Team USA Wins 2011 Mutual of Omaha Dual in the Pool

Three American records fall on the final night ofcompetition

ATLANTA,GEORGIA (December 17, 2011) Team USAtook home the overall team title Saturday afternoon at the 2011 Mutual of OmahaDuel in the Pool. The dual meet, taking place at the Georgia Tech AquaticCenter, saw three American records fall today, one in the women’s 4x100m freerelay and the others in the men’s and women’s 200m butterfly. The final teamscore was Team USA - 181.5 to the European All–Stars – 80.5.

Team USA set American records in both portions of the200m fly. In her hometown KathleenHersey (Atlanta, Ga.) went 2:03.49, nearly a second faster than the oldrecord, which was a 2:04.26 held by ElaineBreeden (Lexington, Ky.). Breeden finished second to Hersey in thisevent with a 2:04.98 and Sweden’s Martina Granstroem came in third at 2:06.08.

Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh got on the medal stand as hefinished the 200m fly in 1:51.18. DavisTarwater (Knoxville, Tenn.) touched the wall with an American recordtime of 1:51.90. Hungary placed another on the stand as Bence Biczo took bronzein 1:55.26.

The women’s 4x100m freerelay was won by the European Team with a time of 3:27.53. The time, whichwould have broken the world record, did not count as a record as the swimmerson the relay do not all represent the same country. The U.S. Team of Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif.), Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif.), Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas) and Missy Franklin (Centennial, Colo.)finished second in 3:28.46 to set an American record in the event.

The U.S. men came frombehind in the final 50 meters of the 4x100m free relay to win in 3:07.22. Theteam of Matt Grevers (LakeForest, Ill.), Garrett Weber-Gale(Milwaukee, Wis.), Nick Brunelli (Mansfield,Mass.) and Ricky Berens (Charlotte,N.C.) beat the European All-Stars, who finished in 3:07.98. Berens’ stronganchor leg put the U.S. Team ahead of the Europeans for the win in the finalevent of the competition.

Just as the U.S. swept the opening races on Fridaynight, the E-Stars did the same today with wins in the women’s and men’s 800mfree. Denmark’s Lotte Friis won for the women’s in 8:04.77, just .24 secondsoff the world record pace. Chloe Sutton(Mission Viejo, Calif.) and Great Britain’s Grainne Murphy went second andthird, respectively, with 8:14.29 and 8:18.03 swims. Pal Joensen from FaroeIslands won for the men in 7:36.24. MichaelKlueh (Evansville, Ind.) came in second with 7:39.90 and Denmark’s MadsGlaesner was third in 7:42.27.

The women’s 200m free saw the first all-U.S. podiumas Missy Franklin took the heatin 1:53.19. Dana Vollmer stayedclose to Franklin all race as she came in second with a 1:53.92. Katie Hoff (Towson, Md.) helped theAmericans finish the medal stand sweep coming in third at 1:54.24.

Berens, Matt McLean(Sterling, Va.) and Conor Dwyer(Winnetka, Ill.) won gold, silver and bronze, respectively, for the U.S. in the200m free. It was the second straight medal sweep by the Americans. Berens swama 1:42.48 – the second fastest time in the world this year – as McLean went1:44.26 and Dwyer went 1:44.45.

Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif.) won the women’s 100m breastwith the fastest swim of the year, a 1:03.33. Trojan teammate Rebecca Soni (Plainsboro, N.J.) comesin second in 1:04.53 and Denmark’s Rikke Pedersen finished third at 1:05.50.

Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa.) swept both the men’s breaststrokeevents at the Duel in the Pool with a win in the 100m distance Saturday. Hansentouched the wall in 57.47 as Hungary’s Daniel Gyurta was close behind in 57.62.U.S. teammate Michael Alexandrov (Champaign, Ill.) roundedout the podium with a 57.81.

The European women swept the 50m free with Marleen Veldhuisof the Netherlands winning in 23.43. Ranomi Kromowidjojo, also of theNetherlands, was second in 23.61 and Francesa Halsall of Great Britain wasthird in 23.73.

In other races, ElizabethSimmonds of Great Britain won the women’s 100m back with a time of 56.82.Grevers led the men’s sweep of the 100m back, finishing in 49.85. Caitlin Leverenz (Tucson, Ariz.) wonthe women’s 200m IM with a time of 2:04.91. Nick Brunelli (Mansfield, Mass.) won the men’s 50m free in 21.29,beating Russia’s Vladimir Morozov by just .01 seconds.