FORT COLLINS, Colorado, March 4. THIS weekend at the Colorado 14&Under State Short Course Championships, Missy Franklin, 12, of the Colorado Stars strung together three U.S. National Age Group records in the 11-12 grouping. Two of these records had been standing since the early 1980s.
Franklin nearly became the first sub-50 girl in the division during the 100 free when she clocked a 50.27, which shattered the NAG record of Grace Cornelius (50.89) set in 1985.
She did, however, become the first 1:49 200 free girl in the 11-12 grouping when she hit the wall in 1:49.92 to win the event. That effort shot down the 1:50.40 set by Michele Richardson back in 1982.
Franklin's final NAG record came in the 200 IM when she went 2:04.50 to lower the 2:04.99 set by Carly Geehr in 1997.
Only five individual records in the division stand that were set last century:
1977 – Cynthia Woodhead – 500 free (4:49.51)
1989 – Darby Chang – 100 IM (58.18)
1993 – Whitney Phelps – 100 fly (55.68)
1999 – Felicia Castaneda – 50 breast (29.25)
1999 – Amanda Weir – 50 free (23.15)