Dunford, Kenya

*Swam the second-fastest time in the world in the 100 fly (52.33) and posted a top-ten time in the 50 fly (23.85) in winning both events at the Amsterdam Cup.

European Women's: Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Netherlands

*Taking over the mantle of the top Dutch sprinter from the pregnant Marleen Veldhuis, the 19 year-old posted the top times in the world by large margins in the 50 (24.40) and 100 free (53.44) at the Amsterdam Cup. Both rank among the fastest times ever in textile suits.

European Men's: Tie - Fred Bousquet, France and Liam Tancock, Great Britain

*Bousquet posted the only sub-21 50 free in 2010 with a 21.95 at a meet in Nancy, France, earlier this month, and also posted the third-fastest time in the world in the 50 fly (23.71). The 21.95 is perhaps the fastest ever in-season time swum without a techsuit. Tancock is currently swimming at the British championships in Sheffield, where he posted the top time in the world in the 50 back (24.52) and the second-best time in the world in the 100 free (48.80).

American Women's: Tie - Ariana Kukors, United States and Rebecca Soni, United States

*Posted stellar in-season times of 2:10.34 and 4:37.63 in the 200 and 400 IM, respectively, at the Austin Grand Prix, both second-ranked in the world to Olympic champion Stephanie Rice's swims from the Australian championships. Soni, meanwhile, dominated the breaststroke events in Austin swimming blistering times in both; she posted a 1:06.43 in the 100, the second fastest time in the world behind Leisel Jones, as well as a 2:22.91 in the 200, the fastest time in the world (even after Jones' swims from Aussie nationals).

American Men's: Matt Grevers, United States

*Posted blazing times in the 50 and 100 back on the second day of the Austin Grand Prix, clocking 24.72 and 53.05, respectively. Also finished third behind Cesar Cielo and Garrett Weber-Gale in both the 50 and 100 free.

Day 3 at Men's NCAA's

As the final session of prelims concludes, I wanted to put up some revised predictions for the last session of finals. Cal's finishing five swimmers between 17th and 23rd as well as Sean Mahoney's DQ in the 200 breast put Texas back into the team race, and it promises to be an awesome dogfight between the two teams in finals.

1,650 Free

Original predictions:

1 - Chad LaTourette

2 - Martin Grodski

3 - Troy Prinsloo

New predictions:

1 - Chad LaTourette

2 - Martin Grodski

3 - Troy Prinsloo

200 Back

Original predictions:

1 - Tyler Clary

2 - Cory Chitwood

3 - Marco Loughran

New predictions:

1 - Tyler Clary

2 - Cory Chitwood

3 - Eugene Godsoe

100 Free

Original predictions:

1 - Nathan Adrian

2 - Jimmy Feigen

3 - Gideon Louw

New predictions:

1 - Nathan Adrian

2 - Dave Walters

3 - Jimmy Feigen

200 Breast

Original predictions:

1 - Curtis Lovelace

2 - Sean Mahoney

3 - Aaron Opell

New predictions:

1 - Scott Spann

2 - Curtis Lovelace

3 - Martii Aljand

200 Fly

Original predictions:

1 - Mark Dylla

2 - Shaune Fraser

3 - Dan Madwed

New predictions:

1 - Shaune Fraser

2 - Tom Shields

3 - Mark Dylla

400 Free Relay

Original predictions:

1 - Texas

2 - Auburn

3 - California

New predictions:

1 - Texas

2 - California

3 - Auburn

Day 2 at Men's NCAA's

Halfway through the men's NCAA championships, it looks like a two-team race between Texas and California. Cal has dominated the sprints and the relays thus far but big points from the 200 IM and diving put Texas ahead after day 1. After day 2 prelims, the two teams are seeded well ahead of the pack. Based on seeds from prelims, the projected score after all events except the timed final 800 free relay are as follows:

1 - California, 320

2 - Texas, 300

3 - Florida, 233

4 - Arizona, 232

5 - Auburn, 226

6 - Stanford, 198

7 - Michigan, 137

Some preview of tonight's races:

200 Medley Relay: Auburn, the typical sprint power, will have its hands full with a tough team from Cal, which will most likely be without 50 free runner-up Nathan Adrian, as he can only swim four out of the five relays. It will be a tight race between those two teams. Stanford, Arizona, Texas, and Florida will be tight for third.

Original prediction

1 - Auburn

2 - California

3 - Texas

New predictions:

1 - Auburn

2 - California

3 - Texas

400 IM: Shapes up to be a battle between Michigan's Tyler Clary, the defending champ and NCAA record-holder, and Georgia Tech's Gal Nevo, runner-up last year. Both had poor 200 IM swims on Friday night but swam well in the prelims. The biggest challenge to the top two lies in Arizona swimmers Clark Burckle and Jack Brown. 200 IM champion Austin Surhoff of Texas missed finals, finishing tenth.

Original predictions:

1 - Tyler Clary

2 - Gal Nevo

3 - Jack Brown

New predictions:

1 - Tyler Clary

2 - Gal Nevo

3 - Jack Brown

100 Fly: Without defending champ Austin Staab of Stanford, this race is fairly wide open. Cal freshman Tom Shields is the favorite, after a lightning-quick 44.5 relay split last night, while world championship finalist Tyler McGill will be looking to re-bound for Auburn after a very disappointing morning session. Behind them, it's anyone's game.

Original predictions:

1 - Tyler McGill

2 - Tom Shields

3 - Chris Brady

New predictions:

1 - Tom Shields

2 - Tyler McGill

3 - Mark Dylla

200 Free: An extremely tight race between eight of the best middle-distance freestylers in the world, this one will be a doozy. Dave Walters and Ricky Berens both have Olympic and world golds on relays, while Scott Jostes joined them on Texas' winning 800 free relay in 2009. Florida's Shaune Fraser is the defending champion, while his brother Brett is also a fabulous 200 freestyler, and Conor Dwyer won the 500 free last night. Jean Basson took second in the 500, and Virginia's Scot Robison has the top time in the nation at 1:32.45. This one will be tight.

Original predictions:

1 - Shaune Fraser

2 - Ricky Berens

3 - Jean Basson

New predictions:

1 - Shaune Fraser

2 - Ricky Berens

3 - Conor Dwyer

100 Breast: Cal's Damir Dugonjic has dominated this event the past two seasons, and after his performance in the medley relay last night, that should continue. Scott Spann put his name in the mix after an awesome medley relay split last night, while Adam Klein and Marcus Titus, among others, could also contend.

Original predictions:

1 - Damir Dugonjic

2 - Marcus Titus

3 - Adam Klein

New predictions:

1 - Damir Dugonjic

2 - Scott Spann

3 - Marcus Titus

100 Back: After a dominating 44.93 medley relay split, Stanford's Eugene Godsoe is the clear favorite. Behind Godsoe, the minor places are wide open, especially with Auburn's Pascal Wollach missing the A-final.

Original predictions:

1 - Eugene Godsoe

2 - Pascal Wollach

3 - Hill Taylor

New predictions:

1 - Eugene Godsoe

2 - Hill Taylor

3 - Omar Pinzon

800 Free Relay: This shapes up to be a battle between Texas and Florida, both teams that have three swimmers in the 200 free final. The key will be each team's fourth swimmer. Florida has Jeffrey Raymond, who swam 1:35-flat this morning or Sebastien Rosseau, who was 1:34.5 at SEC's. Texas' best bet is probably Peter Jameson, who clocked 1:35.6 this morning.

