At the Austin Grand Prix, Phelps beat Lochte by nearly two seconds, winning in 1 minute 58.52 seconds. Lochte came in well ahead of third in 2:00.30.

Both athletes were unrested for the competition, which may account for the lackluster performances by Lochte, who is known for under performing until he’s on taper.

What is apparent from this weekend is that the title of “World’s Best Swimmer” is far from decided, we’ll have to wait for London 2012 before bestowing that designation on either Phelps or Lochte.

Also in the water on Sunday, Sarah Haase, the reigning All-Met Swimmer of the Year from Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club, placed sixth overall in the women’s 100 breaststroke, finishing in 1:09.78. She was the highest finisher among the group of Potomac Valley swimmers that competed this weekend. Rebecca Soni won the event in 1:06.88.

Former area swimmer, Matt McLean, finished fourth in the men’s 1500 freestyle (15:42.46), just behind Thomas Allen and Peter Vanderkaay. Michael Kleuh won the event by a wide margin, finishing in 15:25.33.

Allison Schmitt got her third win in the freestyle events, winning the women’s 800 freestyle on Sunday. She also won the 400 freestyle in record-breaking time on the opening night.

Matt Grevers touched first in the men’s 100 backstroke in 53.55, against a fast field that included Phelps – finished third – and Lochte – finished sixth, who swam very busy schedules this weekend, including the subsequent event. Jack Conger (RMSC) finished 12th overall in 56.28.

Missy Franklin won the women’s 100 backstroke in 59.92 for her second win this weekend.

Natalie Coughlin won the women’s 200 IM (2:12.44), just beating out Katie Hoff who touched in 2:12.95. This will be one of the most competitive events at Trials this year, with the likes of Caitlin Leverenz, Elizabeth Pelton, and Elizabeth Beisel joining the field in Omaha.

For complete results from the first night of the Austin Grand Prix, click here.

At the first turn, Phelps was over a second ahead of the field, and was on pool record pace until he slowed in freestyle, showing obvious signs of fatigue. Heading into his fourth Olympics, many wonder how many more miraculous performances Phelps has left like what he showed in Beijing in 2008.

Phelps, who could qualify in eight events like he did in the last Olympics, will probably choose a slightly abbreviated schedule in London, especially with a surging Ryan Lochte challenging Phelps in the individual medley events. They’ll meet in Sunday’s 200 IM final.

Phelps wasn’t the only Maryland swimmer to open the night well. RMSC’s Charlotte Meyer (17) dropped five seconds from her prelims time to win the “C” Final in the women’s 400 IM in 4:56.19, a new personal best.

Jack Conger (17) won his heat in the “B” Final of the men’s 200 backstroke in 2:02.77. Matt Grevers was the winner in the “A” Final in a time of 1:57.76. Lochte faded to third in 1:59. 53, despite having the lead after the first lap.

Allison Schmitt won the women’s 200 freestyle in 1:55.83, for her second win. She bested Missy Franklin, who placed second in 1:57.86.

Ricky Berens and Matt McLean (Sterling, Va.) battled in the men’s 200 freestyle. Berens took an early lead, before McLean surged ahead in the third length. But a blistering split in the final 50-meters sealed the win for Berens, who won in 1:47.92. McLean finished second in 1:48.02.

Amanda Weir continued to impress in the freestyle events, winning the women’s 50 freestyle in 25.23. Weird finished third in the 100 freestyle, last night, behind  Franklin and Schmitt.

To conclude the night, the relay team of Sarah Haase (17), Ellen Anderson (17), Anna Kolanowski (16), and Corrigan McIlmail (15) finished fifth in the 4×800 freestyle relay for RMSC.

For complete results from the first night of the Austin Grand Prix, click here.

Swimmers to watch on last day of finals

If you can only catch one race from tonight’s finals, the men’s 200 IM will be worth making time for. Phelps and Lochte are both training through this weekend’s events, but that doesn’t mean these competitors don’t want to win.

The reigning Olympic champion, Phelps, is the top qualifier, but Lochte, the world record holder, will be right beside him, in what will most certainly be a preview of this year’s Olympic final.

Haase is the number two qualifier in women’s 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:09.45, a new personal best for the 17-year-old senior. She’ll face Rebecca Soni in tonight’s final, the 2008 silver medalist in the event.

