Nov. 30, 2006
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Boilermaker All-American Giordan Pogioli defeated current Purdue rookie phenom Aaron Koger faced off in the consolation finals of the 100-meter breaststroke Thursday at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center, highlighting the Old Gold and Black's first night of competition at the U.S. Open.
Pogioli placed second in 1:03.73, which is his third-best unshaved time, while Koger touched sixth at 1:05.22. Canadian national team member Mike Brown won the consolation title in 1:03.35.
"It's pretty cool seeing two of our guys compete against one another at a high-level meet," said men's head coach Dan Ross. "Aaron is absolutely fearless, racing is fun to him and he's posting some of his best times even without much long-course experience."
For Koger, tonight's race further boosted his confidence. Just a freshman, he has been the Boilermakers' go-to guy this season in both breaststroke events.
"This race provided me with a good mental image of where I stand," said Koger. "I now feel like I can swim with the likes of Giordan, or maybe even a Scott Usher or Mark Gangloff. I'm excited where I'm at right now, but even more excited about where I can be three or four years from now. Dan (Ross) and Bill (Weaver) have been great coaches."
Gangloff won the 100 breast title with a U.S. Open meet record of 1:01.07. Usher, who is also Pogioli's training partner, placed second in 1:02.01.
Usher, a member of the 2004 Olympic Team from Wyoming, has been staying and training with Pogioli and has plans to travel with the Boilermakers this holiday season to Hawai'i.
"We've been swimming against each other since high school, but I really got to know him during our trip to China," said Pogioli. "We're very close competitively and since we're both looking for a training partner, it made sense for him to come out here and go with us to Hawai'i."
Regarding Koger, Pogioli is more than happy to help the Richmond, Ind., native.
"I know he looks up to me, so it's nice to help him get motivated and prepared for the big meet atmosphere," said Pogioli.
Pogioli still has his best race ahead of him, the 200-meter breaststroke, which will take place Saturday.
In other Boilermaker results from Thursday night, Romain Maire, in preparation for next week's European Championships, finished fifth in the consolation final (13th overall) of the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:05.83. Maire also had qualified for the bonus final of the 200 IM but opted to concentrate on the 200 back; he finished 200 IM prelims in 2:09.42 - 23rd overall.
Maire also was part of the men's 800 free relay that placed sixth in its heat at 7:53.63. The relay had fallen all the way to seventh but was lifted by anchor Graham Malmgren with his 200-meter split of (1:57.58). Purdue just finished short of fifth, losing to Alabama's relay by just .44 seconds.
Jin-Soo Kim earned a night swim in the bonus final of 100 breast and finished eighth in 1:07.69. His qualifying time was listed at 1:06.12.
On the women's side, senior Susan Hentschel improved by .31 seconds and five-places in the bonus heat of the 50 freestyle. Hentschel was the last one to qualify for finals with a 24th-place prelim mark of 26.99, but came back and recorded a third-place time of 26.68.
"I'm proud of her, not only for improving, but for working hard to get the second swim," said women's head coach Cathy Wright-Eger. "She has been very coachable in preparing for this met. She's listening, asking questions, taking advice and just working on those little things that make you a better swimmer."
Moments after her 50 free, Hentschel led off the 800 free relay with 200 free split of 2:08.47. Her opening 50-meter split of 29.34 was the best of all eight lanes. The relay, that also consisted of Leah Henninger, Christina Lapinskas and Shannon Grace wound up seventh in its heat at 8:42.26.
Despite the low placing, Wright-Eger seemed relatively pleased with the time considering it was posted by individuals who don't regualarly see time on the 'A' relay. Purdue's seed time entering finals was only a few seconds better at 8:39.80.
Day two of the U.S. Open begins Friday at 9 a.m. for prelims and again at 6 p.m. for finals. For more information on the U.S. Open, please visit usaswimming.org.
USA Swimming Recap By Jamie Fabos
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Four U.S. Open meet records fell during Thursday night's finals of the 2006 U.S. Open. Katie Hoff (Towson, Md. / North Baltimore), Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md. / Club Wolverine), Margaret Hoelzer (Huntsville, Ala. / Auburn Aquatics) and Cullen Jones (New Brunswick, N.J. / NC State) all took down marks in their respective events.
The U.S. Open continues tomorrow with heats beginning at 9 a.m. ET and finals starting at 6 p.m.