Original predictions:

1 - Texas

2 - Arizona

3 - Michigan

New predictions:

1 - Florida

2 - Texas

3 - Arizona

Shapes up to be a dogfight between Texas and Cal throughout the night. The only possibility of another team getting back into it is if Florida scores enough points in the 200 free and 100 back and wins the 800 free relay to get momentum going into day 3.

Comments from Day 1 at Men's NCAA's

All of the posts below originally posted on the CollegeSwimming.com forums.

My immediate reactions to my pathetic predictions, before the medley relay:

200 Free Relay
Prediction:
1 - Auburn
2 - California
3 - Texas

Actual:
1 - California - Did a bit better than I expected
2 - Auburn - Did a bit worse than I expected
3 - Texas

500 Free
Prediction:
1 - Jean Basson, Arizona
2 - Conor Dwyer, Florida
3 - David Mosko, Stanford

Actual:
1 - Conor Dwyer - Stepped it up against a fairly slow field
2 - Jean Basson - Not too shabby after being sick, and from lane 8!
3 - Clement Lefert - Wasn't he on France's medley relay as the butterflyer in Rome?

200 IM
Prediction:
1 - Jack Brown, Arizona
2 - Tyler Clary, Michigan
3 - Shaune Fraser, Florida

Actual:
1 - Austin Surhoff - Freshman wins the title; the next big thing...
2 - Shaune Fraser - Looking scary for the 200 free and 200 fly
3 - Martin Liivamagi - Where did that come from? Call it Cal's out to get the title
5 - Tyler Clary - Pace yourself! Leading until the 150 and a 25.97 final 50...
9 - Jack Brown - Hey, I meant he would win the B-final...

50 Free
Prediction:
1 - Nathan Adrian, California
2 - Jimmy Feigen, Texas
3 - Josh Schneider, Cincinatti

Actual:
1 - Josh Schneider - Believes he can beat Nathan Adrian, beats Nathan Adrian!
2 - Nathan Adrian - Surprised he lost, thought he'd be faster
3 - Adam Brown - Stepped it up when he needed to to get those points for Auburn!
4 - Jimmy Feigen - Went 18.97 in prelims... which would have gotten second. His slowest of four flat-start 50s today

Some things I noted from the medley relay and how they will affect the lead-up to Saturday's races:

Backstroke: Eugene Godsoe will win the 100 back. Could break Lochte's American record of 44.60. Could win the 200 unless Clary gets it together...

Breaststroke: 50.91 from Dugonjic, who is once again the clear favorite for the final. Scott Spann was next best (51.42), setting himself up for some good swims in the 100 and 200 breast.

Butterfly: TOM SHIELDS! 44.54, sealing the deal for Cal. McGill could have his hands full in the 100 fly tomorrow, after only splitting 45.39.

Freestyle: Adrian by far the fastest at 40.89 (not quite as fast as his 40.23 last year but still...). Next was Robert Andrews of Stanford, 41.54, and then Louw and Feigen rounded out the sub-42s.

Cal's six points behind Texas, but that will change tomorrow. They have some big-scoring events tomorrow, with Dugonjic (100 breast), Shields and Adrian (100 fly), and with the way Liivamagi swam tonight, he could put some points on the board in the 400 IM. Texas has the 200 free with Berens and Walters, and Scott Spann in the 100 breast. Auburn needs McGill, Wollach, and Klein to come through big time to be able to challenge

"An open letter to the swimming community" by Mark Spofforth

After witnessing his daughter finish out her NCAA career by leading her Florida Gators to a surprise NCAA title, Gemma Spofforth's father Mark posted this letter on the CollegeSwimming.com forums. In the letter, he thanks the coaches and team and people at Florida and the entire NCAA and swimming community for taking in Gemma as a foreigner and building up her career to make her one of the world's best backstrokers. He also describes Gemma's struggles early in her life and her challenges just to get a scholarship to Florida and later to make the Olympic team, win a world title and set a world record in Rome, win six individual NCAA titles, and lead her team to their achievement that cumulated on Saturday night. Gemma's performance on that Saturday night was crucial, one of the greatest displays of "team" by an individual athlete; after being denied her fourth straight 200 back title, Gemma bounced back 90 minutes later to swim a critical leg on the third-place 400 free relay, just enough for Gators to hold onto the victory.

An open letter to the swimming community.

All of you reading this who are parents will understand the mixed emotions that surround the birth of your first child. Joy, pride, but above all sheer terror at the thought of bringing a new life into the world and having to nurture and protect him or her with very little training in parenthood.

In our case we had an added problem when the doctors went into a little huddle to discuss some issue with our baby which they didn’t want to tell us about straight away – that was a nervous time. As it turned out, it wasn’t a major difficulty, and a small operation a year or so later sorted it out.

But really quickly you find yourself leaving your child – a daughter in our case - at her first school, and again the terror at entrusting your baby to a teacher that you don’t really know leaves you with a physical pain in your stomach.

Things go well, the child begins to flourish and soon shows an aptitude for swimming, so you take her to the local swim club, and soon the local competitions start. Once again your stomach turns somersaults every time she races; our daughter seemed to come second most of the time, so you spend some time counselling as well and urging her to keep going, “One day you’ll be a winner if you keep trying”.

The local coach spots something in her psyche and offers to give her longer hours, and eventually county/state competitions become part of the routine, leading to a trip to a national championships and a space on the national talent development team, which in turn lead in our case to a European Junior Competition, and a Gold medal. When the national anthem plays and you daughter stand on the podium, it’s impossible not to cry.

A few years on and things are not so good. A really unpleasant illness has kept her out of the water, she’s unfit and the national team have pretty much discarded her. Thoughts turn to academic achievements and potential jobs rather than sporting excellence. The illness appears to have been properly diagnosed, but might recur, who knows?

But then we have to choose a University, and we start to think about what it might be like to get away from all the local pressure, and look at the facilities on offer in the USA. Eventually she’s offered a golden chance to train at the University of Florida on a sporting scholarship, even if the Coach thinks this is the riskiest scholarship he’s ever awarded, and is daunted by the task ahead trying to get this girl fit….. but again, he sees some spark, some character that he thinks might just turn into something given a following wind.

4 years later, and that girl is a World Champion, a World Record Holder, an Olympian, and her last act for the University is to lead her team to the NCAA Championship.

I am so proud of Gemma, but can’t forget that fear of the unknown the day she was born, and the days that we’ve entrusted her on to teachers and coaches who have all paid back that trust with exceptional effort and skill, far beyond what might be expected of an employer.

So I just wanted to say THANKYOU to everyone who has supported her over the last four years, especially the “Gator family”.

Thankyou to her friends and housemates for accepting a foreigner and helping her understand your country, especially the Beales family, who were there from the first day.
Thankyou to Coaches Troy and Wilby for their coaching skill and their ability to keep Gemma focussed when times were really bad - and believe me there were some bad times
Thankyou to UF for understanding the benefits of bringing in foreigners to work and play alongside your students – I understand the debates about the wisdom of doing that, and I hope that you never succumb to those that would have you restrict your tuition to US nationals alone
Thankyou to all the other swimming parents for acting as surrogate parents at swim meets when we were the other side of the world
Thankyou to all the volunteer officials and managers who make the meets possible in the first place
Thankyou to the USA for having a system that has helped make my daughter a World Champion.

But most of all Thankyou to the sport that she loves and which has helped build character and confidence into what was once a small and sickly newborn baby. You should all be proud of your part in this success

Men's NCAA's: Is It Even Worth Predicting?

