U.S. Nationals: Lochte Wins Gold in 200 IM, Sets Championship & U.S. Open Records
Friday, July 10, 2009 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Sophomore Teresa Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa.) and former Gator swimmer Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.) led Florida representation on the second-to-last day of the 2009 U.S. National Championships, Crippen qualifying for finals in the 200 fly and 200 back and Lochte qualifying in the 100 free and 200 IM Friday at the IU Natatorium at IUPUI in Indianapolis.
After electing to withdrawal from one event each, Crippen the 200 fly and Lochte the 100 free, to focus on the 200 back and 200 IM, respectively, both Gators returned ready to race Friday evening.
Lochte dominated the field from the get-go in finals of the 200 IM, setting new Championship and U.S. Open records with his first-place, gold medal performance of 1:54.56. Lochte fell three-tenths of a second short of Michael Phelps' World and American records in the event (1:54.23), but earned a shot to represent the United States in the event at the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome later in July.
Crippen swam a quick race in the women's 200-meter backstroke preliminaries, finishing fifth overall with a time of 2:11.82, placing her on the UF all-time top 10 list, but fell just shy of duplicating the performance in finals, finishing eighth in 2:12.69.
Florida's Mike Joyce (Voorhees, N.J.) joined Lochte in the 200-meter IM finals field, and after swimming a career-best 2:05.02 in prelims, Joyce advanced to the C final, shaving yet another second off his time (2:04.15). The mark lowered Joyce's personal best, but due to a disqualification, Joyce did not place in the field of competitors.
In heats of the women's 800-meter freestyle, former Gator Caroline Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) swam to a seventh-place finish (8:38.88), qualifying for the eight-woman championship final, to be swum during Saturday finals.
In men's distance freestyle action, rising junior Joey Pedraza (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) swam a career-best mark in heats of the men's 1500-meter freestyle, clocking 15:27.94, qualifying as the second alternate after placing 10th in the field. A start list for the 1500-meter free, set to take place on the final day of competition, will be available Saturday.
U.S. Nationals/World Trials Day Four Finals Results
FLORIDA WOMEN
Teresa Crippen 200-meter backstroke, 2:12.69, 8th overall
FLORIDA MEN
Mike Joyce 200-meter individual medley, 2:04.15, DQ
Ryan Lochte 200-meter individual medley, 1:54.56, 1st (Gold Medalist, Championship Record, U.S. Open Record)
U.S. Nationals/World Trials Day Four Preliminaries Results
FLORIDA WOMEN
Kristen Beales 800-meter freestyle, 8:57.67, 36th
Jamie Bohunicky 200-meter butterfly, 2:16.72, 32nd
Caroline Burckle 800-meter freestyle, 8:38.88, 7th (advances to championship heat)
Teresa Crippen 200-meter butterfly, 2:12.48, 12th (advances to B final)
200-meter backstroke, 2:11.82, 5th (advances to A final)
Sharla Milne 800-meter freestyle, 9:03.01, 52nd
Sarah Peterson 200-meter backstroke, 2:21.19, 64th
Corinne Showalter 800-meter freestyle, 8:50.20, 20th
Kirsten Smith 200-meter backstroke, 2:16.98, 31st
FLORIDA MEN
Mike Joyce 200-meter individual medley, 2:05.02, 27th (career best mark, advances to C final)
Ryan Lochte 100-meter freestyle, 48.16, 2nd (advances to A final)
200-meter individual medley, 1:57.05, 1st (advances to A final)
Matt Norton 200-meter individual medley, 2:11.97, 58th
Joey Pedraza 1500-meter freestyle, 15:27.94, 10th (alternate)
Jeff Raymond 100-meter freestyle, 51.74, 49th
Logan Storie 1500-meter freestyle, 15:50.43, 28th
Jason Taylor 1500-meter freestyle, 16:06.31, 43rd
Rex Tullius 200-meter individual medley, 2:04.88, 26th (alternate)
Gator fans can follow the final day of competition at the 2009 U.S. Nationals/World Championships online here or visit www.UniversalSports.com/swimming for highlights, full-length videos and photos. UniversalSports.com and swimnetwork.com will provide a live webcast each evening of the Swimming National Championships finals, from July 7 – 11, at 6 p.m. ET. Two-time Gold Medalist Mel Stewart will be hosting a 30 minute preview show at 5:30 p.m. ET before each day of competition only on-line.
-UF-
