"Some of the us were joking around about wearing briefs if we made finals," Jack Brown, who won the IM event said. "Then we made finals, so we talked to the other guys. It was just something fun we did to end the meet and the summer season.
"It definitely hurt quite a bit more. It was definitely the hardest 200 I have done in the past four to five years. I think the last time I wore a brief in a meet was when I was 12 years old, but it was definitely worth it. It was a lot of fun."
Brown led the brief-wearing heat with a time of 2:01.56. Japan's Hidemasa Sano was next in 2:02.13, and Alex Tyler completed the top three with a time of 2:03.20.
Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif.), who set three world records earlier in the meet, collected her second gold in two nights when she won the women's 50m freestyle in meet record time of 24.90. Lara Jackson (Tucson, Ariz.) also swam under the previous meet record, in 24.93. Samantha Woodward (Oklahoma) swam the third-fastest time of 25.29.
Amber McDermott (Mill Creek, Wash.) enjoyed a body-length lead on the women's 1500m freestyle field for the majority of the race. In the final meters, McDermott cemented her third U.S. Open title of the meet when she touched in at 16:22.80. Claudia Dasca of Spain took home the silver in 16:25.42, while Jessica White was third in 16:47.13.
Whitney Myers (Oxford, Ohio) turned first at the 100-meter mark in the women's 200m IM, but it was Justine Mueller (Monroe, Mich.) who lowered the previous meet record to 2:11.46 to claim the top position. Myers took second in 2:12.79. Svetlana Karpeeva rounded out the top three in 2:13.47.
National Teamer Nick Brunelli (Mansfield, Mass.) picked up his second gold medal of the meet when he sprinted to a meet record in the men's 50m free with a time of 21.73. France's David Maitre followed in 22.14, while Jimmy Feigen took third in 22.21.
In total, one U.S. Open record, three world records and 13 meet records were set throughout the five-day competition.