On Saturday night, I got home and went to check the results of women's NCAA's. I wondered if it was Stanford or Georgia, or maybe Arizona or Cal. I looked through the event results. I saw the upset of Florida's Gemma Spofforth in the 200 back, Georgia's Chelsea Nauta's 12-place drop in the mile along with the great rise of Cal's Lauren Boyle, A&M's double victory, Elaine Breeden's title in the 200 fly for Stanford, and then I went straight to the 400 free relay; I saw the Stanford victory and then scrolled down to view the final team results. Florida? WHAT?

After the wild and crazy women's NCAA meet, the men's meet promises to be even more so. The battle for the team title in Columbus, Ohio, will be very tight between four teams, possibly more, while events will be fast and competitive. First, I will analyze the prospects for the top few teams and then go into my predictions for the individual events.

Arizona - Some big-time stars in Jack Brown, Cory Chitwood, Marcus Titus, and Jean Basson. Great 4x200 relay, but the other relays need drops. Not especially deep. Did not taper for Pac-10's, so they are somewhat of an unknown. They are a co-ed program, and their women had great success following the exact same plan.

Auburn - Deep in sprint freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke, and strong relays (except the 4x200) and they have senior Tyler McGill who is hungry for individual and team titles, but they are very weak in longer distances. They are a co-ed program, and their women did not swim well in Purdue.

California - Deep in the sprints, breaststrokes, IMs. They have huge event favorites Nathan Adrian and Damir Dugonjic and freshman stud Tom Shields. Not especially strong in backstroke. Will be a factor in all the relays. Not a co-ed program.

Texas - Strong swimmers all across the board, butterfly perhaps the weakest. Need Dave Walters and Scott Spann to step it up after fairly disappointing seasons, but the potential is there. Ricky Berens is a consistent top swimmer, while Eric Friedland and Austin Surhoff made big improvements at Big-12's. Could win 4x100 and 4x200 free relays depending on Dave Walters. Not co-ed.

Others - Stanford and Florida both have strong swimmers but not enough depth to crack these four teams.

For event predictions, I'm just going with top three. I have some other thoughts, but I'll keep those to myself. Please comment on these; tell me how stupid I am for thinking whatever!

200 Free Relay

1 - Auburn

2 - California

3 - Texas

500 Free

1 - Jean Basson, Arizona

2 - Conner Dwyer, Florida

3 - David Mosko, Stanford

200 IM

1 - Jack Brown, Arizona

2 - Tyler Clary, Michigan

3 - Shaune Fraser, Florida

50 Free

1 - Nathan Adrian, Cal

2 - Jimmy Feigen, Texas

3 - Josh Schneider, Cincinatti

400 Medley Relay

1 - California

2 - Auburn

3 - Texas

200 Medley Relay

1 - Auburn

2 - California

3 - Texas

400 IM

1 - Tyler Clary, Michigan

2 - Gal Nevo, Georgia Tech

3 - Jack Brown, Arizona

100 Fly

1 - Tyler McGill, Auburn

2 - Tom Shields, Cal

3 - Chris Brady, Michigan

200 Free

1 - Shaune Fraser, Florida

2 - Ricky Berens, Texas

3 - Jean Basson, Arizona

100 Breast

1 - Damir Dugonjic, Cal

2 - Marcus Titus, Arizona

3 - Adam Klein, Auburn

100 Back

1 - Eugene Godsoe, Stanford

2 - Pascal Wollach, Auburn

3 - Hill Taylor, Texas

800 Free Relay

1 - Texas

2 - Arizona

3 - Michigan

1,650 Free

1 - Chad LaTourette, Stanford

2 - Martin Grodski, Georgia

3 - Troy Prinsloo, Georgia

200 Back

1 - Tyler Clary, Michigan

2 - Cory Chitwood, Arizona

3 - Marco Loughran, Florida

100 Free

1 - Nathan Adrian, Cal

2 - Jimmy Feigen, Texas

3 - Gideon Louw, Auburn

200 Breast

1 - Curtis Lovelace, Stanford

2 - Sean Mahoney, Cal

3 - Aaron Opell, Indiana

200 Fly

1 - Mark Dylla, Georgia

2 - Shaune Fraser, Florida

3 - Dan Madwed, Michigan

400 Free Relay

1 - Texas

2 - Auburn

3 - California

My Top Ten:

1 - Texas

2 - California

3 - Arizona

4 - Auburn

5 - Stanford

6 - Florida

7 - Michigan

8 - Virginia

9 - Ohio State

10 - Georgia

I just wanna point out the fact that I really don't have a clue. These are all pure guesses and speculation. I thought about a lot of different swimmers and teams and orders, and this is just what makes the most sense to me. We'll see what actually plays out starting Thursday in Columbus!

Australian Championships: Expect the Unexpected; "England Just Won Itself a Couple of Relays"

It might be a cliché, but this meet truly embodies the quote "expect the unexpected." In two full days of competition, very little has gone the way I predicted it to unfold, especially on the women's side. Swimmers in off events are destroying the specialists; rising stars Blair Evans and Yolane Kukla have come out of the woodwork to win events that aren't their best. Of my top six predictions for the women's 100 free, two of the ladies I predicted made the final eight; naturally, the others finished tied for 9th, 11th, and 13th. There is all-around craziness with swimmers who are supposed to be at the top of their game not living up to expectations, while others who didn't have such high expectations suddenly find themselves back in the limelight. Some thoughts:

Yolane Kukla: This girl is good. Similar to what we've been seeing from Missy Franklin in the U.S., Kukla has come from nowhere to beat accomplished veterans, and, like Franklin, she is proving to be quite a versatile swimmer. Beating a world champion such as Marieke Guehrer is no small feat, and Kukla sits in a tie for third heading into an open 100 free final, and fifth going into the semis of the 100 fly (not counting visitor Therese Alshammar, who cannot swim in semis). Don't forget this name anytime soon!

Who is the Iron-Woman? Last year, Stephanie Rice was the iron-woman of the Trials when she swam in at least some rounds of the 100/200 free, 100 back, 100/200 fly, and her signature 200/400 IMs. This year, she is swimming a similarly ambitious program, but she is not the only one. Emily Seebohm, once just a backstroker, already finished second to Rice in the 200 IM, third behind Kukla and Guehrer in the 50 fly, and is seeded second headed into the 100 free finals. Already with two individual spots assured (or nearly assured), she is favored to rack up more events, as she is the huge favorite in the 100 back, a near-certainty for top-two in the 50 back, and a big contender in the 100 free. There is one other lady who could be considered to have the most demanding program: Alicia Coutts. Coutts, who finished 5th behind Rice in the 200 IM in Beijing, already finished third in her specialty this week, and is top qualifier for the 100 free final and third qualifier for the 100 fly semi-final. Perhaps not as much sheer distance as Rice or Seebohm, but Coutts has developed strongly into a versatile swimmer with many more chances to make the Commonwealth Games.

Men's freestyle: In the 200 free final, I predicted the correct six swimmers to make the relay; the order was completely different, and the swimmers were all over the place. The order will probably change again at Pan Pacs, even though both Nicholas Ffrost and Thomas Fraser-Holmes are both assured individual spots in Delhi at the Commonwealth Games, while Pan Pacs will decide the third spot. In the 100 free, coming up in the next two days, less than 1.1 seconds separates places two through sixteen in prelims; the top seed is six-tenths ahead, and that would be Eamon Sullivan. Despite his coach claiming that it would be a "fluke" for Sullivan to qualify for a top-six relay berth, considering his recent hip surgery and an unsuccessful cortisone shot earlier this week, he just recorded the fastest time in the world this year. If he can hold up, even his prelim time of 49.06 should be good enough to make top six (at least). There will be a lot of big names in this one, and just to get into finals will be a dogfight: Abood, Prosser, D'Orsogna, Targett, Monk, Ffrost, Lauterstein, Richardson, and the list goes on.