Franklin was the top qualifier in the women’s 100 backstroke in 1:00.74, but expect a great race from Olympic champion Natalie Coughlin, who will be right beside Franklin in tonight’s final.

The women’s 200 IM will feature Katie Hoff, Coughlin, and Franklin, along with Canadian Olympian Julia Wilkinson, who will be right on the American’s heels.

The men’s 100 backstroke will feature Nick Thoman and Matt Grevers as the top seeds, along with Michael Phelps who qualified fifth. Conger advanced to the “C” Final. Lochte will appear in the “B” Final.

Finals begin at 7 p.m. USA Swimming will have a live webcast of the meet online throughout the weekend. For additional information visit www.usaswimming.org/grandprix.

Right from the start of the medley relay, Natalie Coughlin, swimming the backstroke leg, was 1.5 seconds under the world-record split. Her teammates Rebecca Soni and Dana Vollmer didn’t fall off the pace, allowing Franklin to dive in with the world-record line in her wake.

The 16-year-old dazzled in the anchor spot, with a blistering 51.32 split to break the world record by over two seconds in  3 minutes 45.56 seconds.

Franklin continued to build her international resume, which includes three world championship gold medals, with first-place finishes in the 200 backstroke and 200 freestyle. She was just .11 off her own world record in 2:00.14. Using her final two walls, she broke free from Elizabeth Simmonds (Great Britain) and Elizabeth Pelton (USA) to win the race.

ATLANTA, GA - Jessica Hardy reacts after winning the Women's 100m Breaststroke during the Duel in the Pool at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center on December 17, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

The United States commanded the dual meet from start to finish, enjoying a lead of 93.5 to 28.5 after the first day of competition against the European All-Star team that looked tepid at best and unprepared to challenge the American team.

Virginia star, Matt McLean (SNOW/Potomac Falls High School) enjoyed success in the freestyle events, taking third on the Friday night in the 400 freestyle and following up that performance on Saturday by coming from behind to take second in the 200 freestyle.

Former Mount Vernon High School and Curl-Burke swimmer, Markus Rogan (Austria) finished third in the 200 individual medley behind the event’s winner, Ryan Lochte, and Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh, who took second.

Ryan Lochte of the U.S. (bottom) starts alongside Europe's Radoslaw Kawecki of Poland in the men's 200 meters backstroke race during the Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool swimming competition at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Georgia December 16, 2011. (Tami Chappell/Reuters)

Swimming un-tapered, Lochte looked like a different person in the water after a disappointing Winter Nationals two weeks ago in this same pool, where his highest finish was fifth in the 400 individual medley. He cruised in the 200 backstroke, torpedoing off every wall and working his underwaters in the short-course format. Winning both individual medley events, he looked like the favorite to win as many as eight gold medals next year in London.

Also looking good this weekend after coming out of retirement, Brendan Hansen pulled off an amazing upset on Friday night, knocking off the world-record holder Daniel Gyurta to win the 200 breaststroke in a personal best time of 2:03.62. The next day the 30-year-old comeback swimmer brought more of the same to win the 100 breaststroke in 57.47.

Caitlin Leverenz was just .3 off the world record in the 200 individual medley in 2:04.91, one of the strongest events for the American women. This will certainly be one of the toughest events to make next year in Omaha at the Olympic Trials, where Duel teammates Pelton, Julia Smit, and Olympian Katie Hoff will challenge for a spot in the event.

To open day two, distance freestylers Lotte Friis (Denmark) and Pal Joensen (Faroe Islands) won the women’s and men’s 800 freestyle to give the European team some life. But it proved to be too little, as the American team rolled up the meet with several sweeps.

The United States clinched the meet early on Saturday, earning the necessary 131 points to win the meet with nine events to go.

Despite the lopsided score, the Europeans didn’t walk away empty handed, winning several events. Katinka Hosszu (Hungary) won the women’s individual medley ahead of Leverenz in 4:24.37 and Ranomi Kromowidjojo (Netherlands) won the 100 freestyle in 51.87. Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh won the 200 butterfly with a brilliant final 50 meters, against an American field sorely missing superstar Michael Phelps.

