Foreign Olympians Flavia Rigamonti and Ous Mellouli captured wins in the distance freestyle events. Rigamonti, who competed for Switzerland at the 2004 Olympic Games and currently swims for Dallas Mustangs, won the 1500m free in 16:24.21, finishing more than 21 seconds ahead of Japanese Olympian Sachiko Yamada. American Olympian Kalyn Keller of Club Wolverine was third.
Mellouli, who represented Tunisia at the 2004 Olympics and currently trains with Trojan, took first in the 800m free with a time of 7:54.85. Chad LaTourette of Mission Viejo was second, and Sergiy Fesenko of Indiana University Club Paradise finished third.
In other finals contested, Lauren English of Cougar Aquatic Team won the women’s 50m backstroke in 28.90, and Saluki’s Marcelo Possato was first in the men’s 50m back, touching the wall in 27.39. English’s time was almost a second faster than second-place finisher Ariana Kukors of King, a member of the World Champ team. On the men’s side, Fabio Santi took second, while Miguel Robles was third.
Kirk took home the title in the 50m breast, while fellow World Champ teammate Megan Jendrick of King was second and Vipa Bernhardt finished in third place. On the men’s side, Kevin Swander of Indiana University Club Paradise won the 50m breast in 28.03, defeating Olympian Scott Usher and Giordan Pogioli.
In the women’s 50m fly, Komisarz won her first Grand Prix title, finishing seven-tenths ahead of Memphis Tiger’s Lauren Harrington. World Champs team member Mary DeScenza of Athens Bulldog was third. Athens Bulldog’s Peter Verhoef captured the victory in the men’s 50m fly with a time of 25.60. Charley Wang of Cougar and Mexico’s Daniel Alcantara were the runners-up.
The 2007 Missouri Grand Prix continues Saturday with prelims and finals of the men’s and women’s 100m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 200m backstroke and 400m freestyle. Timed finals of the men’s and women’s 400m free relay will also be contested. Prelims begin at 9 a.m. (Central Standard Time), and finals are at 5:30 p.m.
Results From The 2007 Missouri Grand Prix Swim Meet
Olympians Win Distance And Sprint Events On Day 1 Of The 2007 Missouri Grand Prix Swim Meet
Michael Phelps Smashes World Record On Day 2 Of The Missouri Toyota Grand Prix Swim Meet
Natalie Coughlin Sets U.S. Open Record On Day 3 Of Missouri Grand Prix Swim Meet
Day 4 Of Missouri Grand Prix Swim Meet
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.
