Peirsol completes backstroke sweep, Knutson collects fourth gold on final night

Rising star Dagny Knutson won her fourth gold medal of the meet, and five-time Olympic medalist Aaron Peirsol completed his sweep of the backstroke events as action concluded Sunday night at the Charlotte UltraSwim.

 Peirsol (Irvine, Calif.) swam the top time in the 200m backstroke, hammering home in 1:56.65. Tyler Clary (Riverside, Calif.) and Nick Thoman (Cincinnati, Ohio) came in next at 1:57.05 and 1:59.62, respectively.

 Dagny Knutson (Minot, N.D.) wrapped up an impressive meet, earning her fourth trip to the top of the podium with a win in the 200m IM (2:12.87). Olympian Julia Smit (Mt. Sinai, N.Y.) took home the silver with a time of 2:14.80, while North Baltimore 15-year-old Elizabeth Pelton (Towson, Md.) turned in a time of 2:15.45 for third.

 The men's 100m free saw a loaded field, with Olympians filling four lanes. French Olympian Fred Bousquet bolted out in front in the first 50 meters to flip nearly a second ahead of the heat. Three-time Olympian Michael Phelps closed the gap on the back half, but couldn't catch Bousquet who won in 48.22. Phelps took his second silver of the meet in 49.04, followed by 2008 Olympian and Charlotte local Ricky Berens in 49.66.

 "I have no complaints," Phelps said. "Those are times I didn't really even expect to swim [this weekend]. We're on the right track. This is where I wanted to be. This [swim] is something that will motivate me to fix those things I need to work on."

 Rising young stars dominated the women's 200m backstroke, with the top three places going to teenagers. Sixteen-year-old Olympian Elizabeth Beisel lit up the scoreboard first, flashing a time of 2:11.88. Canada's Lindsay Seemann clocked in two seconds later at 2:13.63, while Annie Harrison and Lauren Driscoll tied for third in 2:14.28.

 In the men's 200m IM, Brazilian Thiago Pereira trailed Olympian Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.) at the half-way mark before pulling ahead on the breaststroke portion to finish with a winning time of 1:58.25. Lochte touched a half-second later in 1:58.71 for silver, while 2008 Olympic teammate Eric Shanteau (Lilburn, Ga.) took bronze in 2:01.33.

 National Teamer Josef Kinderwater garnered the gold in the men's 800m free, with a time of 8:08.16, while Adam DeJong and Tom Allen, both of Swim Wales clocked in at 8:12.42 and 8:13.02, respectively.

 Emily Brunemann (Crescent Springs, Ky.) opened a lengthy distance between herself and the competition in the women's 1500m free to win the event by more than 15 seconds. Her time was 16:27.03. Brunemann's teammate Emily Hanson (Ann Arbor, Mich.) followed in 16:43.63. Alicia Mathieu (Marlborough, NJ) was third in 16:49.39.

 Mary DeScenza (Naperville, Ill.) was off tonight, but finished the UltraSwim with one gold and three silvers, increasing her Series-leading point total from 104 to 118. DeScenza is in pole position for the $20,000 grand prize, which will be awarded at the final stop in the USA Swimming Grand Prix series in Santa Clara, Calif., June 11-14.