Olympic Swimmer Rebecca Soni Sets Second Meet Record

Thiago Pereira and Olympian Rebecca Soni each won two events and set a meet record Saturday on the second night of the 2009 Minneapolis Grand Prix Swim Meet. Soni won the women's 400-yard IM in 4:14.41 and set the meet record in the women's 200y breaststroke in 2:07.68. Pereira set the meet record in the men's 400y IM in 3:43.72 and won the men's 200y breast in 1:56.44.

Soni's two wins Saturday marked her second and third of the meet after setting the meet record in the 100y breast on Friday. She also bagged a silver in the 200y IM on the first night of competition. Her time in the 200y breast Saturday bested the former record of 2:10.48 - set by Keri Hehn (Fargo, N.D.) in 2007 - by almost three seconds.

Finishing in the medal positions behind Soni in the 200y breast were Katlin Freeman (Concord, Calif.) (2:08.50) and Jillian Tyler (2:12.91). The trio also went 1-2-3 in the 100y breast Friday.

Pereira's wins were also his second and third of the meet after winning the 200y IM Friday. He finished more than six seconds ahead of the rest of the field in setting his meet record in the 400y IM. Finishing second were Andre Schultz (3:49.66) and Bradley Alley (3:54.23). Schultz and Alley also finished 2-3 behind Pereira in the 200y IM Friday. Schultz would also finish second in the 100y back later in the evening for his fourth medal of the meet.

C. Vanlandeghem, Bonnie Brandon and Stephanie Proud also won two medals each Saturday. Vanlandeghem took gold in the women's 50y free (23.18) and bronze in the 100y back (55.44), while Brandon won gold in the women's 100y back (55.44) and bronze in the 500y free (4:46.82); and Proud won silver in the women's 400y IM (4:16.98) and 100y back (55.49). Vanlandeghem and Brandon both have three medals for the meet, with Vanlandeghem winning silver in the 100y fly and Brandon winning bronze in the 1000 free on the first night of competition.

Kate Ziegler (Great Falls, Va.) edged 2008 Olympic teammate Chloe Sutton (Mission Viejo, Calif.) in the women's 500y free, 4:41.52 to 4:41.62. Last night, it was Sutton who came out on top of the women's distance match-up, beating Ziegler to the wall with a meet record in the 1000y free.

Other first-place finishers in Minneapolis Saturday included William Copeland in the men's 50y free (19.73), Rex Tullius in the men's 100y back (48.17) and Michael Klueh in the men's 500y free (4:20.34). Copeland and Klueh went 1-2 in the 200y free on day 1.

The Minneapolis Grand Prix wraps up Sunday. For complete results, go to the 2009-10 USA Swimming Grand Prix Page.