WRITTEN BY SHARON ROBB
January 15, 2011
Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, in the midst of heavy training, met again in a championship final Saturday night at the Austin Grand Prix at University of Texas.
Michael Phelps 2, Ryan Lochte 0.
The friendly rivals, no where near top form, met in the 100-meter backstroke with Phelps winning in 54.14 seconds, one of the few events he doesn’t have many wins in. Lochte finished third behind Nick Thoman in 54.95. Thoman’s time was 54.73.
It was the second consecutive night Phelps won a head-to-head matchup against Lochte. Phelps also won the 100-meter butterfly on Friday night.
Phelps went out fast in the first 50 meters and had enough speed left to finish impressively.
“So far, so good,” said Phelps who admitted his legs were burning with pain in the last few meters.
Phelps, the 14-time Olympic champion, was scheduled to swim the “B” final of the 200-meter breaststroke but scratched as expected.
About 45 minutes later, Lochte came back in the “B” final of the 400-meter freestyle and finished second to Russian Ediz Yildirimer of The Woodlands Swim Team who won in a career-best 3:59.59 after chasing down Lochte, the early leader, in the final 150 meters. Lochte finished in 4:00.24.
Phelps and Lochte are getting noticed more for their on-deck clothes, Phelps wearing a Baltimore Ravens jersey before his swim and Lochte wearing a pink Speedo.
The second day turned into an interesting bag of results from 35-year-old Jason Lezak to lanky teenager Missy Franklin of Colorado Stars.
Lezak, the 2008 Olympic relay hero from Rose Bowl Aquatics, topped a competitive field to win the 50-meter freestyle in 22.57.
“When I took my last breath I could see them and gave it a little extra push,” Lezak said.
Franklin, current Grand Prix points leader, won two events within a matter of minutes, the 50-meter freestyle in 25.50 and 100-meter backstroke under one minute in a career-best 59.75, the first time she dipped under one minute. Stanford’s Julia Smit was second in the 50 in 25.69.
“I am so excited,” the 6-foot-tall Franklin told reporters after the race. “I didn’t think I was going to go under a minute at all. I always get nervous when I have to go back-to-back races like that but my coaches really helped me.”
In other finals:
Elaine Breeden won the 200-meter butterfly by two full seconds ahead of 2008 U.S. Olympic teammate Kathleen Hersey in 2:10.89 to sweep both butterfly events.
Tyler Clary won the men’s 200-meter butterfly in 1:59.37, not even coming close to Phelps’ 10-year-old pool record of 1:54.92. Phelps sat out the event. Todd Patrick of North Baltimore was second in 2:00.98.
Chip Peterson won the men’s 400-meter freestyle in 3:53.64 and Kate Ziegler won the women’s 400-meter freestyle in 4:08.28 while Katie Hoff was second in 4:09.51.
Hometown favorite and California-bound Eric Shanteau won the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:12.12. Haylee Johnson won the women’s 200-meter breaststroke in 2:31.40.
Washington State won the women’s 800-meter freestyle relay in 8:27.86 and Santa Clara Swim Club won the men’s relay in 7:45.54.
The second meet of the series concludes on Sunday night.
Sharon Robb can be reached at sha11cats@aol.com.
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