To close the meet, the European All-Stars went under world-record time in the women’s 400 freestyle relay to win the event. However, the record will not stand because the relay members were from different countries.

Click here for full results and times.

United States swimmers (from left) Missy Franklin, Dagny Knutson, Katie Hoff and Allison Schmitt celebrate after taking gold in the women's 4x200 free relay on Thursday at the FINA World Championships. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

Franklin, 16, not only gave the United States a commanding lead, she also posted a time that would have won the gold medal in the women’s 200 freestyle final earlier in the week. Her leadoff leg of 1 minute, 55.08 seconds surpassed Italian star Federica Pellegrini’s gold-medal time by 0.50 seconds.

“I looked around at [Alison Schmitt] and said, ‘Did she really go 1:55?’” Hoff said. “That really got me going.”

It got the U.S. team going, too. Americans Dagny Knutson, Hoff and Schmitt held on for the gold medal, winning in 7:46.14 over Australia (7:47.42) and China (7:47.66). The victory avenged the team’s loss to China at this meet two years ago while completing Franklin’s medal collection — gold, silver and bronze — in her first world championship meet.

Franklin also earned silver in Sunday night’s 4×100 final, a race in which only the anchor of the gold-medal winning Dutch team swam faster than she. In the 50 back, a non-Olympic event, Franklin finished by behind Russia’s Anastasia Zueva (27.79) and Japan’s Aya Terakawa (27.93) in 28.01.

Bob Bowman, Michael Phelps’s longtime coach, found himself looking on with amazement.

“Missy is awesome,” Bowman said. “I think we’ll remember tonight as when it all started. It reminds me of somebody I know.”

Franklin, who at 14 traveled with the U.S. team to world cup meets around the globe, hasn’t created quite the splash Phelps did at 16 — he set his first world record at age 15 — but she’s awed nonetheless. She has achieved the qualifying times for every individual event at next year’s Olympic trials; her coach, Todd Schmitz said she hadn’t decided on which ones to direct her focus.

“On the first day of [this] meet, she looked at me and said, ‘I belong here,’” Schmitz said. “I looked at her and said, ‘Yeah, you do.’ . . . I learned when Missy was 12 that I don’t set the bar, she does.”

Franklin did not compete in the individual 200 because she did not qualify in the event at last year’s Pan Pacific Championships, the qualifying meet. She is also entered in the 200 back, whose final takes place Saturday.

“This is my first world championships,” Franklin said, “and I’m just having the time of my life.”

shipleya@washpost.com

Michael Phelps looks on during the Men's 4 x 100 Free Relay final on Sunday at the 14th FINA World Championships. The U.S. men finished a disappointing third, breaking a streak of six straight gold medals in major events. (Photo: Clive Rose/GettyImages)

Third place. And it wasn’t a contest.

What a way to kick off the swimming world championships, the final major tune-up for the 2012 London Summer Games. Ending a streak of six straight gold medals in major events, the U.S. men put forward a performance that left them, their coaches and teammates shell-shocked. And mad. And worse.

“Truly,” said Weber-Gale, “I feel sick about it.”

Moments after the U.S. women lost the lead – and earned the silver – on the final leg of their relay, the once-dominant U.S. men never led and finished in 3 minutes, 11.96 seconds at the Oriental Sports Center, behind the Australians (3:11.00) and French (3:11.14).

“It stinks,” Phelps said flatly moments after the race.

He then added later, “As Americans, we want to win everything we do. We want to be the best. . . We all know we can be better than that.”

The race featured a good start by Phelps, two substandard legs from Weber-Gale and Lezak, and a strong but not superb finish by Adrian. It also featured Ryan Lochte, a star of the ’09 world championship relay, relegated to only the preliminary round Sunday morning; his time then was not fast enough to get him onto the night’s squad.

But it looked like the United States could have used him. Weber-Gale misjudged his speed at the start, going out too slowly, and Lezak, a swimmer who relies on heavy rotation in his stroke , got pushed around like a buoy by the waves generated by the teams in front. Weber-Gale’s split (48.33) registered as the 18th fastest of the night; Lezak’s was tied for 17th.

Nearly 90 minutes after the race, Weber-Gale stood in front of reporters, shaking the bouquet he had received on the medal stand.

