As we enter the final day (Monday) of the Missouri Grand Prix 2010, there were several swimmers that had a great performance throughout the meet.  Here are some of my pics for best performances of this meet:

Women
Amanda Weir

Weir picked up 1st place touches in both the 50 free (25.64) and the 100 free (56.19). She was able to out-touch Arlene Semeco by .10 in the 50 free, and finished in front of Kimberly Jasmer by .39 in the 100 free.  The big difference in the 100 free was the back-end 50.  At the turn, Weir was merely .03 in front of Jasmer.  However, Weir pulled away on the back 50 as she split a 28.87 and Jasmer split a 29.23).  Overall, great swims from Weir.

Annamay Pierse

Two 1st place victories in the 100 breast and 200 breast earn Pierse a spot among the highlighted ladies of this meet (at least in my opinion).  However, it wasn’t just the first place finishes that give her this spot; it’s the total domination of the events that put her here!  In the 200 breast, she led the pack and finished almost 4 full seconds over Haylee Johnson (who also has a decent meet this weekend).  In the 100 breast, it was a little closer race, but was still a total domination by Pierse.  In my opinion, two of the better swims of the weekend!

Erika Erndl

Erndl took a 1st in the 200 IM (2:17.64), a 2nd in the 200 free (2:01.78 just behind Chloe Sutton), and 3rd in the 100 free (57.03).  In the 200 IM, the race went back and forth between Whitney Myers and Erndl.  Erndl touched first for the fly, then lost the lead in the backstroke length (by nearly :02).  During the breaststroke Erndl started to make up time and placement, and finished hard to the finish with the freestyle touching in first over Myers.  This was definitely one of the better races of the meet!

Tanya Hunks

Two 1st place finishes (400 IM at 4:46.49, and 200 fly at 2:13.90), one 3rd place finish in the 200 IM at 2:18.67, and one 6th place finish in the 200 breast at 2:40.02 complete Tanya Hunks’ resume for the Missouri Grand Prix.  However, the 400 IM and the 200 fly demonstrated just how strong she truly is…2.64 over Chloe Sutton in the 200 fly, and 6.44 over Stephanie Proud in the 400 IM.  Just a great showing overall from Tanya Hunks!

Chloe Sutton

This is one of those up and coming swimming dynamos that just cannot and will not be stopped.  Her program was chalk full of swims, and she pulled out a number of great performances.

  • 1st in 200 free (2:01.26)
  • 3rd in 400 IM (4:59.15)
  • 1st in 400 free (4:11.75)
  • 1st in 800 free (8:40.16)
  • 2nd in 200 fly (2:16.26)
  • 1st in the 1500 free (16:56.98)

A total of 4 first place finishes, a second place and third place finish…need I say more?!  Chloe Sutton‘s best race, though, had to be the 200 free where she took out the first 50 in third place, moved up to 1st in the second 50, and drove the remaining two 50′s to touch .52 over Erika Erndl.  Overall, just an outstanding performance and another step toward that Grand Prix prize of $20,000.

Men
Masayuki Kishida

Kishida took away a first place victory in the 100 fly (53.46), and a 2nd place finish in the 50 free (22.77) during the Grand Prix.  During the 50 free, he was out-touched by Brent Hayden by .21 as Kishida finished in front of William Copeland by .18.  For the 100 fly, Kishida led the pack the entire 100 and touched .86 ahead of David Russell.

Kosuke Kitajima

To be honest, I was a little disappointed with Kitajima’s performance in the 200 breast as he let the last 50 go.  However, it was a great race between him and Eric Shanteau (more detail on that in a little bit).  Kitajima finished 2nd in that event with a 2:11.33.  In the 100 breaststroke, he finished first while being challenged by Felipa Lima on the first 50 (Lima touching .03 in front of Kitajima), and Shanteau pushing up on the back 50.  Not a bad performance by Kitajima, but (as I said before) a little disappointing for me.

Nick Thoman

Thoman was featured on our blog this past week where we showed his backstroke start as David Marsh took us through a commentary (courtesy of USA Swimming). Selfless plug aside, Thoman had two great performances in the 100 and 200 backstroke!  Both races Thoman finished with first place victories.  The 100 backstroke, in my opinion, was a bit of a surprise as he finished ahead of Ryan Lochte (yes, I know…Lochte swims slower in-season, but it’s still a shocker to me).  However, during the 200 back, Thoman dominated the entire event.  By the look of the last 50 split he cruised into an easy finish.  Great performance by Thoman; hopefully we’ll see more performances like this in the near future!

Eric Shanteau

In one of the better races of this meet (most likely the best race of this meet), Shanteau and Kitajima battled out the 200 breaststroke.  Shanteau held second place behind Kitajima up until the last 50.  During the last 50, Shanteau started to pull away and was able to out-touch a favored Kitajima by .16 for a time of 2:11.17.  Just an outstanding race from Shanteau!  In other events, Shanteau took a second (behind Kitajima) in the 100 breaststroke, and another 1st in the 200IM.  In my opinion, Shanteau showed that he is ready to go and in-shape contrary to popular belief that he wouldn’t be ready to perform as a high level for this meet.

A Tie Between: Ous Mellouli and Brent Hayden

In my honest opinion, Mellouli and Hayden both had the best two performances on the side of the men for this meet.

Mellouli touched in for a 1st place victory in the 400 free (3:53.11), and 3 second place wins (200 free at 1:49.04, 400 IM at 4:17.95, and 200 IM at 2:00.17).  His best race, however, was the 200 IM.  Mellouli got out front in the fly, held the lead through the back, but soon lost the lead to Eric Shanteau in the breaststroke.  Mellouli started catching up to Shanteau, but just didn’t have enough pool to make up the difference.  He was out-touched by Shanteau by .42 which was primarily due to the outstanding breaststroke performance of Shanteau.

Hayden, on the other hand, took 3 first place victories in the Missouri Grand Prix!  Hayden dominated all three events: 50 free at 22.56, 100 free at 49.43, and the 200 free at 1:48.70.  In the three events, Hayden was able to get in front and stay in front of the pack.  To be honest, I wasn’t expecting such a great performance from Hayden.  My apologies for not acknowledging the fact that he was going to be this dominant.  However, that’s what I love most about swimming…the unexpected!

I’m curious, though…do you have any other highlighted swimmers that you think were on top of their game this past Grand Prix?

Read More With These Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,