Up for air: American Cullen Jones competes in the 100-meter butterfly at the Charlotte Grand Prix on Friday. APCHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Michael Phelps easily beat Ryan Lochte in their last race before the U.S. Olympic trials.Don't read too much into the results.Heck, Phelps didn't win either.Ricky Berens beat them both to the wall in the 200-meter freestyle at the Charlotte Grand Prix on Friday night, touching in a relatively slow time of 1 minute, 47.32 seconds. Phelps finished second in 1:48.01, while Lochte was far back in sixth place at 1:49.70."We're all doing different training," Phelps said. "That's how (Lochte) has always done it. I'm sure that's what he's going to do this year. He's somebody who's a very tough racer and, at the right time, he'll be there when it counts."Lochte, in fact, put himself at a disadvantage before the race even started by going with a brief instead of a jammer suit like the one worn by Phelps. Also, the Floridian is swimming a much more extensive program in Charlotte than his top rival, who has only one more event, the 200 butterfly, before he heads to the U.S. Olympic Committee media summit in Dallas.Later in the evening, Lochte finished seventh in the grueling 400 individual medley. He's got several more events in Charlotte before he shuts it down on Sunday, heading back to the Sunshine State to get in some serious training before the trials in Omaha, which begin in late June."None of this is going to matter," said Gregg Troy, Lochte's coach. "No one is going to care what happened in Charlotte in another month and a half or two months. So, we're pretty comfortable."Phelps is planning to swim at only one more meet before the Olympic trials. He'll be spending most of his time in the mountains of Colorado, fine-tuning his conditioning at altitude.Berens certainly knows that both Phelps and Lochte will be going much faster when they get to Omaha. At last year's world championships, Lochte won the gold with a showing of 1:44.44, edging Phelps by 35-hundredths of a second.Berens hasn't come close to those sort of times without benefit of the rubberized suits that have since been banned by FINA, the world governing body. The best he can hope for, it would seem, is to go fast enough at trials to earn a spot on the 800 free relay."I have one of the hardest events in the country," he conceded. "I've got Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps, who are the two fastest guys in the world and the toughest competition. As long as I'm on the relay with those two guys, I'll be glad to be on their on their team. As long as I'm part of that relay and winning gold for the U.S., I'm happy."All eyes were on Phelps and Lochte as they headed to the blocks, with nearly everyone in the overflow crowd snapping pictures of them with cellphones and tablets. But Berens, a native of Charlotte, had plenty of supporters too.His plan was to get off to a quick start and try to hold on. It worked out just fine.Berens was about a half-body length ahead of Phelps at the first turn and never gave up the advantage. Phelps hoped to get a powerful finishing kick off his last turn, but he had trouble judging the wall because of a bulkhead that hangs over the end of the pool. He mistimed his flip, didn't get the push he wanted and couldn't quite catch up to the leader."I wanted to nail that third wall. I knew that was going to be the difference in the race," Phelps said. "He probably got me by a couple of tenths on that wall. With 15 or 20 meters to go, I kind of felt like I was reeling him in a little bit. . . . I didn't set myself up to run him down at the right spot. Hopefully, next time."
Showing posts with label routs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label routs. Show all posts
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Berens routs Phelps, Lochte in 200 free
Up for air: American Cullen Jones competes in the 100-meter butterfly at the Charlotte Grand Prix on Friday. APCHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Michael Phelps easily beat Ryan Lochte in their last race before the U.S. Olympic trials.Don't read too much into the results.Heck, Phelps didn't win either.Ricky Berens beat them both to the wall in the 200-meter freestyle at the Charlotte Grand Prix on Friday night, touching in a relatively slow time of 1 minute, 47.32 seconds. Phelps finished second in 1:48.01, while Lochte was far back in sixth place at 1:49.70."We're all doing different training," Phelps said. "That's how (Lochte) has always done it. I'm sure that's what he's going to do this year. He's somebody who's a very tough racer and, at the right time, he'll be there when it counts."Lochte, in fact, put himself at a disadvantage before the race even started by going with a brief instead of a jammer suit like the one worn by Phelps. Also, the Floridian is swimming a much more extensive program in Charlotte than his top rival, who has only one more event, the 200 butterfly, before he heads to the U.S. Olympic Committee media summit in Dallas.Later in the evening, Lochte finished seventh in the grueling 400 individual medley. He's got several more events in Charlotte before he shuts it down on Sunday, heading back to the Sunshine State to get in some serious training before the trials in Omaha, which begin in late June."None of this is going to matter," said Gregg Troy, Lochte's coach. "No one is going to care what happened in Charlotte in another month and a half or two months. So, we're pretty comfortable."Phelps is planning to swim at only one more meet before the Olympic trials. He'll be spending most of his time in the mountains of Colorado, fine-tuning his conditioning at altitude.Berens certainly knows that both Phelps and Lochte will be going much faster when they get to Omaha. At last year's world championships, Lochte won the gold with a showing of 1:44.44, edging Phelps by 35-hundredths of a second.Berens hasn't come close to those sort of times without benefit of the rubberized suits that have since been banned by FINA, the world governing body. The best he can hope for, it would seem, is to go fast enough at trials to earn a spot on the 800 free relay."I have one of the hardest events in the country," he conceded. "I've got Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps, who are the two fastest guys in the world and the toughest competition. As long as I'm on the relay with those two guys, I'll be glad to be on their on their team. As long as I'm part of that relay and winning gold for the U.S., I'm happy."All eyes were on Phelps and Lochte as they headed to the blocks, with nearly everyone in the overflow crowd snapping pictures of them with cellphones and tablets. But Berens, a native of Charlotte, had plenty of supporters too.His plan was to get off to a quick start and try to hold on. It worked out just fine.Berens was about a half-body length ahead of Phelps at the first turn and never gave up the advantage. Phelps hoped to get a powerful finishing kick off his last turn, but he had trouble judging the wall because of a bulkhead that hangs over the end of the pool. He mistimed his flip, didn't get the push he wanted and couldn't quite catch up to the leader."I wanted to nail that third wall. I knew that was going to be the difference in the race," Phelps said. "He probably got me by a couple of tenths on that wall. With 15 or 20 meters to go, I kind of felt like I was reeling him in a little bit. . . . I didn't set myself up to run him down at the right spot. Hopefully, next time."