“It’s pretty embarrassing for me to go slow like that,” Weber-Gale said. “It’s very disappointing for me. Such a slow leg, I feel like it’s my fault we did poorly. I swam nowhere near my ability.”

U.S. men’s head coach Eddie Reese confessed he couldn’t quite believe what he saw on the results sheet. Australian James Magnussen beat Phelps on the opening leg, 47.49 to 48.08. Three men bested Weber-Gale on the second leg and five topped Lezak on the fourth. Two anchors, France’s Fabien Gilot and Italy’s Filippo Magnini, beat Adrian’s concluding 47.40.

“Those other countries did an amazing job,” said Lezak, famous for his gold-medal-saving anchor at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. “It takes 100-percent of a team doing best splits to win nowadays . . . Unfortunately, I was one of the average guys out there.”

As they assembled on the medal stand, the Americans watched the Australians celebrate. They muttered something else entirely.

“We just talked about not liking where we were standing,” Phelps said.

The U.S. women were considerably happier with their silver, despite losing it on the final leg as Dutch anchor Femke Heemskerk dropped the fastest time of the night (52.46) to overtake Dana Vollmer (53.27). The women trailed Netherlands (3:33.96), finishing in 3:34.47 as Germany took third in 3:36.05.

The women got a great start from Natalie Coughlin (54.09) and a jaw-dropping second leg from teen sensation Missy Franklin (52.99). Jessica Hardy faded at the end of her swim but held the lead with a 54.12. Vollmer, who had competed earlier in the 100 butterfly semifinals, could not fend off Heemskerk despite posting a personal best.

“Obviously, you never like diving in ahead and coming in second,” Vollmer said. “Personally, it lights a little bit of a fire for me.”

By night’s end, the U.S. team was just about burning up.

“We never like it,” Reese said. “We think we’re a country that, no matter how good we are in individual events, we always swim the relays . . .We had splits not at all like we thought they would be.”

Notes: Towson’s Katie Hoff emerged disappointed after the final of the 400, where she finished seventh in 4:08.22, more than six seconds behind winner Federica Pellegrini of Italy, who claimed first in 4:01.97. Hoff, a five-time world champion who narrowly made it into the final with the eighth-best qualifying time, said she had hoped to go 4:05 or better.

“It just wasn’t there,” she said. “That little extra-special something that you need to win a race, it wasn’t there. . . It’s obviously good to make a final, other than that. . . ask me tomorrow.”

Brennan Morris, right, has thrived since moving into an exclusive training group with Michael Phelps. (Jonathan Newton, The Washington Post)

News From Worlds

Things could hardly have gone worse last summer for swimmer Brennan Morris. Two stress fractures in his back laid him up for three months. He failed to qualify for a single final at the Olympic trials.

Two years after Morris’s family had moved from rural Pennsylvania to Baltimore to permit him to train at the esteemed North Baltimore Aquatic Club, Morris, 18, seemed to be going nowhere.

But last fall he sat down with Bob Bowman, NBAC’s new chief executive and Michael Phelps’s longtime coach. Knowing Morris’s promise, and seeing his frustration, Bowman invited Morris, then entering his senior year of high school, to move into Bowman’s exclusive professional group.

So as Phelps, 24, returned to the pool after his eight-gold-medal performance at the Beijing Summer Games, Morris became his youngest training partner. At first daunted, Morris soon thrived. Less than a year after the switch, Morris enters the swimming world championships that begin in Rome Sunday as the youngest male member of the U.S. team. He will compete in the 1,500-meter freestyle on Aug. 1.

“It’s been great,” Morris said by phone from Indianapolis a day after securing his world-team slot by finishing second in the 1,500 free at the U.S. swimming championships. “There’s a lot of motivation to come to the pool with great swimmers around and a great coach. I was really motivated to get to the top level.”

Bowman’s training group also included Katie Hoff, 20, who won three medals at the 2008 Summer Games. She, however, didn’t intimidate Morris in the least. They had, after all, just taken a six-week vacation together to Costa Rica, where they went white-water rafting and zip-lining. Morris would have escorted Hoff to her senior prom, except she didn’t have one; like Morris, Hoff was home-schooled.

