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IRVINE, California, August 18. THE first day of preliminary swimming is complete at the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships held in Irvine, Calif.
Women's 50 fly
Australia went 1-2 in qualifying with Marieke Guehrer proving to be the class of the sprint fly with a 26.19 in the morning. That performance moved her up to sixth in the world in the rankings. Teammate Emily Seebohm finished second in 26.36 to tie for 11th in the world, while teammate
Yolane Kukla qualified sixth in 26.56, but will miss out on the A final due to the two-per-country rule. Kukla was the fastest Australian this year with a fourth-ranked 25.92 from Australian Nationals in March. Australia's Stephanie Rice (26.78) also was bumped out of the A final with an eighth-place finish.
Japan's Yuka Kato qualified third in 26.40, while Brazil's Gabriella Silva finished fourth in 26.42. Kato's time fell just short of her Japanese record of 26.34 set back in 1998.
USA's Jessica Hardy claimed the fifth seed in 26.52, while teammate Christine Magnuson took a spot in the finale with a seventh-place 26.65. Hong Kong's Hannah Wilson (26.86) and Canada's Katerine Savard (27.05) also made the finale, while USA's Kara Lynn Joyce (27.01) was bumped out of the A final. Wilson will be shooting for her Hong Kong record of 26.66 in finals.
Men's 50 fly
Australia's Geoff Huegill paced prelims with a top time of 23.27 to move into second in the world behind only Spain's Rafael Munoz, who clocked a 23.15 at the European Championships. South Africa's Roland Schoeman placed second in 23.41 to move to fourth in the world, while Brazil's Cesar Cielo took third in 23.48 for seventh in the world.
USA's Tim Phillips clocked a 23.69 for fourth in qualifying, while Australia's Mitchell Patterson finished fifth in 23.80. Brazil's Nicholas Santos captured sixth with a time of 23.82, while Japan's Masayuki Kishida touched seventh in 23.85. USA's Cullen Jones picked up the final transfer spot with a 23.87.
There were no two-per-country A final bumps in the men's sprint fly.
Women's 200 free
Similar to the women's 50 fly for the Australians, plenty of U.S. swimmers were bumped from the A final in the women's 200 free due to the two-per-country rule. The U.S. went 1-2-3-8 in qualifying with Allison Schmitt (1:56.23) and Morgan Scroggy (1:57.27) claiming the two transfer spots. Schmitt and Scroggy both cleared the Pan Pacific record of 1:57.48 set by Claudia Poll back in 1997.
Schmitt also improved her second-ranked standing in the world from her previous best of 1:56.84, but still remained behind Federica Pellegrini's 1:55.45. Scroggy, meanwhile, moved into a seventh-ranked tie with Femke Heemskerk. Dana Vollmer (1:57.45) and Katie Hoff (1:58.40) were the two top-eight bumps for the U.S. contingent with both finishing short of their top 10 ranked season bests of 1:56.93 and 1:57.50, respectively.
Australia's Blair Evans (1:57.71) and Kylie Palmer (1:57.89) finished fourth and fifth, and earned the two Aussie spots in the championship heat, while Canada's Genevieve Saumur took sixth in 1:58.11. Japan's Haruka Ueda touched seventh in 1:58.36, while New Zealand's Tash Hind (1:59.57) and Canada's Barbara Jardin (1:59.70) moved all the way up from 14th and 15th place finishes for spots in the finale due to six U.S. and Aussie bumps ahead of her.
Men's 200 free
The U.S. went 1-2-6 in the event with Ryan Lochte (1:46.10) and Peter Vanderkaay (1:46.66) claiming the top transfer spots into the A final. Lochte has already been faster this year with a third-ranked 1:45.78, while Vanderkaay improved upon his sixth-ranked season best of 1:46.84. Ricky Berens was bumped to the B final with a sixth-place 1:47.55.
Australia also suffered a bump with a 3-4-5 effort from Kenrick Monk (1:47.38), Thomas Fraser-Holmes (1:47.39) and Nicholas Ffrost (1:47.48). Ffrost will swim in the B final this evening.
