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Column by John Lohn
IRVINE, California, August 21. THE Pan Pacific Championships will come to a close this evening, ending four days of competition. Before the meet concludes, here are a few more notes from the William Wollett Aquatic Center.
**It should be one heck of a battle when Japan's Kosuke Kitajima and Eric Shanteau duel tonight in the championship final of the 200 breaststroke. Kitajima led qualifying during preliminaries with a time of 2:09.23. As for Shanteau, he split 33.47 on his last lap to qualify in the second position with a mark of 2:10.10.
The two-time defending Olympic champion in the 200 breast, Kitajima was under world-record pace at the midway point of his prelim swim. We'll find out tonight how much he backed off on the last lap. Kitajima did have to go fast in the morning as two of his countrymen, Naoya Tomita (2:10.47) and Ryo Tateishi (2:10.55) turned in superb times. Tateishi had to settle for a spot in the consolation final due to the two-per-country rule.
**There's a lot of chatter about the possibility of a world record in the last session of the meet, with Rebecca Soni (200 breaststroke) and Ryan Lochte (200 individual medley) causing the stir. Soni is targeting Annamay Pierse's global standard of 2:20.12 while Lochte is chasing his mark of 1:54.10, set at last year's World Championships.
**Rebecca Soni isn't the only storyline in the women's 200 breaststroke. Four-time Olympian Amanda Beard qualified second, clocking 2:25.52. Beard's comeback has already featured her second-best time in the 100 breast and a swim in the 2:24 range in the longer distance is not out of question. Obviously, Beard is positioning herself well two years out from London.
**Canadian Brent Hayden isn't getting as much publicity as he deserves this week. His leadoff leg of 48.18 in the 400 freestyle relay was just a touch behind Michael Phelps' mark of 48.13. Meanwhile, Hayden went 22.04 in the prelims of the 50 free and could be poised to go 21-point in the championship heat.
The co-world champion in the 100 free in 2007, along with Italy's Filippo Magnini, Hayden has carried the banner for the Canadian men this week with distance standout Ryan Cochrane. After winning the 1500 free on Day One of the meet, Cochrane will try to add the 800 free title to his medal collection.
**If the restrictive qualification rules weren't in effect, the United States women would have placed all nine of their 200 individual medley swimmers in the finals of the event. Four American women would have raced in the championship final and five would have taken part in the consolation final. Ariana Kukors (2:11.44) and Caitlin Leverenz (2:11.62) ended up taking the top-two slots.
Morgan Scroggy and Elizabeth Beisel ended up third and fourth while Elizabeth Pelton and Katie Hoff were ninth and 10th. Finishing 14th through 16th were Teresa Crippen, Missy Franklin and Kathleen Hersey.
