Phelps Takes Two More National Championships

Brings his meet total to five in action at Day 4 of ConocoPhillips National Championships

Aug. 3, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS - Finishing his second race just three-hundredths off the world record, Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md.) pocketed two more National Championships Friday, bringing his meet total to five. Meanwhile, 200m breaststroke champions Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa.) and Rebecca Soni (Plainsboro, N.J.) each won their second titles of the meet in the 100m distance.

The ConocoPhillps USA Swimming National Championships will conclude tomorrow night with finals in the 200m IM, 50m freestyle, men's 800m freestyle and women's 1500m freestyle.

Phelps kicked off the night winning the 200m freestyle in U.S. Open record time. He flipped on his own world record pace at the 100-meter mark and held his lead for the final 100 meters to earn his 35th career National title in 1:44.98. Teammate Peter Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich.) closed in down the homestretch, but settled for second in 1:45.45. Australia's Kenrick Monk took third in 1:47.40.

Phelps continued on his gold-medal path with a second win in the 100 back. After third-place finisher Ben Hesen (Jeffersonville, Ind.) flipped under the World-record pace at the 50, Phelps came off the first wall to surface ahead of the competition. He finished first in 53.01 - just .03 off Aaron Peirsol's four month-old world record. The time is the second-fastest ever recorded and a U.S. Open and meet record.

Katie Hoff (Towson, Md.) notched her second National title of this meet, winning the 200m freestyle in U.S. Open record time. The 2004 Olympian finished in 1:57.57, 96-hundreths ahead of her `04 teammate Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas), who was second in 1:58.53. Kate Ziegler (Great Falls, Va.) finished third in 1:58.56.

"I was trying to hold them off," Hoff said. "I tried to focus. I think I was a little less scared in the 200 because it is more familiar. The 200 free is a good event for me. I just wanted to go out and try to have the best time I could."

Reigning world record-holder Brendan Hansen claimed his second victory of the meet, winning the 100m breaststroke in 59.59. Hansen, the world champion in the event, trailed slightly at the turn, but pulled ahead in the final 50 meters to post the fastest time of the year. In second was Olympian Mark Gangloff (Akron, Ohio) in 1:00.43 while Eric Shanteau (Lilburn, Ga.) was third in 1:01.50.

"I am really happy with that," Hansen said. "It was faster than what I went in March, and I am not feeling as good this week. It has been a rough week, but it has gotten much better. I took note of a lot of things in the notebook that I will remember for next year."

Facing a deep field in the 100m breaststroke, Rebecca Soni earned her second national title this week. Soni out-touched Olympians Tara Kirk (Bremerton, Wash.) and Megan Jendrick, (Puyallup, Wash.) as well as American record-holder Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif.) on the second lap to finish 1:07.06. Jendrick finished in 1:07.19 for second place while Kirk touched in third at 1:07.35.

Longhorn Aquatics' Hayley McGregory (Houston, Texas) concluded the women's individual portion of the evening with her first National title in the 100m back. Her time of 1:00.93 was just one-tenth faster than reigning national champion Leila Vaziri (Coral Springs, Fla.) second-place time of 1:01.03. Indiana native Jennifer Connolly of Purdue took the bronze in 1:01.38.

The 2007 ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships will conclude tomorrow with prelims at 9 a.m., and finals at 6 p.m. Finals of all events will be streamed live at www.usaswimming.org. There is no cost for the webcast.

Notes: USA Swimming celebrated, "Make a Splash Day" today, with a series of water-safety themed events. Olympian heroes Rowdy Gaines and Janet Evans announced a proclamation by Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, which declared next week (Aug. 5-11) as "Make a Splash Water Safety Week" in Indianapolis. In addition, Gaines and Jim Ellis, subject of the movie PRIDE, were guest speakers to approximately 250 local swimmers.