U.S. Open Day 2 Prelims: Kevin Cordes Breaks NAG Record in 200 Breast

The 2nd preliminary sessions from Indy is in the books, and another fast set of morning heats wow’ed the crowd at the 2012 U.S. Open Championships.

The highlight of the morning was Arizona sophomore Kevin Cordes, still 18 years old until next Monday, breaking the 17-18 National Age Group Record in the 200 breaststroke. He has lowered the 100 mark many times in the last two months, but most recently the 200 belonged to Cal commit Josh Prenot from U.S. Trials in 2:12.21.

Cordes, who seems to drop by leaps-and-bounds every time he hits the water, cut nearly a second off of his personal record to unify the distances with a 2:11.88. He now holds all four 17-18 breaststroke NAG Records (100/200; yards and meters).

He won’t be unchallenged in the final, though. PASA’s BJ Johnson took 2nd in 2:12.28, followed by Florida sophomore Matthew Elliott in 2:12.97.

In other morning racing, Swim Florida/UNC’s Stephanie Peacock topped the women’s 400 free in 4:10.57. Unlike her 800 from last night, this was not a best time for her; it was just a few tenths slower than what she did at the World University Games last summer. Her 400, however, was more developed than her 800 coming into this summer, so that’s not a surprise. Still expect her to dip to a 4:08 or better in finals. Afterall, her best 400 meters of the longer race from Tuesday added up to a 4:09-mid.

High school senior Chelsea Chenault was 2nd in 4:11.64, followed by Texas A&M’s Sarah Henry in 4:12.02. Clearwater Aquatic Team’s Becca Mann, the 14-year old who made huge waves in Omaha with three finals swims in grueling events, was 4th in 4:12.59.

In the women’s 200 breast, Laura Sogar swam a 2:25.81 for top honors. That’s four-tenths from her time at Trials, but still a phenomenal morning swim. Andrea Kropp was 2nd in 2:27.29, followed by 2011 NCAA Champion Haley Spencer in 2:29.59. Also making this final, in 8th, is British 16-year old Molly Renshaw in 2:32.29. She’ll hope to be much better than that in the evening, as she’s been a 2:26 this summer.

Michael Klueh, back in his home state of Indiana, topped the men’s 400 free prelim in 3:49.74. Texas’ Michael McBroom didn’t break much of a sweat with a 3:53.00 for 2nd; he turned on the gas at the end, but conserved a lot of energy in the first 200 meters.

Finally, in the 200 backstrokes, top seeds for the women went to Britain’s Karley Mann (2:11.69) and Canada’s Genevieve Cantin (2:11.71) in an event where the Americans aren’t all that deep; Arizona post-grad Cory Chitwood topped the men’s heats in 1:57.41. Jacob Pebley and Jack Conger were just behind him in 1:59-lows.

Full, live results availeble here.