In the final individual event of the meet, La Tourette lowered the U.S. Open record by a second in the men's 800m free to 7:48.38. The time was more than 15 seconds faster than the competition, and earned La Tourette his second gold medal during U.S. Open.
"It feels great (to break the record)," La Tourette said. "It obviously felt much better than my other swims this week. I felt a little off in my other events. I needed to refocus. I felt really good about this race."
Kyle Young (Rockford, Ill.) earned his first medal of the meet when he hit the wall at 8:03.91 for the silver. Logan Storie (Corvallis, Ore.) rounded out the top three in 8:05.05.
Nick Thoman (Cincinnati, Ohio) became .01 closer to shattering the 100m backstroke world record when he swam a time of 52.91 in the backstroke portion of the men's 400m medley relay. The time is just .02 seconds off of the record and is the second fastest ever swum. Yesterday evening, Thoman won the individual event in a time of 52.92.
Teammate Hayley McGregory (Austin, Texas) also made another run at the world record in the 100m back as the lead leg of the women's 400m medley relay. She again swam under world record pace at the 50-meter mark, but finished slightly off the record with a split of 59.31. The Longhorn Aquatics relay team swam under the U.S. Open meet record, with a time of 4:06.56.
Although Kelsey Ditto (Austin, Texas) opened a sizeable lead in the first 1000 meters of the women's 1500m freestyle, Emily Brunemann (Crescent Springs, Ky.) fought back in the final 500 meters to give Ditto a race for first. It was Ditto who emerged victorious when she hammered home the final 50 meters to secure her third gold medal in a time of 16:21.24. Brunemann finished second in 16:21.99, and Corrine Showalter (Sarasota, Fla.) was third in 16:32.85.
"I just tried to stay relaxed," Ditto said. "I really didn't want to lose. In the last 50 meters, I just tried to race. I could see her. I could see she had passed me, but I just tried to concentrate on my own race."
Ava Ohlgren (Northville, Mich.) turned first at the half-way point in the women's 200m IM, but it was Ariana Kukors (Auburn, Wash.) who took home the gold after overtaking Ohlgren on the breaststroke leg of the race. Kukors lowered the U.S Open meet record to 2:11.53. Ohlgren took second in 2:13.72, while Michelle McKeehan (Franklin, Ind.) placed third in 2:15.51.
In the men's 200m IM, Japan's Hidesama Sano stopped the clock first at 1:59.84. Clark Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) earned silver in 2:01.30, and Alex Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich.) picked up the bronze in 2:01.46.
Madison Kennedy (Avon, Conn.) and Michele King (York, Pa.) both posted the fastest time of 25.22 in the women's 50m free to share the U.S. Open title in the sprint event. Samantha Woodward (Edmond, Okla.) and Stephanie Naper (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) also hit the wall at the same time, sharing the bronze medal with a time of 25.34.
Australia's Jonathon Newton came up with the win in the men's 50m free when he posted a time of 22.17. Eric McGinnis (Lexington, Ky.) garnered the silver medal in 22.35, while Michael Richards (Falcon Heights, Minn.) swam the third-fastest time of 22.39.
The U.S. Open serves as the selection meet for the 2009 World University Games, to be held from July 2-7, 2009, in Belgrade, Serbia. The highest placing athlete in each event who will be enrolled as a full-time university student through Jan. 1, 2009 will to be invited to the World University Games Team. Additional qualifying procedures can be found online at www.usaswimming.org.
