COLUMBIA, Missouri, February 11. THE second evening of long course competition featured the U.S. swimmers getting back into the driver seat at the USA Swimming Grand Prix held in Columbia, Mo. A day after Canada dominated the podium, the U.S. returned in a big way with the first meet record of this year. Additionally, a heartwarming story occurred as two U.S. National Teamers pledged their love in front of everyone in the building with an engagement on the podium.
Trojan's Eric Shanteau downed the meet record in the men's 200 breast with a 2:10.47. That effort clipped the 2:10.86 set by Shanteau back in 2008 while representing Longhorn, giving him confidence at this point of the season heading toward Olympic Trials. Shanteau also bettered his season best of 2:10.72, which ranked him second in the world behind Laurent Carnol (2:09.78). Missouri's Jack Brown (2:14.19) and Auburn's Adam Klein (2:14.47) finished second and third.
Brazil's Joanna Maranhao topped the women's 200 fly in 2:09.73, while Stanford's Elaine Breeden took second in 2:10.14. Canada's Katerine Savard placed third in 2:10.50. Maranhao moved to 10th in the world rankings with the winning swim.
Bolles' Joseph Schooling claimed the men's 200 fly title in 2:00.08, while Brazil's Leonardo De Deus finished second in 2:00.52. Canada's Stefan Hirniak snared third in 2:00.60. Schooling improved to 14th in the rankings with his swim.
SwimAtlanta's Amanda Weir touched out Jane Trepp, 25.44 to 25.49, for the women's 50 free victory. Tucson Ford's Christine Magnusson picked up third in 25.61.
Brazil's Cesar Cielo followed with a strong time of 22.13 to win the men's 50 free. He picked up fourth in the overall rankings behind Nathan Adrian (21.94), Matt Targett (21.98) and Fred Bousquet (22.05). Bousquet placed second in 22.26 for Auburn, while now Olympic legend Jason Lezak finished third in 22.75.
Aquajets' Rachel Bootsma just missed her season best of 1:00.03, which ranks third in the world this year, by winning in 1:00.20 in the women's 100 back. Auburn's Laure Manaudou continued on the comeback trail with a second-place time of 1:00.80 to jump to seventh in the world rankings thus far. That swim marks the top effort of Manaudou's return to competitive swimming after retiring to have a child. Canada's Julia Wilkinson finished third tonight in 1:01.08.
Tucson Ford's Matt Grevers might have threw down a strong time in the men's 100 back with a 53.57 to win, but the news of the night was when he got down – on one knee – to propose to girlfriend Annie Chandler after accepting the gold medal on the podium for his win. She said yes, and the proposal took the swimming Twitter universe by storm. Grevers barely missed his season best of 53.55, which ranks second behind Ryosuke Irie (53.32). Schroeder YMCA's Adam Mania touched second in 55.42, while Brazil's Thiago Pereira earned third in 55.54.
Video of podium proposal
Canada's Barbara Jardin held off Curl Burke's Katie Ledecky, 14, 4:09.17 to 4:09.30, in the women's 400 free title race. Canada's Samantha Cheverton wound up third overall in 4:09.56 in a close 1-2-3 finish in the middle distance event.
Canada swept the podium in the men's 400 free as Ryan Cochrane (3:53.47) and Keegan Zanatta (3:53.60) had a battle for the event title. Kier Maitland earned third for Canada with a 3:56.18.
Tianna Rissling won the women's 200 breast in 2:27.98, while Minnesota's Jillian Tyler took second in 2:29.83. Mariya Chekanovych of Simon Fraser placed third in 2:30.05. Chandler, shortly after getting engaged, placed 19th overall with a 2:36.47 in the C final.