Ziegler Sets Meet Mark in 400 Freestyle

IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 1 -- Kate Ziegler swam the best 400-meter freestyle race of her life Tuesday. Twice.

After breaking her personal best time by about a second in the morning preliminary swim, Ziegler came back in the evening and improved again by almost two seconds. She won the 400 freestyle final in 4 minutes 5.72 seconds, breaking a meet record set by Janet Evans in 1993.

As is her custom, Ziegler raced out to a quick lead in the final, but 2004 Olympians Katie Hoff and Hayley Peirsol both surged late in the race to pass. Hoff led Ziegler by almost a second with 50 meters left, but Ziegler swam a furious last leg in 29.5 seconds and touched the wall .08 of a second before Hoff. Both swimmers looked up at the scoreboard, unsure who had won. Then, when Ziegler's name flashed first, they hugged.

"Katie and Hayley are great competitors, and I knew I had to give it everything I had," Ziegler said. "To have two people like that racing made me work a little harder."

The win ensured Ziegler, of Great Falls, a spot in several international meets over the next two years, including the Pan Pacific Championships in August and next year's world championships in Australia, where Ziegler also hopes to defend gold medals in the 800 and 1,500-meter freestyles. Ziegler will swim again at the William Woollett Aquatics Center as the favorite in the 800-meter freestyle later this week.

"That was a pretty amazing way to start," said Ray Benecki, Ziegler's coach. "She had two swims that were just what we wanted, so I'd have to call that a very good day."

Record Hit, Goal Missed

---

After Brendan Hansen set a world record in the 100-meter breaststroke, he looked up at his time on the scoreboard and felt a brief tinge of disappointment. His time of 59.13 seconds bested the previous world record (59.30, also set by Hansen at the Olympic trials in 2004), but it fell short of Hansen's sub-59 second goal.

"I heard everyone screaming and I turned around and I was like, 'Oh, come on. Be a 58,' " Hansen said. "This whole summer has been special for me. I came into and all about being healthy, eating right and getting the little things right, and obviously I proved that."

With his swim Tuesday, Hansen continued his dominance of the breaststroke. He holds the world record in both the 100- and 200-meter breaststrokes, and he hasn't lost a breaststroke event in the U.S. in the last four years.