Pan Pacs Gallery Now Open

I've also added more pics to the Nationals gallery.

Pan Pacs was pretty exciting tonight. A new Course Record from Ian Crocker in the 100 Fly, a new world record from Aaron Peirsol in the 200 Back and a new World Record from the men's 4x100 Relay team. Look how excited Neil and Mike are! It's hard to believe Neil is 30 with that baby face. To read more about fellow Longhorns Ian, Aaron and Neil you can visit their respective websites - IanCrockerOnline.com, AaronPeirsolOnline.com and Swimwalker.com.



Some Pan Pacs Links:

Sports in Brief | Hansen wins 100 breaststroke at Pan Pacific

World-record holder Brendan Hansen won the 100-meter breaststroke with the only sub-one-minute time in the Pan Pacific championships last night in Victoria, British Columbia.

Hansen, who is from Havertown, finished in 59.90 seconds to set a meet record, bettering the record of 1 minute, 0.17 seconds he swam in morning preliminaries.

Swimming: Kitajima 3rd in 100 breaststroke at Pan-Pacs

Kyodo) _ Japan's Athens Olympic double gold medalist Kosuke Kitajima was upstaged by American rival Brendan Hansen and finished third in the men's 100 meters breaststroke at the Pan-Pacific Championships on Friday.

Kitajima, whose preparations for the meet have been disrupted by illness, clocked 1 minute, 00.90 seconds, to finish behind world record holder Hansen (59.90) and Brendan Rickard of Australia (1:00.39)

Kitajima's time was 00.03 seconds slower than in his heat but all but guaranteed him a place on the Japan squad for next year's world championships in Melbourne, Australia.

"I really gave it my all but ran out of steam at the end," said Kitajima. "I wanted to show a good swim but was on the back foot from the start."

"Still, I've cleared the qualifying time set for the worlds and just have to be positive and look forward," he added.

American's set 2 World Records and new meet record at Pan Pacs

It was Peirsol's swim that gave the team a lift after what had been a so-so night for the Americans up to that point. Peirsol was ahead of world record pace from the very first 50, and pushed by Phelps in the next lane, steadily built on that margin throughout the race. He touched the wall close to two and a half seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Phelps was second in 1:56.81, while Japan's Tomomi Morita was third in 1:58.53. The United States' Hongzhe Sun was 10th swimming in the "B" final in 2:00.54.

"That was really special," Peirsol said. "I'll tell you, it never gets old. I felt great the whole way. It was just an amazing race. I just don't know to say."

Peirsol has not lost the 200m back since the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, where he won silver behind teammate Lenny Krayzelburg. When asked on television how long he expects his streak to continue, Peirsol drew laughs from the crowd.

"I plan on retiring when I'm 50," he said.

In other events, Ian Crocker won the Americans' first gold medal Saturday, winning the men's 100m butterfly with a meet record time of 51.47. A pair of Japanese swimmers, Ryo Takayasu and Takashi Yamamoto finished second and third, with times of 52.59 and 52.71. American Davis Tarwater was sixth in 53.55, while Daniel Madwed was 15th in 54.46.

In typical fashion, Crocker jumped out to a quick lead and led the race from start to finish.

"I was happy with the result, I just wish my time would've been a little better," Crocker said.

Y'all don't forget to watch the 200 Breaststroke tomorrow! And we'll be following it in BHO Chat tomorrow night, so join us for the fun!