South Africa's Jean Basson took seventh in 1:47.80, while Korea's Tae Hwan Park finished eighth in 1:47.85. Japan's Yoshihiro Okumura (1:48.07) and Yuki Kobori (1:48.09) were the beneficiaries of the bumps, moving up from ninth and 10th into the A final.
Women's 100 back
In what should be a heavyweight shootout in the finale, Australia's Emily Seebohm and USA's Natalie Coughlin both cleared 1:00 during prelims with a 59.62 and 59.89, respectively. Seebohm took down Coughlin's 2002 Pan Pac record of 59.72, while Coughlin closed to within striking distance this evening. The sub-1:00 effort is Coughlin's first this year, while Seebohm leads the world with a 59.21 from the Australian Nationals in March.
Australia's Sophie Edington finished third in 1:00.34, while teammate Belinda Hocking was bumped after a fifth-place 1:00.51. Japan's Aya Terakawa placed fourth in 1:00.41, while USA's Missy Franklin picked up the second U.S. transfer spot with a sixth-place 1:00.56. Japan's Shiho Sakai made her way into the finale with a 1:00.58, while USA's Elizabeth Pelton was bumped after an eighth-place 1:00.63.
Brazil's Fabiola Molina and Canada's Julia Wilkinson wound up being the beneficiaries of the bumps with a 10th-place 1:00.82 and 11th-place 1:00.87 moving into the championship heat.
Men's 100 back
In the finale that likely felt the most drastic impact due to the two-per-country rule, Aaron Peirsol (53.85) and Nick Thoman (53.96) of the U.S. were bumped from the A final after qualifying fourth and fifth.
USA's David Plummer (53.33) and Ryan Lochte (53.69) nabbed the two U.S. transfer spots into the A final with a 1-2 finish. Plummer moved up to fifth in the world, while Lochte jumped to 10th. Peirsol, however, moved up into the A final after Lochte elected to scratch the 100 back.
Australia's Ashley Delaney touched third in 53.78, while teammate Hayden Stoeckel earned sixth in 54.04. Japan's Ryosuke Irie (54.18) and Junya Koga (54.39) also made the championship heat, while Brazil's Guilherme Guido (9th/54.79) and New Zealand's Gareth Tune (12th/55.00) moved up into Peirsol and Thoman's vacated spots in the A final.
Women's 200 fly
The U.S. went 1-2-6 in the event with Mary Mohler drawing the B final bump with a sixth-place 2:09.18. Teresa Crippen (2:07.03) and Kathleen Hersey (2:08.03) qualified in first and second in the event with Crippen moving to fourth in the world, just behind Hersey's third-ranked season best of 2:07.00 from U.S. Nationals.
Canada's Audrey Lacroix placed third overall in 2:08.20 to move to 11th in the world, while Japan's Natsumi Hoshi finished fourth in 2:08.25. Australia's Samantha Hamill grabbed fifth in qualifying with a 2:08.30, while teammate Jessicah Schipper touched seventh in 2:09.52. Japan's Yurie Yano picked up eighth-place honors in 2:09.85, while MacKenzie Downing of Canada moved into Mohler's bumped spot with a ninth-placed 2:10.23.
Men's 200 fly
USA's Michael Phelps paced a quartet of swimmers in the 1:55s with a top-qualifying time of 1:55.23. He moved to fourth in the world in the event with the time, while Japan's Takeshi Matsuda took second in 1:55.47, off his third-ranked season best of 1:55.18.
Australia's Nick D'Arcy placed third with a 1:55.63, but has the potential to rival Phelps in the finale with a top-ranked 1:54.61 from the Australian Nationals in March. USA's Tyler Clary also made the A final with a fourth-place 1:55.72 to move to sixth in the world.
China's Wu Peng (1:56.18), Brazil's Kaio Marcio Almeida (1:56.74) and Japan's Ryusuke Sakata (1:56.85) earned spots in the finale, while Japan's Kazuya Kaneda drew a bump into the B final with an eighth-place 1:57.14. Canada's Stefan Hirniak moved up into the championship heat with a ninth-place 1:57.31.
Slower heats of the distance free events also took place. Full reports of these results will come at the completion of the timed finals of those events this evening.
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