In the fiirst event of the night, Hoff won the women's 200m IM, turning in a time of 2:11.58. The reigning world champion in the event, Hoff finished more than two seconds ahead of the rest of the field, outpacing Olympian Kaitlin Sandeno (Lake Forest, Calif.) of Club Wolverine (2:13.65) and Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry (2:13.96).
"I was pretty happy with my swims tonight, especially the 200 IM" said Hoff, who also finished sixth in the women's 200m backstroke. "I'm faster than I was this time last year, so I'm definitely happy about that."
The men's 200m IM featured three of the four fastest swimmers of all time in this event - Phelps, Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla. / Daytona Beach Swimming) and Eric Shanteau (Lilburn, Ga. / Swim Atlanta). It was Phelps who came out on top, finishing with a meet record time of 1:59.26. Shanteau also finished under the former meet record, turning in a second-place time of 2:00.32. Brian Johns of Canada was third in 2:03.10. Lochte faded to fourth in the final 50 meters, finishing in 2:03.82.
"I was pleased," Phelps said. "Real happy. When I got in the water to warm up this morning, I was really excited to swim. To be able to go a 1:59 right now, that's only about a second-and-a-half off my best unshaved, untapered time. I'm very happy, very pleased."
The 200m IM was the first of two events Thursday night for Phelps, but he was later disqualified in the men's 200m back for a false start.
Olympian Hoelzer broke the third U.S. Open meet record of the evening, turning in a time of 2:10.95 in the women's 200m back. Hoelzer led from start to finish and outdistanced the rest of the field by about two seconds. Finishing second in that event was Coventry in 2:12.89, who captured gold in this event for at the 2004 Olympic Games. Mary Beck, a member of the 2006-07 U.S. National Junior Team, was third in 2:13.61.
The former meet record in the 200m back stood for 18 years before Hoelzer broke it.
"That was my best in-season time by a lot," Hoelzer said. "I'm happy to see where I am right now and to be ahead of where I'd normally be. (The race) felt really good. I'm kind of trying some things with my stroke and race strategy, and it felt really good."
Jones set the final meet record of the night in the men's 50m, finishing in 22.11. Brent Hayden (Maple Ridge, B.C. / UBC Dolphins) was second in 22.40, while Simon Burnett (Tucson Ford) was third in 22.62.
"There are a few things I know I need to work on, but overall, it felt really good," Jones said. "I took a little break coming into this meet, but nothing like the rest I'll get with my taper in March. To see a 22.11 was very promising."
In other events, Hayley Peirsol (Irvine, Calif. / Club Wolverine) of Auburn cruised to a win in the women's 400m freestyle, holding off the University of British Columbia's Brittany Reimer in the final 50 meters. Peirsol finished with a time of 4:13.78, followed by Reimer in 4:15.07. Kirsten Groome (Birmingham, Ala. / North Baltimore was third in 4:16.67.
"I'm really happy with that for right now," Peirsol said. "The time is good for right now. It's in-season, and to do so well any time in-season is a good confidence booster. I'm really excited to race long course, and there's a lot of really fast people at this meet, so it's exciting."
Olympic gold medalist Megan Jendrick (Puyallup, Wash. / King Aquatic Club) won the women's 100m breast with a time of 1:08.96. The race was supposed to be a match-up between Jendrick and 2004 Olympian Tara Kirk (Bremerton, Wash. / Stanford) who are tied as the top two fastest American women in the history of this event. Kirk, however, was disqualified.
In the men's 100m breaststroke, Mark Gangloff (Akron, Ohio / Auburn Aquatics) could not better the U.S. Open meet record of 1:00.76 he set Thursday morning's prelims, but he did take away a win in, turning in a time of 1:01.07. 2004 Olympic teammate Scott Usher (Grand Island, Neb. / Wyoming Aquatics) was second in 1:02.01, while Louisville's Valentin Preda was third in 1:02.73.
Rounding out the rest of the races, Ous Mellouli (unattached) won the men's 400m free with a time of 3:53.20, followed by Sergiy Fesenko of Indiana University in 3:53.46 and Robbie Renwick of Scotland in 3:53.55.
Roland Rudolf of the University of Florida took the top spot in the men's 200 back in 2:02.27, followed by Matt Hawes of the UBC Dolphins in 2:02.44 and Nicholas Neckles of Barbados in 2:02.63.
Martina Marcova (Slovakia / Dallas Mustangs), won the women's 50m free in 25.65, followed by Jennifer Bradford (unattached) in 26.07 and Kara Denby of Auburn University in 26.15.