Lauren Thies of Multnomah Athletic Club won the women’s 200m free Thursday, her second title of the week after winning the 100m free on Wednesday. A member of the 2007 U.S. Pan American Games team that will be competing later this summer in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Thies broke out to an early body-length lead and finished about two seconds ahead of the rest of the field in 1:59.81.
Katie Riefenstahl of Germantown Academy was second in 2:01.70, while Allison Schmitt of Club Wolverine was third in 2:02.67. "That was on par or better than I expected," Thies said. "I put in some good training this winter, so I knew I could go some good times. But for sure I didn't think I'd break two minutes for the 200, so that was very exciting. "I think it's encouraging because I had another eight months of training since Nationals last summer, and with another few months of training, I'll be refining my stroke and possibly drop some more time for Team USA (at Pan Ams)."
In the men’s 200m free, Matthew Owen of Athens Bulldog Swim Club overtook South African Olympian Darian Townsend in the final 50 meters of the race for the win, turning in a time of 1:50.41 to Townsend’s 1:50.82. Dale Rogers of Longhorn Aquatics was third in 1:50.97.
Less than a second separated the top five swimmers in the field. Owen will be swimming this event at Pan Ams.“I’m definitely using this as a jumping point for Pan Ams,” Owen said. “It’s my first (national-level) title, and it was unexpected. I didn’t expect a win tonight. I didn’t shave because I’m focusing on Pan Ams.”
Also winning her second event of the meet was Teresa Crippen of Germantown Academy. Crippen, who won the women’s 200m back on Wednesday, sealed a win in the last stroke in the 400m IM Thursday, out-touching Kathleen Hersey of Swim Atlanta, 4:46.18 to 4:46.22. Crippen’s sister Claire, also of Germantown Academy, was third in 4:48.12.
Teresa Crippen took an early lead on the field and led through the backstroke leg, only to have Hersey take over in the breaststroke. Crippen regained the lead at the 350-meter mark, and then held off a charging Hersey in the final five meters. Both Teresa Crippen and Hersey will represent the U.S. at the 2007 Pan American Games.
Robert Margalis took home his second title of the meet Thursday, in the 400m IM. Margalis, who won the 200m butterfly on Wednesday and competed in the finals of the 200 free just a half hour earlier, finished the IM with a time of 4:18.27, more than two seconds ahead of runner-up Vanni Mangoni of Italy (4:20.65) and fellow Pan Ams teammate Tyler Flowers of Fast Swim Team (4:25.58).
Margalis swam the 400m IM and 200m free Thursday to prepare himself for Pan Ams, where he will have to swim the 400m IM and a leg of the Americans’ 800m free relay on the same night. “I was kind of tired from doing the 200 free a half hour before, but I’ve worked hard enough that I wasn’t too worried about the 400m IM,” Margalis said. “I would have rather been closer to my best time of 4:12, but I was pretty pleased, considering.”
The 2007 Spring Championships resumes Friday morning with prelims in the men’s and women’s 100m backstroke, 400m freestyle, 100m breaststroke and 100m butterfly.
More on the 2007 USA Swimming Spring Championships.
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 USA Swimming on-line.
