Swimming improves, but fails to medal

by Sarah Segal on September 12, 2009

The U.S. Swim Team's swimmers clocked their personal best times in nearly every heat Friday morning and then beat those times in their finals at Hsinchu County Swimming Plaza later in the evening. "They usually swim a lot better in the evening," assistant coach Seda Ozdemir said. "You can tell by so many broken Game and world records. In the morning, they just worry about getting in the finals, and in the evening, they go a lot faster and compete for a medal." Rebecca Meyer's results reflect Ozdemir's observations, as she finished first in the women's 200m freestyle heat with a time of 2:18.56 and then clocked a 2:16.09 in the final. However, that time wasn't enough to place, as Meyer finished last. Elam also improved her 200m freestyle heat time of 2:17.64 to a finals time of 2:15.83, beating Meyers to finish 7th. The men of the final B group, Dudley Baker and William Landgren, also shaved several seconds off their heat times in the 200m freestyle event. Baker finished in 2:01.24 in the morning heat and dropped 28 seconds off his evening final time at 2:00.98, while Landgren went 11 seconds better than his original heat time of 2:03.76 at 20:03.65. In the heat, Baker and Landgren had finished first and second, respectively, and in the finals finished fourth and sixth, with teammate Brian Bennett between them at 2:03:00. Brian Bennett finished sixth in his heat with a significantly higher time of 2:03.89. The women's 4x100m medley relay made it to finals, finishing fifth at 4:43.30. The swimmer lineup included Peggy Liang, Jessica Weeden, Anna Robinson and Elam. Elam swam the fastest leg in the relay, clocking 1:02.81, but it wasn't enough to close the distance between fifth and third places.

Swimming improves, but fails to medal

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