Missy Franklin, Becca Mann Double To Close Arena Grand Prix
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ORLANDO, Florida, February 16. BOTH Missy Franklin and Becca Mann completed difficult doubles in successful fashion to close out the Arena Grand Prix in Orlando.
Meanwhile, Tyler Clary clinched another gold medal en route to cracking into the $3k club in overall race winnings, joining Ryan Lochte as well as Franklin and Mann. The latter duo will be turning down the cash to remain NCAA eligible.
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MEN'S 400 MEDLEY RELAY FINALS
WOMEN'S 400 MEDLEY RELAY FINALS
MEN'S 1500 FREE FINALS
Club Wolverine's Michael Klueh led wire-to-wire as he turnedin a 15:29.34 for the distance freestyle triumph. That gave him his first gold of the ArenaGrand Prix, along with a trio of silvers and a bronze. Davie's Esteban Enderica touched a distancesecond in 15:34.82, while Mexico's Arturo Perez Vertti picked up third in15:48.82.
Germany's Max Bock finished fourth in 15:57.17, while Venezuela'sAndy Arteta turned in a fifth-place 15:58.79. Luis Ventura Villagrana(16:03.37), Alejandro Gomez (16:04.71) and Joey Pedraza (16:14.44) comprisedthe rest of the top eight in the event.
MEN'S 100 FREE FINALS
California's Anthony Ervin cracked the 50-second barrier enroute to his second sprint victory of the weekend as he touched in 49.85. That swim is only half-a-second off Ervin'sin-season career best of 49.24 from the Santa Clara meet in June of 2001. The time is just his 12th under 50seconds, and ranks 10th in Ervin's career. Ervin proved to be particularly aggressivethis evening, going out in 23.13, before holding onto the win down the stretch.
Scotland's Robbie Renwick raced to second in 50.36, while Bitterfelder'sKevin Leithold earned third in 50.83. Tim Squires touched fourth overall in 51.15, while Conor Dwyer placedfifth in 51.49.
Bolles' Santo Condorelli (51.60), Australia's Bobby Hurley(51.62) and Redlands' Joey Hale (52.00) finished sixth through eighth. Venezuela's Jesus Lopez topped the B final in52.14, touching out Blake Worsley (52.16).
WOMEN'S 100 FREE FINALS
Colorado Stars' Missy Franklin kept on steamrolling thecompetition on this Arena Grand Prix, as she scorched the field with a 28.38final 50 meters en route to a winning effort of 55.37. That's her fourth gold in Orlando, and 13thoverall. Just a stunning amount ofhardware at these Grand Prix meets.
Tucson Ford's Christine Magnuson earned silver in 55.99 forher second medal of the weekend, while California's Dana Vollmer followed upher gold from night one with a third-place effort of 56.06 this evening.
Canada's Sandrine Mainville pushed the pace early, but woundup taking fourth in 56.26, while SwimMAC's Madison Kennedy took fifth in57.01. American-record holder AmandaWeir took sixth in 57.22, while Dynamo's Nicole Stafford (57.30) and KylieStewart (57.79) finished seventh and eighth. Saint Andrew's Megan Moroney, 15, earned the B final win in 57.64.
MEN'S 200 BACK FINALS
Reigning Olympic gold medalist Tyler Clary posted acommanding victory in the longer form backstroke as he clocked a sizzling1:57.85. That swim gave him his thirdgold of the meet, and fourth medal in Orlando. He's now won four golds on the Arena Grand Prix circuit, with a strongin-season time. Clary's top in-seasoneffort is a 1:56.25 from the 2011 Fran Crippen Swim Meet of Champions.
Germany's Yannick Lebherz surged to second with a time of1:59.31 for his second medal of the meet, while Bolles' Ryan Murphy clinchedthird in 1:59.92 as the top three swimmers all eclipsed the 2:00 mark.
Germany's Felix Wolf took fourth in 2:01.21, while 2008Olympic gold medalist in the 200 back Ryan Lochte faded to fifth in2:01.32. Australia's Bobby Hurley earnedsixth in 2:03.49, while Arkady Vyatchanin took seventh in 2:03.88. Bryce Bohman wound up eighth in 2:05.86. Canada's Charles Francis won the B final in2:04.61.