Monday, December 5, 2011
No. 1 LSU routs Georgia to nab SEC crown, book spot in BCS title game
ATLANTA — The "Honey Badger" doesn't care when his team struggles.He just takes what he wants.In this case, it's a trip to the national championship game.Tyrann Mathieu turned in an MVP performance when the No. 1 Tigers needed him most. He ran back a punt 62 yards for a touchdown, set up another score with a fumble recovery and finally finished off No. 12 Georgia with his best play yet — a whirling dervish of a return that led to the decisive TD in a 42-10 victory in the Southeastern Conference title game Saturday.LSU (13-0) advanced to a spot in the BCS championship game in New Orleans, just 120 km from its Baton Rouge campus. The Tigers opponent will be announced Sunday night, but SEC West rival and No. 2 Alabama — already beaten by the Tigers 9-6 in overtime a month ago — had the inside track even though it didn't win its division.The Crimson Tide would have to deal with a fearless sophomore who has the country's best nickname, and is an even better player."Last night, I envisioned me having three touchdowns," Mathieu said. "I think I came close to that. It comes down to me trying to do what I can for my team."His moniker stems from a humorous YouTube video that supposedly depicts the world's fiercest animal ("Honey Badger don't care, he just takes what he wants," the narrator says). Defensive coordinator John Chavis showed the 175-cm, 79-kg player the clip on the way back from a victory at West Virginia, believing it fit Mathieu perfectly.No argument there."My teammates love the name, and I think it depicts me on the field," Mathieu said. "I just go with it. My teammates do a great job having my back. Anything I can do to help those guys, lift their spirits, I'll do it. I think the Honey Badger does that sometimes."No. 3 Oklahoma State 44, No. 13 Oklahoma 10: In Stillwater, Oklahoma, Joseph Randle ran for 151 yards and two touchdowns and Richetti Jones returned a fumble for a score as the Cowboys won the Big 12 championship to make their case to play for a national title.The Cowboys ended an eight-game losing streak against the Sooners and won their first outright conference title since 1948 in the three-team Missouri Valley Conference.No. 21 Clemson 38, No. 5 Virginia Tech 10: In Charlotte, North Carolina, Tajh Boyd threw three touchdown passes and ran for another as Clemson routed Virginia Tech to win its first Atlantic Coast Conference championship in 20 years.The Tigers clinched their first Orange Bowl berth since 1981, the year they won their only national championship. Clemson had lost three of its last four games to close the regular season.No. 24 Southern Mississippi 49, No. 7 Houston 28: In Houston, Austin Davis threw four touchdown passes as Southern Mississippi captured its first Conference USA title and ruined Houston's perfect season.Tracey Lampley also caught two touchdown passes for the Golden Eagles, who became the first team to hold Houston below 35 points this season. The Cougars had been averaging more than 50 points per game.No. 15 Wisconsin 42, No. 11 Michigan State 39: In Indianapolis, Montee Ball ran for three touchdowns including the decisive 7-yard score with 3:45 to go as Wisconsin beat Michigan State in the inaugural Big Ten Conference championship game.Wisconsin is now headed to its second straight Rose Bowl.No. 9 Boise State 45, New Mexico 0: In Boise, Idaho, Kellen Moore threw three touchdowns in the final home game of his brilliant career and Doug Martin ran for two more as Boise State rolled over New Mexico.Moore, the winningest starting quarterback in college football history, was 28 of 33 for 313 yards before heading for the sideline midway through the third quarter. His three touchdowns give him 41 for the season.
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