Morris and Hoff had gotten to know each other while swimming together under former NBAC coach Paul Yetter. They have now been dating for more than a year, and Morris’s satisfaction over his own success at the July 7-11 U.S. championships in Indianapolis was tempered by Hoff’s disappointing week there.

Her failure to qualify for the world championship team was, perhaps, more stunning than Morris’s slipping onto the squad on the last night of competition.

Morris said he hoped to hang out with Hoff in Rome — after the championships.

“She’s had a tough year, and she’s done a great job handling it,” Morris said. “I’m always there for her whenever she has a problem, just like she was there for me when she was doing great and I wasn’t. I’ll always be a shoulder to lean on if she needs one.”

Phelps, who is something of a big brother to everyone at NBAC, also provides Morris and Hoff a comforting shoulder — at least when he’s not using his elbow to prod and tease both of them.

During a recent training session, Phelps chuckled at Morris’s determination to match the number of push-ups Phelps had done during a drill. Morris, who is not only is six years younger but also considerably slighter than Phelps, struggled mightily to equal Phelps’s — and even Hoff’s — output. Grinning mischievously, Phelps needled Morris about push-ups that wouldn’t have met the Marine standard for proper execution.

But Morris merely labored on, and he and Phelps chatted and laughed as they clung to kickboards during their pool session, wiling away the laps with conversation. Phelps has been an occasional poker partner, Morris said, and an all-around good guy.

“We all have different goals in the group,” Morris said. “Michael has his goals, Katie has her goals ….. I have my goals ….. [Michael] is very easy to get along with. Everyone’s friends in the group.”

Kathleen Morris said her son felt honored to swim with Phelps and under Bowman, but never overwhelmed by it.

“There was no adjustment at all,” she said. “He was just thrilled to be there working with Bob. Everything was a total positive. It was a huge honor.”

Bowman’s group originally included swimming veterans Nick Thoman and Hayley McGregory, but both have returned to prior training homes; it now features Kailey Morris, 21, who is Morris’s sister and swims for Penn State, and former Indiana University swimmer Todd Patrick. After the world championships, Bowman has said, he intends to promote young stars Elizabeth Pelton, 15, and Felicia Lee, 17.

“It’s a very small group,” Kathleen Morris said. But Brennan Morris “was used to a small group. It was almost like going home. He was used to swimming just with his sister.”

Indeed, after the Morris family moved from Albany, N.Y., and settled near Lewisburg, Pa., in 2001, Brennan and Kailey Morris began training by themselves under coach Jon Larson at Big Cat Aquatics in State College, Pa. By 2005, Brennan Morris was the top 14-year-old boy in the nation in eight events.

But the commute to practice — more than an hour in each direction — took its toll on the family.

“They got used to it, and nobody complained, but you try to find a better situation after a while,” Kathleen Morris said.

In August of 2006, as Kailey Morris began college at Penn State, Kathleen Morris moved her other children — Brennan and his sister, Camryne, now 14 — to Baltimore. William Morris, the family patriarch, had gone to college at Johns Hopkins University. The whole family loved the Baltimore Orioles, and the Morrises knew well the reputation of the NBAC program, where both Phelps and Hoff had developed.

William Morris remained behind, however, continuing to work as a nuclear engineer at the Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant in Berwick, Pa. He visits his family when work permits, and the entire group made the trip to Indianapolis for the U.S. championships.

No one had any idea Brennan Morris would win a trip to Rome there.

No one, that is, except Bowman.

“Bob made us all bring passports, just in case,” Morris said. “I guess it was a good idea.”

The retirements of Larsen Jensen, Klete Keller and Erik Vendt made the 1,500 free one of the most wide-open events at the U.S. championships, but Morris, who finished ninth in the 400 medley, wasn’t overly optimistic.

But when he dropped 20 seconds off of his best time in the preliminary round, Morris realized he was in the mix for a world-championship berth. He earned a fourth seed in the final. He figured the weight training, the emphasis on the freestyle stroke Bowman had demanded, had paid off.

“It was a pretty young field,” Morris said. “I was trying to place as high as I could with the top two in the back of my mind.”

Bowman advised Morris to stay within sight of the top guys and try to make it a race over the last 200 meters. In an oddly close competition for such a long event, Morris found himself in third with 200 remaining, but just 0.85 seconds behind Josef Kinderwater.

