Michael Phelps took home his first win of the night in the men's 200m free. His pool-record win came in a time of 1:48.45 which edged out Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.). Lochte finished in 1:48.69 and Austria's Markus Rogan earned third in 1:49.23.
"Both of us [Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte] hate to lose," Phelps said post race. "He's somebody who has made a lot of improvements in and out of the pool and it shows in all of his races. I didn't know we were going to take it down to the end. When I looked over and saw him, I just wanted to touch the wall first."
Michael Phelps earned his second pool record of the night with his win in the 100m fly. He took the lead at the first 50 meters and held on to win in 52.30. Poland's Marcin Cieslak was second in 53.08 and China's Wu Peng was third in 53.26.
The women's 100m fly saw a close race between Olympians Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas) and Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif.). Vollmer swam the third-fastest time in the world this year in the event to set the pool record in 57.50. Coughlin was second in 58.05 and Daynara Paula of Brazil was third in 58.69.
Two-time Olympian Katie Hoff (Towson, Md.) won the first women's event of the night, earning the top spot in the women's 200m free. Hoff, who broke the pool record in her morning preliminary swim, broke the pool record again tonight in 1:58.24. Jasmine Tosky (Walnut Creek, Calif.) was second in 1:59.60 and Whitney Myers (Oxford, Ohio) was third in 1:59.98.
The 400m IM was won by Tyler Clary (Riverside, Calif.) on the men's side and Caitlin Levernz (Tucson, Ariz.) on the women's side. Clary was just off the pool record, winning the event in 4:16.74. Robert Margalis (St. Petersburg, Fla.) was second in 4:20.96 and Lithuania's Vytautas Janusaitis was third in 4:21.86. Leverenz won the event in 4:40.71. Stina Gardell was second in 4:41.83 and Brazil's Joann Maranhao was third in 4:47.93.
In other races, Asphalt Green's Annie Zhu won the women's 100m breast with a time of 1:11.17. Sara Lajnef was second in 1:11.63 and Allie Szekely was third in 1:11.85. The Brazilian men swept the men's 100m breaststroke, earning the top three spots in the event. Felipe Franca Da Silva was first and set a meet record in 1:01.62. Joao Luiz Gomes Junior was second in 1:01.95 and Felipe Ferreira Lima placed third in 1:01.99.
The Eric Namesnik Michigan Grand Prix will be broadcast and webcast LIVE on Universal Sports on Saturday, April 9 from 5:30 - 8 p.m. ET and on Sunday, April 10 from 5:30 - 7 p.m. ET. A LIVE webcast of both prelims and finals from the meet will be available throughout the weekend on ww.usaswimming.org/michigangrandprix. The complete competition schedule for the three-day meet can be found online. Finals start at 9 a.m. ET and prelims begin at 5:30 p.m. ET.
2010-2011 USA Swimming Grand Prix Swim Meet Series
- Minnesota Grand Prix 12-14 Nov, 2010
Minneapolis, MN - Austin Grand Prix 14-17 Jan, 2011
Austin, TX - Missouri Grand Prix 18-21 Feb, 2011
Columbia, MO - Indianapolis Grand Prix 3-5 Mar, 2011
Indianapolis, IN - Michigan Grand Prix 8-10 Apr, 2011
Ann Arbor, MI - Charlotte UltraSwim Grand Prix 12-15 May, 2011
Charlotte, NC - Santa Clara International Grand Prix 16-19 Jun, 2011
Santa Clara, CA
Television and online coverage will also be provided of all 2010-2011 USA Swimming Grand Prix events. Universal Sports will broadcast the Austin Grand Prix (January 14-17), the Missouri Grand Prix (February 18-21), the Indianapolis Grand Prix (March 3-5) and the Michigan Grand Prix (April 8-10). Online coverage of all seven events will be provided by Swimnetwork.com and Universalsports.com.
This is the fourth year in a row that prize money has been awarded to the overall point leader of the Grand Prix Series. In its inaugural year in 2008, Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps took home the prize. The 2009 purse went to National Team swimmer Mary DeScenza and Chloe Sutton took home $20,000 in 2010.
The scoring system awards swimmers points based on gold, silver and bronze-medal performances at each of the eight meets. A gold medal earns a swimmer five points, a silver medal is worth three points and a bronze medal is one point. The standings integrate male and female participants, recognizing the swimmer with the highest cumulative point total. In the event of a tie, the winner will be the swimmer who earned the highest single-race FINA power point ranking. Leaders will be tracked online at www.usaswimming.org and in Splash magazine, the official magazine of USA Swimming.