Women's freestyle: Behind the upset winner Blair Evans, there was nothing out of the ordinary in the women's 200 free. The next day in the 100, well, things turned pear-shaped. The three un-retired members of last year's relay team, Felicity Galvez, Marieke Guehrer, and Shayne Reese, finished 9th, 11th, and 14th respectively. Meanwhile, Olympic and world bronze medalist in the 50 free and favorite in this race Cate Campbell finished tied with Guehrer for ninth, after recording the top 50-split but fading, while Beijing Olympian Mel Schlanger was 13th. So who's left? IMer Coutts, backstroker Seebohm, Kukla, mostly-breaststroker Sally Foster, middle distance swimmer Bronte Barratt, the veteran but inconsistent Alice Mills, Angie Bainbridge, and Kelly Stubbins. Not the deepest field we've ever seen, so much that Priyant Pratap, of the dormant Behind the Blocks, wrote that "[I] think England just won itself a couple of relays," as is the obvious weakness of the 100 free in Australia right now. However, the race will be close and competitive. It is the first women's race on the program for Thursday's finals, so all the girls will be fresh. I think Seebohm has the very slight advantage, but I could see Kukla pulling it off. Really, it's anyone's game.

Men's backstroke: The dorsal events are deep and fast. Veteran Hayden Stoeckel, returning from shoulder surgery, won a touch-out in perhaps his weakest of the three distances, the 50, over younger swimmers Daniel Arnamnart and Ben Treffers, locking out Australian record-holder Ashley Delaney. Another relatively inexperienced swimmer named Bobby Jovanovich leads Delaney in the prelims of the 200 back, with Stoeckel in fifth. Since 2008, the backstrokes have been deep and competitive Down Under, and there are no indications of any change headed into the finals of the 200 on Thursday or the 100 coming up.

Geoff Huegill: His amazing comeback is just 23 seconds away from fruition. Huegill's time of 23.60 in the semis was the top time, and it matched the time he swam as a world record in the very same pool ten years ago. (He broke that with a 23.44 a year later.) I think he can do it. Andrew Lauterstein and Matt Targett put themselves in a great position to challenge Huegill after the semis, but the experience of "Skippy" will get the job done over these relative youngsters.

Predictions of Thursday’s finals:
Men's 200 Back - Hayden Stoeckel
Women's 100 Free - Yolane Kukla
Women's 200 Breast - Leisel Jones
Men's 50 Fly - Geoff Huegill
Women's 100 Back - Emily Seebohm
Men's 100 Breast - Brenton Rickard
Men's 800 Free - Robert Hurley

2010 Australian Championships

This week, Australia will pick the swimmers that will represent the world no. 2 swimming nation at this year's Pan Pacs and Commonwealth Games at the Telstra Australian Championships. The meet runs Tuesday, March 16 until Sunday, March 21. As the Aussies are the first big swimming nation to hold their trials, expect the world best times to be rewritten over the next week. As qualifying procedures are not set in stone, since more than two swimmers per nation may compete at both Pan Pacs and Commonwealth Games, I will predict the top three finishers in all events, except the 100 and 200 freestyle, where I will go to six spots, since they are relay events. Over the course of the meet, look for 31 year olds to star on the men's side, with Geoff Huegill and Ashley Callus attempting to return to the national team, while Jessicah Schipper, Emily Seebohm, Stephanie Rice, Leisel Jones, Matt Targett, and Andrew Lauterstein are consistent performers who are heavily favored to return to the team. Note that Eamon Sullivan underwent (ANOTHER) hip operation in January, and he hasn't competed since December, and we will not know how he rebounds until race day.

Women's 200 Free
1 - Meagan Nay
2 - Stephanie Rice
3 - Bronte Barratt
4 - Ellen Fullerton
5 - Merindah Dingjan
6 - Kylie Palmer

Men's 50 Back
1 - Daniel Arnamant
2 - Ashley Delaney
3 - Ben Treffers

Women's 50 Fly
1 - Marieke Guehrer
2 - Emily Seebohm
3 - Jessicah Schipper

Men's 400 Free
1 - Robert Hurley
2 - Ryan Napolean
3 - Robert Hurley

Women's 200 IM
1 - Stephanie Rice
2 - Emily Seebohm
3 - Alicia Coutts

Men's 200 Fly
1 - Nick D'arcy
2 - Chris Wright
3 - Lachlan Staples

Women's 50 Breast
1 - Leisel Jones
2 - Sarah Katsoulis
3 - Samantha Marshall

Men's 50 Fly
1 - Geoff Huegill
2 - Matt Targett
3 - Andrew Lauterstein
*Targett and Lauterstein will have fast semi-final times, but Huegill will put it together in the finals, as the 31 year old completes his remarkable comeback.

Women's 100 Back
1 - Emily Seebohm
2 - Belinda Hocking
3 - Sophie Edington

Men's 100 Breast
1 - Brenton Rickard
2 - Christian Sprenger
3 - Craig Calder

Women's 100 Free
1 - Cate Campbell
2 - Melanie Schlanger
3 - Emily Seebohm
4 - Sally Foster
5 - Marieke Guehrer
6 - Felicity Galvez

Men's 200 Free
1 - Tomasso D'Orsogna
2 - Kenrick Monk
3 - Patrick Murphy
4 - Nick Ffrost
5 - Robert Hurley
6 - Thomas Fraser-Holmes

Women's 800 Free
1 - Kylie Palmer
2 - Melissa Gorman
3 - Blair Evans

Men's 100 Free
1 - Cameron Prosser
2 - Matt Targett
3 - Tomasso D'Orsogna
4 - Eamon Sullivan
5 - Andrew Lauterstein
6 - Matt Abood
*After missing out on the Worlds team last year due to a poor semi-finals swim, Prosser will be a force to be reckoned with, and he could upset the veteran Targett.

Women's 100 Fly
1 - Jessicah Schipper
2 - Stephanie Rice
3 - Felicity Galvez

Men's 200 Back
1 - Hayden Stoeckel
2 - Bobby Jovanovich
3 - Ashley Delaney

Women's 200 Breast
1 - Leisel Jones
2 - Tessa Wallace
3 - Samantha Marshall

Men's 800 Free
1 - Robert Hurley
2 - Ryan Napolean
3 - Christopher Ashwood

Men's 50 Breast
1 - Brenton Rickard
2 - Karl Wurzer
3 - Christian Sprenger

Women's 50 Back
1 - Emily Seebohm
2 - Sophie Edington
3 - Marieke Guehrer

Men's 100 Fly
1 - Andrew Lauterstein
2 - Mitchell Patterson
3 - Adam Pine

Women's 100 Breast
1 - Leisel Jones
2 - Sarah Katsoulis
3 - Samantha Marshall

Men's 100 Back
1 - Hayden Stoeckel
2 - Ashley Delaney
3 - Daniel Arnamnart

Women's 50 Free
1 - Cate Campbell
2 - Sally Foster
3 - Marieke Guehrer

Men's 400 IM
1 - Thomas Fraser-Holmes
2 - Sam Beinke
3 - Shane Ashbury

Men's 50 Free
1 - Ashley Callus
2 - James Roberts
3 - Matt Abood
*Look for Callus to win by nearly a half-second after missing Rome last year.