With Bowman’s instructions in mind, Morris blasted by Kinderwater over the next 50 meters and hung on to second place.

“I thoroughly enjoyed working with him,” Bowman said. “He did everything I asked him to do — and he did it well.”

Dana Vollmer won the women's 200 meter freestyle event at the U.S. swimming championships. (Ezra Shaw, Getty Images)

Locals Results

INDIANAPOLIS, July 8 — Towson’s Elizabeth Pelton, 15, did it again.

The rising star at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club upset some big names and won herself a spot — a second one — on the U.S. team that will compete at the world championships later this month in Rome.

Pelton finished just behind Hayley McGregory, who also trained at NBAC until moving to Austin to train five weeks ago, in the 100 backstroke Wednesday night at the U.S. swimming championships.

Pelton touched the wall in 1 minute 0.66 seconds as Gregory came home in 1:00.07. The two claimed the available berths for Rome and Pelton, perhaps, cemented her status as the hottest up-and-coming swimmer in the United States.
Margaret Hoelzer, a three-time Olympic medal winner, took third in 1:00.78. Reston’s Mei Christensen, who has swum for years for Curl-Burke and attends the University of Virginia, finished fifth in 1:01.16.

“I was just really, really excited to come to this meet,” Pelton said immediately after the race. “This is just the cherry on the top.”

Pelton, whose time established a new national age-group record, also finished second in the 200 individual medley Tuesday night, so she will compete in both events — and possibly more — in Rome.

She said she received 35 text messages and 10 phone messages after her performance Tuesday.

“It’s a little overwhelming,” Pelton said. “I didn’t even think about [qualifying in] the 100 back — I just wanted a best time.”

Pelton is also entered in the 50 free, 100 free and 200 back, but the only race in which she is expected to even make the final is the 200 back. She is seeded fifth in that event.

Vollmer Wins 200M Freestyle: In the women’s 200 free, Dana Vollmer finished first in 1:56.20, followed by Allison Schmitt, who came home in 1:57.25. Ariana Kukors got third (1:58.28) and Alyssa Anderson fourth (1:58.45).

Dagny Knutson of North Dakota finished fifth in 1:58.46, and NBAC’s Katie Hoff claimed eighth in 1:59.59 — more than four seconds off of her American record in the event (1:55.78).
Hoff, who won three Olympic medals last year, also failed to make the world team in the 400 freestyle Tuesday when she finished sixth.

“I admire her tonight as much as I ever did when she was winning all of those events,” Hoff’s coach Bob Bowman said. “It’s tough to stand up, when all of the expectations are on you and when you’re not at your best and give it all you’ve got.”

NBAC's Elizabeth Pelton finished a surprising second in the women's 200 IM on day one of the U.S. swimming championships. (Ezra Shaw, Getty Images)

Locals Results Chart

INDIANAPOLIS, July 7 — This story has played out before, a 15-year-old youngster soaring out of the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, all optimism and talent and potential. Elizabeth Pelton, the youngest swimmer entered in the 200-meter individual medley at the  national championships, flew into that joyous role with her surprising second-place finish, clinching a spot on her first world championship team.

Towson’s Katie Hoff, now 20, was once that 15-year-old sensation from NBAC.

Tuesday night, however, she could not have been farther away from that glorious place.

About 40 minutes after Pelton realized her dream faster than just about anyone expected, Hoff swam an almost incomprehensibly dismal race. Eleven months after a disappointing Olympic Games, Hoff — once labeled “the Female Michael Phelps” — sank, perhaps officially, into a slump: She did not make the team in an event she has been dominant.

She finished sixth in 4 minutes 12.34 seconds, more than 10 seconds slower than her personal best, more than five seconds behind first-place finisher Allison Schmitt (4:06.77) and nearly two seconds slower than she swam in the morning’s heats.

“It happens to everybody,” said her coach, Bob Bowman. “Katie hasn’t had a meet like this ever. She will learn from it and move on.”

Distraught after the performance, Hoff declined to talk to reporters.

Adding an additional slap to an already painful day: Julia Smit, 21, the Stanford swimmer who topped Pelton (2:09.34 to 2:11.03) did this, too: She broke Hoff’s American record (2:09.71) in the event.

