Vollmer, Soni set short course nationals records

Wearing the "old," supposedly slower suits, Dana Vollmer won two gold medals while setting a meet record in freestyle and Olympic gold medalist Rebecca Soni set a meet record in breaststroke on the second day of the short course national championships Friday night.

Vollmer, a 2004 Olympian from Granbury, Texas, won the 100-yard butterfly in 51.39 seconds. Amanda Sims, Vollmer's Cal Aquatics teammate, was second in 52.96.

Vollmer then won the 200 freestyle after battling Minot, N.D.'s Dagny Knutson for the lead throughout the race. Vollmer won in 1:42.36, .25 of a second ahead of Knutson.

Soni, of Plainsboro, N.J., swam a 58.62 in the 100 breaststroke, beating the previous record of 58.74. She cruised past fellow Olympian Megan Jendrick of neighboring Tacoma, Wash.

In a star-packed men's 100 breaststroke, Mike Alexandrov of Champaign, Ill., held off four-time Olympic medalist Kosuke Kitajima of Japan to win in 52.07. Kitajima finished in 52.44, and world champion Eric Shanteau from Lilburn, Ga., earned the bronze in 52.84.

Cincinnati's Nick Thoman won the men's 100 backstroke with a time of 45.60. Rex Tullius of Port Orange, Fla., got the silver (46.21), edging Matt Grevers of Lake Forest, Ill.

Ukraine's Kateryna Fesenko won the women's 100 backstroke in 52.70, beating out Japan's Noriko Inada and Presley Bard of Napa, Calif.

Peter Vanderkaay, Rochester, Mich., won the men's 200 freestyle in 1:34.08. William Copeland of Lexington, Va., was second, ahead of Matt Bartlett from Cumming, Ga.

Matt Grevers of Lake Forest, Ill., won the men's 100 butterfly in 46.28, and was third in the 100 backstroke.

Hungary's Katinka Hosszu was leading midway through the women's 400 individual medley before two-time Olympian Katie Hoff of Towson, Md., rallied in the breaststroke leg to win in 4:01.95.

In the men's 400 IM, Robert Margalis of St. Petersburg, Fla. won in 3:45.24.