Women's 200 Back
1 - Meagan Nay
2 - Belinda Hocking
3 - Emily Seebohm

Men's 1,500 Free
1 - Ryan Napolean
2 - Robert Hurley
3 - Theodore Pasialis

Women's 400 Free
1 - Bronte Barratt
2 - Ellen Fullerton
3 - Blair Evans

Men's 200 IM
1 - Leith Brodie
2 - Thomas Fraser-Holmes
3 - Tommaso D'Orsogna

Women's 200 Fly
1 - Jessicah Schipper
2 - Samantha Hamill
3 - Felicity Galvez

Men's 200 Breast
1 - Brenton Rickard
2 - Christian Sprenger
3 - Craig Calder

Women's 400 IM
1 - Stephanie Rice
2 - Ellen Fullerton
3 - Samantha Hamill

Women's 1,500 Free
1 - Melissa Gorman
2 - Kylie Palmer
3 - Belinda Bennett

Prediction Time: Women's NCAA's

It's that time of year again: college championship season. Women's NCAA's start this upcoming Thursday, March 18, and run until Saturday, March 20. The three-day meet in West Lafayette, Indiana, on the campus of Purdue, will determine the top team in college swimming in 2010. It will be a fast and exciting meet to be sure. Without further ado, some names:

Thursday:
200 Free Relay - Stanford

500 Free
1 - Allison Schmitt, Georgia
2 - Wendy Trott, Georgia
3 - Kristen Heiss, Texas A&M

200 IM
1 - Julia Smit, Stanford
2 - Kathleen Hersey, Texas
3 - Julia Wilkinson, Texas A&M

50 Free
1 - Michele King, Tennessee
2 - Anne-Marie Botek, Georgia
3 - Elizabeth Webb, Stanford

400 Medley Relay - Stanford

Friday:
200 Medley Relay - Tennessee

400 IM
1 - Julia Smit, Stanford
2 - Katinka Hosszu, USC
3 - Caitlin Leverenz, Cal

100 Fly
1 - Elaine Breeden, Stanford
2 - Hannah Wilson, Cal
3 - Kathleen Hersey, Texas

200 Free
1 - Allison Schmitt, Georgia
2 - Morgan Scroggy, Georgia
3 - Sara Isokovic, Cal

100 Breast
1 - Jillian Tyler, Minnesota
2 - Micah Lawrence, Auburn
3 - Annie Chandler, Arizona

100 Back
1 - Gemma Spofforth, Florida
2 - Presley Bard, USC
3 - Kateryna Fesenko, Indiana

800 Free Relay - Georgia

Saturday:
1650 Free
1 - Wendy Trott, Georgia
2 - Chelsea Nauta, Georgia
3 - Haley Anderson, USC

200 Back
1 - Gemma Spofforth, Florida
2 - Kateryna Fesenko, Indiana
3 - Kristen Heiss, Texas A&M

100 Free
1 - Julia Smit, Stanford
2 - Julia Wilkinson, Texas A&M
3 - Kate Dwelley, Stanford

200 Breast
1 - Alia Atkinson, Texas A&M
2 - Elizabeth Smith, Stanford
3 - Yi-Ting Siow, Arkansas

200 Fly
1 - Katinka Hosszu, USC
2 - Kathleen Hersey, Texas
3 - Elaine Breeden, Stanford

400 Free Relay - Stanford

The (Dreaded) Top Ten
1 - Stanford
2 - Georgia
3 - Texas (my BIG darkhorse!)
4 - Texas A&M
5 - Cal
6 - Florida
7 - USC
8 - Arizona
9 - Auburn
10 - Virginia

On this week's edition of Split Time, Garrett McCaffrey and Peter Busch discussed the meet and gave their picks for winner, placer (2nd), and darkhorse. I added my thoughts in the comment box (including my darkhorse picks), and I'm going to have a contest for picking winners. It's simple: one point per winner, whoever gets the most correct wins. Feel free to add your picks either as a comment on this blog or Split Time, or send me a message on Twitter or Facebook.

Austin Grand Prix

Some of the top swimmers in the world are convening in Austin, Texas for the next stop of the USA Swimming Grand Prix series. It is by far the biggest meet of the Grand Prix series so far, with over 1,000 swimmers competing. Because of that, there will be five heats of finals in each event. The meet has a unique format of short course prelims and long course finals, which could make some events interesting, with primarily long course swimmers potentially missing A-final swims because of weak because of poor short course swimming. Among those thousand swimmers are the top stars in every event, as only five events lack a swimmer who has been ranked in the top ten in the world in 2008 and/or 2009. And those five events are NOT weak, as Chloe Sutton leads the field 800 free, as does Dana Vollmer in the 200 fly, while Robert Margalis is the class of the field in the 400 IM, and Alex Vanderkaay leads the way in the 200 fly and 200 IM. Without further ado, some predictions:

Thursday, March 4
Women's 500y/400m Free
1 - Katie Hoff, FAST
2 - Chloe Sutton, Mission Viejo
3 - Samantha Tucker, Longhorn

Women's 100 Fly
1 - Dana Vollmer, California Aquatics
2 - Christine Magnuson, Tucson Ford
3 - Natalie Coughlin, California Aquatics

Men's 100 Fly
1 - Masayuki Kishida, Tucson Ford
2 - Matt Grevers, Tucson Ford
3 - Joe Bartoch, Swim Ontario

Men's 500y/400m Free
1 - Peter Vanderkaay, Club Wolverine
2 - Michael Klueh, Longhorn
3 - Matt Patton, Club Wolverine

Women's 200 IM
1 - Ariana Kukors, FAST
2 - Justine Mueller, SwimMAC Carolina
3 - Erika Erndl, Swim Florida

Men's 200 IM
1 - Alex Vanderkaay, Club Wolverine
2 - Nick D'Innocenzo, University of Texas
3 - Robert Margalis, FAST

Women's 50 Free
1 - Jessica Hardy, Trojan
2 - Lara Jackson, Tucson Ford
3 - Amanda Weir, Swim Atlanta

Men's 50 Free
1 - Cesar Cielo, Auburn Aquatics
2 - Cullen Jones, SwimMAC Carolina
3 - George Bovell, Auburn Aquatics

Friday, March 5
Women's 400 IM
1 - Katie Hoff, FAST
2 - Ariana Kukors, FAST
3 - Justine Mueller, SwimMAC Carolina

Men's 400 IM
1 - Robert Margalis, FAST
2 - Alex Vanderkaay, Club Wolverine
3 - Ian Clark, SwimMAC Carolina

Women's 100 Breast
1 - Rebecca Soni, Trojan
2 - Jessica Hardy, Trojan
3 - Megan Jendrick, KING

Men's 100 Breast
1 - Mark Gangloff, Auburn Aquatics
2 - Mike Alexandrov, Tucson Ford
3 - Henrique Barbosa, Auburn Aquatics

Women's 100 Back
1 - Natalie Coughlin, California Aquatics
2 - Margaret Hoelzer, FAST
3 - Ariana Kukors, FAST

Men's 100 Back
1 - Aaron Peirsol, Longhorn
2 - Nick Thoman, SwimMAC Carolina
3 - Matt Grevers, Tucson Ford

