SWIMMING: Vendt Sets U.S. Open Record on the Final Day of The Missouri Grand Prix

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, February 18, 2008 Contact: Karen Linhart, (719) 866-3588, klinhart@usaswimming.org Vendt Sets U.S. Open Record on the Final Day of The Missouri Grand Prix Michael Phelps and Mary Descenza finish the weekend atop the Toyota Grand Prix Series Leaderboard Standings Columbia, Mo.-Two-time Olympian Erik Vendt (North Easton, Mass.) broke the U.S Open record in the men's 1500m free Monday, on the final day of competition at The Missouri Grand Prix. Vendt swam under American-record pace for the majority of the 1500m race, however, he faded slightly in the last 200 meters, to finish in 14:47.59. Mission Viejo teammates Chad La Tourette (Mission Viejo, Calif.) and Fran Crippen hit the wall next in 15:03.59 and 15:20.74, respectively. Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md.) and Mary Descenza (Naperville, Ill.) are now tied on the Toyota Grand Prix leaderboard, with 51 points each. Phelps scored 23 points at the meet to move into first place, while Descenza, who led the series prior to Missouri, added ten points to her score. Katie Hoff (Towson, Md.) scored her fifth and final gold medal in the 800m free, clocking in 13 seconds ahead of silver medalist Chloe Sutton (Roseville, Calif.) with a time of 8:27.32. Sutton swam the 16-lap race in 8:40.55. Katie Carroll (Toledo, Ohio) took home the bronze in 8:42.36. Olympian Rachel Komisarz (Louisville, Ky.) lowered her own pool and meet records in the 100m butterfly, hitting the wall in 57.92. Descenza finished second in 59.08, while Dana Kirk (Bremerton, Wash.) took third in 59.34. Phelps overtook world-record holder Ian Crocker (Portland, Maine) in the 100 fly to lock down his fourth gold medal. Phelps posted a time of 51.52, lowering his own pool and meet record by nearly a second. Crocker came in a half second later at 52.00. Brazil's Kaio Almeida rounded out the top three in 52.60. Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry made a run for five-time Olympic gold medalist Natalie Coughlin's world record set Sunday evening when she recorded a time of 59.47 in the 100m backstroke. Longhorn Aquatics teammate Hayley McGregory (Houston, Texas) finished next in 1:00.22. Swimming back-to-back races, Descenza coveted a bronze-medal finish in 1:01.11. Aaron Peirsol (Irvine, Calif.) kept his seven-year winning streak alive with a gold medal performance in the 100 back. His time was 53.56. Phelps followed in 53.70 for the silver, and David Cromwell picked up third place in 54.40. Olympian Tara Kirk (Bremerton, Wash.) edged American-record holder Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif.) in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:07.25. Hardy swam the second-place time of 1:07.89. Hardy's teammate Keri Hehn (Fargo, N.D.) finished third in 1:09.50. Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa.) returned to the podium for the second time this meet to claim a gold medal in the 100m breast with a time of 1:00.85. Mark Gangloff (Akron, Ohio) and Scott Usher (Laramie, Wyo.) took second and third in 1:01.24 and 1:01.46, respectively. Coventry scored her second gold medal of the day by overtaking American-record holder Hoff in the 200 I.M. in the meet and pool record time of 2:10.08. Hoff, who scored 28 points on the Grand Prix leaderboard throughout the competition, swam the event in 2:10.23. Caitlin Leverenz (Tucson, Ariz.) placed third with 2:14.19. In the men's 200m I.M., Pan American Games gold medalist Thiago Pereira (Brazil) took the lead during the breaststroke leg to finish first in 2:00.24. Trojan Swim Club's Tamas Kerekjarto (Hungary) was second in 2:01.92, and Mecklenburg Aquatic's Jeremy Knowles (Bahamas) was third in 2:04.31. The 2007-2008 Toyota Grand Prix Series will continue with the Stanford Invitational Grand Prix in Palo Alto, Calif., and The Ohio State University Grand Prix in Columbus, Ohio, both taking place April 3-6. For more information on the Toyota Grand Prix Series, please visit usaswimming.org. About USA Swimming As the National Governing Body for competitive swimming in the United States, USA Swimming formulates the rules, implements policies and procedures, conducts national championships, disseminates safety and sports medicine information and selects athletes to represent the United States in international competition. USA Swimming has more than 300,000 members nationwide and sanctions more than 7,000 events each year. For more information, visit usaswimming.org.

Tags: Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Caitlin Leverenz, Chloe Sutton, Ian Crocker, Jessica Hardy, Katie Hoff, Mark Gangloff, Mary Descenza, Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin, Rachel Komisarz, Scott Usher, Tara Kirk