PHOENIX, Arizona, November 8. OLYMPIC, World and NCAA champion Dana Vollmer set six U.S. Masters Swimming national records at the BEST Masters 6-tathlon meet today.
Vollmer made a surprise visit to the Dottie Boryeko/Brophy Sports Campus, taking advantage of the short course yards meet format that offered a 200 freestyle, followed by 100s of the strokes and a 200 IM. Vollmer, 21, and representing RCP Tiburon Masters, set marks in the 200 free, 50 fly, 100 fly, 50 free, 100 free and 200 IM for the 18-24 age group.
Vollmer started things off with a national record in the 200 free, swimming an astonishing 1:43.28, just two seconds slower than her American record time of 1:41.53, which she set last February at the Pac 10 championships. The former Masters national record was 1:50.98, set in 2001 by fellow 2004 Olympian Rachel Komisarz.
Just 15 minutes later, Vollmer set two national records in one race. In the 100 fly event, Vollmer split 24.54 to erase the national record of 25.46, then finished the race in 52.30, taking down the year-old national record of 55.63 by Laura Davis.
Vollmer was back on record pace in the 100 free about 30 minutes later, again setting two national records in one race. Her 50 split of 23.65 broke the national record of 23.78 set just last May by Lindsay Kiyama. She swam a 48.29 in the 100 free to erase the six-year-old mark of 50.67 by Jessica Foschi. She completed her meet with a new record in the 200 IM almost immediately after the 100 free, swimming a 2:02.48. Sara Schweitzer held the former record since 2000 with a 2:05.30.
Andy Grant, an NCAA All-American for Stanford University from 2005-07 and a member of the 2007 Pan American Games team, also set five national records in the 18-24 age group.
Grant set his first record in his pet event, the 200 free, with a jaw-dropping 1:35.02, erasing the former mark of 1:37.07 set last year by Joseph Schneider.
After narrowly missing the national records in the 100 fly and 100 back, Grant got his name in the record books again with a 43.77 in the 100 free, erasing the record of 43.89 set in 2001 by Romain Barnier, a former NCAA champion at Auburn University and currently a coach for such swimmers as former world record holder Rafael Munoz.
Grant's biggest achievement of the day came at the end of a grueling six-event schedule. His time of 1:51.83 in the 200 IM erased the 15-year-old national record set by New Zealand Olympian Simon Percy, which had stood at 1:52.82.
Not content to let the 100 fly record get away from him, Grant swam a 100 fly time trial in 49.03, successfully snatching away the record of 49.37 by Adam Conway, set in 2002. Grant had swum a 49.41 in the actual 100 fly race earlier in the day.