Women's 200 Free
1 - Dana Vollmer, California Aquatics
2 - Chloe Sutton, Mission Viejo
3 - Christine Marshall, Auburn Aquatics

Men's 200 Free
1 - Peter Vanderkaay, Club Wolverine
2 - Michael Klueh, Longhorn
3 - Matt Patton, Club Wolverine

Saturday, March 6
Women's 200 Back
1 - Margaret Hoelzer, FAST
2 - Katie Hoff, FAST
3 - Madison White, Crow Canyon

Men's 200 Back
1 - Aaron Peirsol, Longhorn
2 - Nick Thoman, SwimMAC Carolina
3 - Matt Grevers, Tucson Ford

Women's 100 Free
1 - Dana Vollmer, California Aquatics
2 - Amanda Weir, Swim Atlanta
3 - Natalie Coughlin, California Aquatics

Men's 100 Free
1 - Cesar Cielo, Auburn Aquatics
2 - Matt Grevers, Tucson Ford
3 - Garrett Weber-Gale, Longhorn

Women's 1,000y/800m Free
1 - Chloe Sutton, Mission Viejo
2 - Lindsay Seemann, Swim Ontario
3 - Sarah Henry, Raleigh Swimming

Men's 1,650y/1,500m Free
1 - Peter Vanderkaay, Club Wolverine
2 - Michael Klueh, Longhorn
3 - Zane Grothe, BCH Heatwave

Women's 200 Breast
1 - Rebecca Soni, Trojan
2 - Megan Jendrick, KING
3 - Katy Freeman, Santa Barbara

Men's 200 Breast
1 - Henrique Barbosa, Auburn Aquatics
2 - Mike Alexandrov, Tucson Ford
3 - Bart Steninger, Tucson Ford

Women's 200 Fly
1 - Dana Vollmer, California Aquatics
2 - Whitney Myers, FAST
3 - Kelly Nelson, Unattached

Men's 200 Fly
1 - Alex Vanderkaay, Club Wolverine
2 - Matt Patton, Club Wolverine
3 - Aaron Peirsol, Longhorn

February Swimmers of the Month

I'm introducing my own Swimmer of the Month awards. Similar to the Swimming World Swimmer of the Year awards, I will recognize the top swimmers from the Pacific Rim, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, and also the U.S. if the top swimmer from the Americas is not from the U.S. I will try to name all awards each month, though that could be difficult in down months like January and September.

Pacific Rim Women's: Emily Seebohm, Australia
Seebohm swam a 59.25 in the 100 back, the top time ever in textile, and also posted the top time in the world this year in the 50 back and 200 IM.

Pacific Rim Men's: Park Tae Hwan, Korea
Park posted times of 49.45, 1:46.98, and 3:45.03 in the 100, 200, and 400 free, the fastest times in the world in the latter two events.

African Women's: Wendy Trott, South Africa
Trott tore it up at the SEC championships, posting the top times in the NCAA in the 500 and 1,650.

African Men's Gideon Louw, South Africa
Louw defeated strong fields at SEC's to claim the 50 and 100 free with a stellar time of 19.18 in the 50.

European Women's: Elizabeth Simmonds, Great Britain
Simmonds recorded one of the fastest times ever in textile suits in the 200 back (2:06.90) and dominated the backstrokes at the Great Britain vs. Germany Duel in the Pool.

European Men's: Liam Tancock, Great Britain
Tancock recorded the world's fastest times in the 50 (24.92) and 100 back (53.86) this month, and delieved a 48.6 split on the 400 free relay at the Duel in the Pool to secure the win for Britain.

American Women's Julia Smit, United States
Smit obliterated her own American records in the 200 (1:52.31) and 400 IM (3:58.23) without the techsuits she wore to set the records last year; she also recorded the nation's top time in the 200 back (1:50.76).

American Men's Eric Shanteau, United States
Shanteau recorded the only time under 2:00 in the 200 IM in Missouri (1:59.75), then came back an hour later to set the world's top time in the 200 breast (2:11.17), with an awesome last 50 to out-touch Japan's Kosuke Kitajima.

NCAA's 2010

The NCAA Championship season is fast approaching, and I wanted to say a few things about the teams before the swimming world is engulfed in conference championships, starting with SECs in just two weeks. John Lohn covered a lot of the big stories headed into these last few months of the NCAA season, so I'm gonna take it straight on: the top teams for both women and men and how the final scoring will pan out in due time. This first part of my NCAA blog will cover just the women's NCAAs, which takes place March 18-20 in West Lafayette, Indiana.

My top 3:

Georgia: After finishing a close second to California last season, Georgia returns most of its stat power and depth from its tremendous performance in College Station last year. At the moment, Georgia swimmers are favored (or co-favored) in four out of five freestyle events in the forms of Anne-Marie Botek (50), Allison Schmitt (200 and 500), and Wendy Trott (1,650). Behind the starpower lies incredible depth, with the versatile Morgan Scroggy and mid-distance freestyler Chelsea Nauta, among others, looking to rack up some key points in the Bulldogs' quest to reclaim the top spot.

Stanford: Fourth last year, the Cardinal is led by a pair of senior Olympians who look to end their NCAA careers on top. First, there is Julia Smit, the defending NCAA Champion in both IMs and second in the 100 free in College Station, who recently set short course meters world records in both IMs at the Duel in the Pool. Next is Elaine Breeden, a two-time NCAA champ in the 200 fly, who could sweep both butterflies in 2010. Like Georgia, Stanford also has some superb depth, with US World Championship team member Kate Dwelley, as well as Sam Woodward (fly/free) and Kelsey Ditto (free).

Texas: Texas has for several years had one of the top recruiting classes in the country, and that is starting to pay off with some serious depth. They have one superstar, Kathleen Hersey, a US Olympian who was top three in all three of her events last year. Hersey is one of the favorites for the 200 fly this year, and should score key points in her other events, which may include the 100 fly, 200 IM, and/or 400 IM. The depth fills in behind Hersey; breaststrokers Spindrift Beck and Laura Sogar, freestyler Karlee Bispo, and versatile swimmers Katie Riefenstahl and Leah Gingrich will attempt to lead the Longhorns to a national title

Challenging for the Top Five:

Arizona: Arizona has lost much of the depth from its NCAA title in 2008 and its third-place finish last year, although the team may have enough firepower to finish top five. US World Championship team member Alyssa Anderson will be a force in the mid-distance freestyles, as will Annie Chandler in the breaststrokes and seniors Justine Schluntz and Ana Agy.

Auburn: Auburn doesn't have much any superstars in the line-up but it has a bunch of strong swimmers, such as Melissa Marik, Caitlin Geary, Maggie Bird, Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, and Ava Ohlgren, who make an outside shot at top five.

California: Cal has lost the major key to its NCAA title last year, who was Dana Vollmer. They are still a very powerful team, led by Sara Isokovic, the Olympic silver medalist in the 200 free; multi-time US National team member in IMs and breaststrokes Caitlin Leverenz; and defending 100 fly champion Amanda Sims. They also have great sprinting depth, with Liv Jensen and Hannah Wilson, and they should finish in the top five once again.

Florida: Florida has strong swimmers that could rack up some major points at NCAAs. Senior Gemma Spofforth looks to make it four-in-a-row in the 200 back and claim her third title in the 100 back, the event in which she is world champion. Finshing second to her in the 200 back last year was teammate Teresa Crippen, who will look to repeat that in 2010. Another British Olympian, Jemma Lowe, will be a factor in both fly races, and Stephanie Napier is a strong sprint freestyler.

