Arizona junior Kevin Cordes smoked the field with a world-best performance in the 200 breaststroke at the USA Swimming Phillips 66 Nationals and World Championship Trials in Indianapolis on Wednesday night. The first-place finish punched his ticket to the FINA World Championships in Barcelona in July.
Cordes was on world-record until fading in his final 50 meters. He finished with the best mark in the world this season, 2:08.34. That's a new personal best, but short of Akihiro Yamaguchi's world-record of 2:07.01.
"That last 50 was pretty bad, but the rest was pretty good," Cordes said.
Olympic gold medalist Breeja Larson of Mesa won the women's 200 breast in 2:23.44, beating Micah Lawrence (2:24.69) and Laura Sogar (2:24.86). Christine Magnuson, who trains with Tucson Ford Aquatics, won the women's 50 butterfly in 26.08, with Kendyl Stewart second in 26.26. Eugene Godsoe won the men's 50 fly in 23.29, and Olympian Matt Grevers of Tucson, a volunteer assistant coach at Arizona, was second in 23.5. Senior Giles Smith took fifth in the 50 fly in 23.96.
Several other Wildcats had strong showings on Wednesday evening as sophomore Bonnie Brandon came away with a fifth-place performance in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:10.24 and sophomore Emma Schoettmer won the B final in the 200 breast in 2:28.48, finishing in ninth place overall.
