Lochte breaks two more world marks

Lochte breaks two more world marks By Sara Hunninghake // USA Swimming // April 8, 2006 Visit USA Swimming SHANGHAI – If Ryan Lochte didn’t quite comprehend the significance of setting a world record the first time around, he certainly got a better understanding Sunday night at the Short Course World Championships (April 5-9, Shanghai). Lochte followed up Friday’s world-record performance in the 200m individual medley by dominating the backstroke events on the final night of the championships, setting two world records in the 200m backstroke (1:49.05) and in the 100m back (49.99) as the lead-off leg of the 400m medley relay. Lochte earned the Male Swimmer of the Meet award after winning six total medals – three of them gold – and setting two world records. The United States won the team award, tallying a total of 21 medals (six gold, seven silver, eight bronze). “With the first world record (on Friday), I was so shocked that I didn’t think it had really happened,” said Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla. / Florida), “and now, it’s just like ‘wow, that was awesome.’ I’ve thought about breaking world records before, but tonight I was just going out there, racing tough and having fun.” Lochte’s time of 1:49.05 in the 200 back was almost a second and a half faster than the old mark of 1:50.43, previously held by Austria’s Markus Rogan of Austria. Lochte finished this race almost two seconds ahead of Rogan, who posted a 1:50.97 for the silver medal. Team USA’s Jayme Cramer (Westfield, Ind. / Southeastern SC / Stanford) took seventh in 1:56.54. “The 200 back is always tough,” Lochte said. “I think one of the hardest events because it just kills your legs. It was nice to have yesterday off to relax and have a normal day, then get focused and my mind set for today.” In the last race of the meet, with the entire crowd on its feet, Lochte made another statement by taking down the 100m back world record as the lead-off swimmer for the medley relay. His time of 49.99 was over three-tenths faster than the previous mark of 50.32, set by former Stanford swimmer Peter Marshall at the 2004 NCAA Championships. “It was my last race, and I just wanted to give everything I had because there wasn’t another race left,” Lochte said. “I had three other guys right behind me, so I knew I had to do my best for them.” Lochte’s world record put the Americans up in front by a considerable margin, however the Australians began to creep up on Scott Usher (Grand Island, Neb. / Wyoming Aquatics) in the breaststroke and Cramer in the butterfly. It came down to the freestyle, and in the end, Australia’s Ashley Callus outtouched Nick Brunelli (Mansfield, Mass. / Sun Devil Aquatics) to give the Aussies the gold (3:27.71). The U.S. was just three-tenths off the pace, finishing in 3:28.00. “I love being put in that position, but I didn’t get the result I was hoping for,” Brunelli said. “I wish I saw the Australians a little more. I’m a racer, and I really like being next to guys and racing them. I feel like I can beat just about anybody out there head to head. I swam well, but I just didn’t get my hand on the wall first. “Watching Ryan break the world record was awesome. We all knew that he had a shot at it, and that was going to start us off. All of us were in a good position being on the outside in lane eight, and I think that helped him a lot, getting away from everybody. It got us all fired up and ready to swim.” It might have appeared that Rachel Komisarz (Louisville, Ky. / Lakeside) was in a less than ideal position swimming in lane one of the 100m fly final. However, the lane assignment set her up perfectly to capture the silver medal with a time of 57.43. It was Komisarz’s first individual medal of the championships. Mary DeScenza (Naperville, Ill. / Athens Bulldog) was eighth with a 58.90. “I knew I had to be out and aggressive on the first 50,” Komisarz said, “but I tried to stay relaxed and then just hammered it home. I knew I could bring it back faster than anybody, so I had to be confident and know I could do it. It was all about swimming my race and not worrying about what everyone else was doing.” Tara Kirk (Bremerton, Wash. / Palo Alto Stanford) captured her second individual medal of the championships, winning silver in the women’s 200m ***. Kirk, who took home gold last night in the 100m ***, clocked a 2:21.77, only a second behind China’s Qi ***. Competing in her first event of the week, Rebecca Soni (Plainsboro, N.J. / Scarlet) just missed the podium, taking fourth (2:24.06). “I was happy with second place,” Kirk said. “I was pretty tired after a lot of racing this week, but I wanted to take it out and see what happened. These girls are great racers and great athletes. I certainly just wanted to swim a good race against them.” In the men’s 1500m free, Larsen Jensen (Bakersfield, Calif. / Trojan) was one place out of a medal, taking fourth with a time of 14:50.55. Chris Thompson (Roseburg, Ore. / Club Wolverine) was less than eight seconds behind him in 14:58.23, good for sixth place. As a preview of the freestyle leg of the medley relay, Brunelli competed in the 100m free early in the session, narrowly missing a medal with a fourth-place finish and a time of 47.91. Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill. / Scout Aquatics / Northwestern) posted a 54.28 to place seventh in the men’s 100m IM. South Africa’s Ryk Neethling set a new Championship record of 52.42 en route to winning gold. Swimming in her second race of the night in the 200m free, DeScenza turned in a 1:57.52 for seventh place. Maritza Correia (Valrico, Fla. / Athens Bulldog) took eighth in the women’s 50m free with a time of 25.23. from www.usolympicteam.com/132_45810.htm