Southern California: The Trojans have had a strong season thus far and have a strong chance to move up from their ninth-place finish in College Station last year, even with the departure of world record-holder Rebecca Soni. Their top swimmer is sophomore Katinka Hosszu, the world champion in the 400 IM and bronze medalist from Rome in two more events, who will be a big player in the IM and butterfly races. They also have U.S. World Championship team member Haley Anderson, who should finish in the top three in the 1,650; backstroker Presley Bard, an Olympic trials finalist; and butterflyers Lyndsay DePaul and Tanya Krisman.

Texas A&M: Another strong Lone Star team is Texas A&M. The Aggies have three seniors who could make some noise at NCAAs, two of whom are coming off redshirt years. Alia Atkinson finished second to Rebecca Soni in the 200 breast last year, and she will be one of the favorites in that event in 2010. Julia Wilkinson will be a strong player in the 200 IM, either the 200 free or 100 back, and the 100 free, where she will be one of the title-favorites. Kristen Heiss could push for big points in both backstroke events, particularly the 200.

****

A week after the women's college season wraps up, the men take to the pool in Columbus, Ohio, March 25-27, on the campus of Ohio State. This year, the NCAA has more fast, experienced swimmers than ever before, from various countries around the world. College swimming is so deep right now that I could be completely wrong in my analysis, but here goes anyway!

My Top Three:

Arizona: In 2008, Arizona took their first-ever NCAA title in men's swimming, but they trailed in 2009, ending up the sixth best team in the country. Now, Arizona swimming is back at the best it has been and once again a legitimate contender for the top spot. They have IMer Jack Brown, fourth and third at Nationals this summer in the 200 and 400 IM, respectively, who is back to his top form and should place top three in both medleys in Columbus; Brown could also make noise in the 200 breast. Next is Clark Burckle, a senior transfer from Florida, also a top-level breaststroke and IM swimmer. Cory Chitwood, second in the 200 back in 2008, returns from a redshirt year as the current top-ranked swimmer in the nation in that event, and he could also make some noise in the 100. Breaststroker Marcus Titus finished third in the 100 breast at Nationals this summer. South African Jean Basson, the defending NCAA champion in the 500 free, will be a big player in the 200, 400, and 1,650 free. Arizona has some solid swimmers to fill out their 400 and 800 free relays, such as Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or and Joel Greenshields.

California: The Golden Bears finished fourth last year, but they are certainly capable of moving up several spots, especially with the continued improvement of their star: Nathan Adrian. Adrian is the big favorite to defend his titles in the 50 and 100 free, and he also has the potential to score big points in either the 200 free or 100 fly. Cal has another defending NCAA champ, Damir Dugonjic, who became the only man under 51 in the 100 breast with his victory last year. The Bears also have a solid contingent of 200 breaststrokers, led by Sean Mahoney, who took second in the event last year and has a strong chance to move up a spot in 2010. Freshman Tom Shields has already proven that he will be a force in the 200 free and 100/200 butterfly, as has South African Graeme Moore in the sprint free and fly races. Guy Barnea will be a key player as the backstroker in the medley relays, which Cal has strong chances to win.

Texas: Long considered the favorite to win their tenth NCAA crown in 2010, the Longhorns might have the perfect combination of depth and superstars to get the job done. They have two of the best collegiate swimmers in the country in David Walters and Ricky Berens, both Olympians and World Championship team members. Walters, the 2008 NCAA Champion in the 200 free, could take back that title, place in very close to the top in the 100 free, and make the 50 free final. Berens, a very versatile swimmer, will swim the 200 IM, either the 200 free or 100 fly, and most likely the 200 fly. Berens has the capability to and needs to place in the top three or four in all of his events. (In 2009, Texas' final undoing was Berens' failure to make top 16 in the 200 fly.) Sophomore Jimmy Feigen took second in both the 50 and 100 last year and could retain or better those placings. US National 1,500 champion Jackson Wilcox returns, and he will be a major force in the distance races. Backstrokers Hill Taylor and Cole Craigin, and breaststroker Scott Spann could rack up key points, while swimmers such as Ben Van Roekel, Peter Jameson, Scott Jostes, and Dax Hill will make Texas tough to beat in all of the relays.

Challenging for Top Five:

Auburn: The Tigers have lost some of the firepower that led them to the top last year (mainly Matt Targett), but they have Tyler McGill, the favorite to win the 100 fly, and a deep group of sprinters led by Briton Adam Brown. They also have loaded corps in breaststroke (Stuart Ferguson, Adam Klein, Michael Silva) and backstroke (Max Murphy, Kohlton Norys, Jared White, Pascal Wollach) that should put them top five at least.

Florida: Foreign swimmers lead Florida's push for a top five placing in Columbus. The Fraser brothers, Shaune and Brett (Cayman Islands), both scored at NCAA's last year, with Shaune taking titles in the 200 free and 200 fly. Marco Loughran (Great Britain) and Omar Pinzon (Colombia) are both excellent backstrokers, and Pinzon could be a factor in IMs as well. Finally, South African Sebastian Rousseau could be a factor in the 200 free and 200 fly.

Michigan: The Wolverines are led by World Championship team members Tyler Clary and Dan Madwed in 2010. Clary, the defending champion in the 200 back and 400 IM, will look to defend those titles and also challenge in the 200 IM, while Madwed should score in the butterflies and mid-distance freestyles. As is tradition for Michigan, a strong group of distance swimmers could put some points on the board, while Chris Brady will be a factor in the sprint freestyle and butterfly, as will Alon Mandel in backstroke and longer butterfly races.

Stanford: Formally one of the favorites for the National title, Stanford's chances for the top were effectively dashed when Austin Staab announced he was leaving the school and team at the beginning of January. Still, a top five finish would not be at all surprising, with star swimmers Chad LaTourette (distance) and Eugene Godsoe (backstroke) leading the way. Both have chances at individual titles in their respective events. The Cardinal has huge depth as well, with swimmers such as Alex Coville, David Mosko, Bobby Bollier, Curtis Lovelace, and Trevor Scheid.

Originally posted in two parts at SwimmingWorld.TV. All parts were written before any conference meets took place.

Second Chance Predictions

The fourth Missouri Grand Prix has begun, but the announcement that North Baltimore would not be able to get to Missouri has greatly reduced the meet's popularity and anticipation. Thus, swimmers such as Michael Phelps, Liz Pelton, Felicia Lee, and Todd Patrick no longer need to be accounted for with predictions. So, with these recent new developments, my new predictions:

Friday, February 12:
Women's 200 Free
1 - Chloe Sutton, Mission Viejo
2 - Erika Erndl, Swim Florida
3 - Whitney Myers, FAST

Men's 200 Free
1 - Ous Mellouli, Trojan
2 - Brent Hayden, UBC Dolphins
3 - Ryan Lochte, Daytona Beach

Women's 100 Breast
1 - Annamay Pierse, UCB Dolphins
2 - Keri Hehn, Trojan
3 - Haylee Johnson, UCB Dolphins

Men's 100 Breast
1 - Kosuke Kitajima, Coca-Cola
2 - Eric Shanteau, Longhorn
3 - Matt Lowe, Longhorn

Women's 100 Fly
1 - Denisa Smolenova, Southern Methodist
2 - Angela San Juan Cisneros, Unattached
3 - Justine Clark, Southern Methodist

Men's 100 Fly
1 - Masayuki Kishida, Tucson Ford
2 - Vytautas Janusaitis, Lithuania
3 - Ryan Lochte, Daytona Beach