WOMEN'S 200 BACK FINALS
World-record holder Missy Franklin cruised to a 2:08.47 toeasily win the distance dorsal, and her third gold medal of the meet. Overall,she has now won 12 gold medals along with a silver in Austin for 13 overallmedals on the Arena Grand Prix circuit. HerGrand Prix output is becoming reminiscent of the dominance of FINA World CupQueen Katinka Hosszu during that series last fall.
Canada's Hilary Caldwell placed second in 2:11.11 for hersecond medal of the meet and fourth overall on the circuit, while Dynamo'sKylie Stewart finished third in 2:11.48 for her second bronze of the meet.
Canada's Barbara Jardin (2:13.42), Germany's Eileen Diener(2:13.85), Germany's Selina Hocke (2:15.08), GTAC's Olivia Smoliga (2:15.88)and Saint Andrew's Tasija Karosas (2:15.93) comprised the rest of thechampionship finale. Pointe's GabrielleDeloof earned the B final win in 2:16.79.
MEN'S 200 IM FINALS
In a race littered with Olympians, Ryan Lochte raced to hisfirst gold medal of the meet, and seventh of the Arena Grand Prix circuit, whenhe threw down a 2:01.32 in the 200 IM. He put together one of the strongest breaststroke legs of the field,aside from breaststroke specialist Mike Alexandrov, and then put away the fieldin the freestyle.
Club Wolverine's Tyler Clary took second in 2:02.91 for histhird medal of the meet, while Conor Dwyer rounded out the podium with athird-place time of 2:03.39.
Bolles' Joseph Schooling (2:03.61), Canada's Alec Page(2:04.43), Alexandrov (2:04.79), Canada's Andrew Ford (2:05.55) and Venezuela'sKenek Gil (2:11.87) also competed in the finale. August Querciagrossa stormed to a win in theB final with a time of 2:06.57.
WOMEN'S 200 IM FINALS
Back-to-back Becca Mann raced to her second straight victorytonight, and fourth overall, as she crushed the field in the shorter IM. That gave her the middle-to-distance free andshort-to-middle IM sweep with wins in the 400 and 800 free as well as the 200and 400 IMs. Her time of 2:15.25 dustedher lifetime best of 2:16.73 set during prelims this morning.
Canada's Alexa Komarnycky also pulled off the same 800free/200 IM double, and picked up silver with a 2:16.98 after earning bronze inthe 800. That's her second silver of thecircuit, and third medal overall. KING'sCarolyn McCann picked up her first medal of the meet with a bronze-medal2:18.13.
York Y's Meghan Small (2:18.64), Bahamas' McKayla Lightbourn(2:19.96), Fox Chapel's Heidi Miller (2:20.13), New York's Kim Vandenberg(2:22.67) and York Y's Nicole Price (2:23.10) rounded out the championshipheat. Suburban's Christina Leander tookhome the B final title in 2:22.13.
WOMEN'S 800 FREE FINALS
With the women's 200 IM final just minutes ahead, Clearwater'sBecca Mann, 15, clocked a lifetime best in the distance free with a sterling8:27.34. That swim not only beat KatieLedecky's 8:29 for the best in the world this year, it also bettered Mann'slifetime best of 8:28.54 set at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials. It should be fun watching Mann as sheprogresses towards the 2016 Rio Olympics with this type of ability andpotential.
That's Mann's third title of the meet, along with the 400free and 400 IM. She's now won fivetitles on the Arena Grand Prix circuit with participation in two of the threestops in Minneapolis and here in Orlando.
Ashley Steenvoorden finished well behind with a second-placetime of 8:38.06, while Island's Alexa Komarnycky rounded out the podium with an8:41.67. Samantha Arevallo Salinas justmissed the podium with a fourth-place time of 8:46.77.
York Y youngster Courtney Harnish, 13, took fifth in8:49.13, while SoFlo's Melissa Marinheiro (9:04.32), Blue Dolfins' DanielleMuszkowski (9:05.05) and Wilton Y's Verity Abel (9:05.88) also finished in thetop eight.