That didn’t stifle Pelton’s celebration one bit. Leading after the butterfly and backstroke legs, Pelton lost ground during the breaststroke but hung on despite a fierce race over the final 50 meters.

She didn’t know she had earned a spot in Rome until she peered at her coach at NBAC, Paul Yetter, in the stands with the more than dozen other NBAC swimmers competing here. They were all jumping up and down, she recalled, and screaming.

“I was pretty surprised,” Pelton said. “I always knew, in the back of my head, I had a chance. But in the last 25 meters I was like, ‘Wow, this could happen.’.”

Happen it did. Pelton topped Ariana Kukors, 20, who was fifth in the 400 IM at the 2007 world championships and finished in 2:11.07. She also beat North Dakotan sensation Dagny Knutson, 17, who overshadowed Pelton at last year’s world junior championships in Guam but finished fourth in 2:11.11; as well as the highly regarded Elizabeth Beisel, 16, who came home in 2:11.80. It didn’t hurt that neither Hoff nor Olympic star Natalie Coughlan is competing in the event this year.

“It was a stacked field for sure,” Yetter said. “Liz is a very tough, determined swimmer. With the race on the line, she’s just going to gut it out.”

Pelton arrived at NBAC from Fairfield, Conn., in 2006. She moved with her mother and siblings, leaving her college-professor father behind, for one reason: To take advantage of the high-profile swim program that had made young stars out of Hoff and Michael Phelps, both of whom made their first Olympic teams at 15.

Like Hoff, Pelton developed under Yetter. And, like Hoff, she will now begin training under Bowman, who has coached Phelps since he was 11. Hoff left Yetter after she won three medals, but no golds, at the Olympic Games last summer. Pelton will leave Yetter simply because he is leaving.

Yetter accepted an assistant coaching position at Auburn University, still reeling from the recent death of coach Richard Quick from brain cancer. At the end of these championships, he will leave for the new job and Pelton will shift into Bowman’s training group.

“She has great potential,” Bowman said.

Hoff, meantime, will have to pick up the pieces, and fast. She competes Wednesday in the 200 freestyle. Bowman said she was surely affected by an illness that caused her to drop out of a recent meet in Santa Clara. She missed, Bowman said, substantial training time and, on top of that, she’s been tinkering with her stroke.

But physical problems are not her only ones, he said.

“She was just not there, probably psychologically and physically,” Bowman said. “She’s not doing too well right now.”

Said Yetter: “I believe she’s going to come back to be very, very good again.”

Gangloff Sets 100 Breast Mark: In the men’s 100 breast, Mark Gangloff, wearing a new Jaked suit, upset Eric Shanteau, wearing an Arena X-Glide, and claimed an American record in the process, topping former world record holder Brendan Hansen’s mark of 59.13. Gangloff touched the wall in 59.01 seconds, edging Shanteau, who finished in 59.45 — the second time he had gone under the one-minute barrier Tuesday.

Gangloff’s time approached Kosuke Kitajima’s world record of 58.91 and represented a drop of 1.09 seconds from Gangloff’s previous personal best.

The new suits seem to have had an inordinate affect in the breaststroke events, which have seen massive time drops around the globe.

“You just feel differently all over,” Shanteau said. “The way these suits are, you sit differently in the water.”

Madwed Claims Spot at Worlds: In the men’s 400 free, former NBAC swimmer Dan Madwed, 20, also claimed a spot at the Rome world championships with his finish in 3 minutes 47.24 seconds. Olympic veteran Peter Vanderkaay, 25, finished first in 3:45.17. …..

Reigning Olympic silver medal winner Christine Magnuson, 23, came close to her American record in winning the 100 fly, finishing in 57.15 wearing the X-Glide. Magnuson, who set her American record (57.08) at last year’s Olympic Games, beat out Dana Vollmer, 21, who touched the wall in 57.32. North Baltimore Aquatic Club’s Felicia Lee, 17, finished sixth in 58.53.

“I know I can be faster in Rome,” Magnuson said. …..

In the men’s 400 individual medley, Ryan Lochte out-touched Tyler Clary at the finish, winning in 4:06.40 to Clary’s 4:06.96.