Women's 400 IM
1 - Tanya Hunks, UBC Dolphins
2 - Stephanie Proud, Gator Swim Club
3 - Shannon Vreeland, Kansas City Blazers

Men's 400 IM
1 - Ous Mellouli, Trojan
2 - Brian Johns, UBC Dolphins
3 - Rexford Tullius, Gator Swim Club

Saturday, February 13:
Women's 200 IM
1 - Whitney Myers, FAST
2 - Erika Erndl, Swim Florida
3 - Shannon Vreeland, Kansas City Blazers

Men's 200 IM
1 - Eric Shanteau, Longhorn
2 - Thiago Pereira, Trojan
3 - Ous Mellouli, Trojan

Women's 50 Free
1 - Amanda Weir, Swim Atlanta
2 - Erika Erndl, Swim Florida
3 - Arlene Semeco, Coral Springs

Men's 50 Free
1 - Brent Hayden, UBC Dolphins
2 - Will Copeland, California Aquatics
3 - Bennett Clark, California Aquatics

Women's 200 Breast
1 - Annamay Pierse, UCB Dolphins
2 - Keri Hehn, Trojan
3 - Haylee Johnson, UCB Dolphins

Men's 100 Breast
1 - Kosuke Kitajima, Coca-Cola
2 - Eric Shanteau, Longhorn
3 - Neil Versfeld, Athens Bulldogs

Women's 100 Back
1 - Whitney Myers, FAST
2 - Aubrey Peacock, BSS
3 - Petra Klosova, Unattached

Men's 100 Back
1 - Nick Thoman, SwimMAC Carolina
2 - Ryan Lochte, Daytona Beach
3 - Markus Rogan, Trojan

Women's 400 Free
1 - Chloe Sutton, Mission Viejo
2 - Melanie Klaren, Unattached
3 - Tanya Hunks, UBC Dolphins

Men's 400 Free
1 - Ous Mellouli, Trojan
2 - Ricardo Monasterio, DANA
3 - Deni Cullom, Mission Viejo

Sunday, February 14:
Women's 800 Free
1 - Chloe Sutton, Mission Viejo
2 - Savannah King, UBC Dolphins
3 - Tristen Baxter, Clover

Men's 1,500 Free
1 - Ous Mellouli, Trojan
2 - Ricardo Monasterio, DANA
3 - Jan Daniec, Mission Viejo

Women's 200 Back
1 - Stephanie Proud, Gator Swim Club
3 - Aubrey Peacock, BSS
3 - Lauren Lavigna, UMIZ

Men's 200 Back
1 - Nick Thoman, SwimMAC Carolina
2 - Markus Rogan, Trojan
3 - Rexford Tullius, Gator Swim Club

Women's 100 Free
1 - Amanda Weir, Swim Atlanta
2 - Erika Erndl, Swim Florida
3 - Heather McLean, Canada

Men's 100 Free
1 - Brent Hayden, UBC Dolphins
2 - Will Copeland, California Aquatics
3 - Ryan Lochte, Daytona Beach

Women's 200 Fly
1 - Tanya Hunks, UCB Dolphins
2 - Shannon Vreeland, Kansas City Blazers
3 - Denisa Smolenova, Southern Methodist

Men's 200 Fly
1 - Brian Johns, UBC Dolphins
2 - Masayuki Kishida, Tucson Ford
3 - Luiz Azarias, BSS

Monday, February 15:
Women's 1,500 Free
1 - Chloe Sutton, Mission Viejo
2 - Taylor O'Brien, PAAC
3 - Courtney Beidler, THY

Men's 800 Free
1 - Ricardo Monasterio, DANA
2 - Deni Cullom, Mission Viejo
3 - Jan Daniec, Mission Viejo

Screw the Super Bowl, Bring on the Missouri Grand Prix!

I'm not the biggest fan of football. I never have been. I think swimming's just a better sport, and that includes for spectators. (Unfortunately, most of America disagrees with me.) Anyway, I've already shown my controversial predictions for Missouri, so I will go over some of the big storylines headed into the meet.

*Lochte vs. Phelps
Lochte makes his post-Rome return to competition in Missouri, and he will race none other than Michael Phelps, his biggest rival, in four races. His short course season undone by an ankle injury, Lochte has an big time uphill battle to catch Phelps in either the 200 free or 100 fly, while the 100 back will be one of the most anticipated races of the meet. Lochte will watch Phelps tackle his first long course 200 IM since Beijing, since then, Lochte has lowered Phelps' world record in the event. Expect one of the greatest duels in swimming when these two meet once again in the event in Irvine this summer for Nationals.

*The University of Southern California International Center for Swimming Excellence
Dave Salo has built up a huge group of international stars to go along with his college team at USC. Salo coaches swimmers from five foreign countries in addition to Americans. Among those competing in Missouri: Markus Rogan of Austria, a double Olympic silver medalist in backstroke taking on some of the best American (and thus, world) backstrokers of 2010; Thiago Pereira of Brazil, fourth in both IMs in Rome, who, in addition to Michael Phelps, gets a re-match in the 200 IM with Eric Shanteau, the man who outtouched him for bronze in Rome by two tenths of a second; Ous Mellouli of Tunisia, who, in addition to his traditional distance races which he should dominate, will take on Phelps and Lochte in the 200 free, and return to the IMs, at one point his focus events; and Kosuke Kitajima of Japan, the greatest breaststroker in history, and coming off missing the Worlds in 2009, Kitajima will battle American Eric Shanteau, one of the big beneficiaries from Kitajima's absence in Rome.

*The Future of Women's Swimming
Liz Pelton. She went 1:51.48 in her 200 yard back in Long Beach, and she has been swimming lights-out since Indianapolis last summer. Swimming in her first long course meet since Rome, expect Pelton to pace the world in her best events and jump to AT LEAST the top three in the world rankings in both backstrokes and the 200 IM. We could see 1:01 (100 back), 2:10 (200 back), and 2:12-high (200 IM), times the world has yet to see in textile 2010. Some swimmers may have trouble getting back down to their best times this year, but Pelton won't. This summer was just a glimpse into what Elizabeth Pelton is capable of.

*The Greatest, the Bridesmaid, the Newcomer, and the Veteran
The men's 100 back is always one of the best races in a meet in America, and in Missouri it will be even better with some foreign talent in the field. First, you've got the 2007 World Champs Silver Medalist in Ryan Lochte. Next is the man who now holds the 100 back short course meters world record, Nick Thoman. The 2004 Olympic silver medalist, Markus Rogan, is once again training in the U.S., and he will be a player here. Oh, and some Phelps guy. Sounds like a race. All of these guys swim pretty similar races and are back-half swimmers, so it will be a close one for sure. I've stated who I think will touch first, but it's really anyone's guess.

*"I Wanna Be a Sprinter"
So Michael Phelps wants to be a sprinter, huh? He wants to be dominant in the 100 free like he is in so many other events. In 2009, he went for the 100 free at the two Grand Prix meets he swam in and got defeat handed to him by the likes of Fred Bousquet and Brent Hayden, both getting pretty excited with their defeats of Phelps. In Missouri, Phelps goes head-to-head with Hayden once again. While it will be a good marker for Phelps in his quest for speed, it will give the swimming world a chance to see how Hayden is progressing in his attempts to return to the top of the sprinting world. He finished fourth in the 100 in Rome this past summer as the fastest competitor wearing a LZR (or similar) suit.