T2's Liz Pelton Breaks 17-18 Girls 200 IM NAG Record

ATLANTA, Georgia, December 1. CAITLIN Leverenz scorched the pool with a sterling time of 2:09.39 in the women's 200 IM at the USA Swimming Winter Nationals. That swim just missed the U.S. Open record of 2:09.34 set by Julia Smit in 2009, and moved Leverenz to fourth in the world rankings.

Only Ye Shiwen (2:08.90), Alicia Coutts (2:09.00) and Ariana Kukors (2:09.12) have been faster this year. Leverenz broke her lifetime best of 2:10.40 to move to 10th all time in the event's history.

T2's Elizabeth Pelton placed second tonight in 2:10.02 to jump to sixth in the rankings, while Smit earned third-place honors with a 2:11.55. Pelton's time is a 17-18 U.S. National Age Group record, clipping the 2:10.05 set by Katie Hoff when she won the 2006 national title.

Smit improved her once 13th-ranked season best of 2:11.79, but did not jump in front of Kirsty Coventry's 2:11.24 for 13th in the rankings. Hoff (2:12.55) and Kathleen Hersey (2:12.65) both posted top-25 worthy times as well.

Julia Wilkinson (2:13.78), Jasmine Tosky (2:17.30), Elizabeth Beisel (2:17.69) and Morgan Scroggy (2:18.92) finished sixth through ninth, while Celina Li drew a disqualification  read more...