Freestyle

LONDON - In a turnaround that left Michael Phelps and his teammates in stunned silence Sunday night, the 400-meter freestyle relay gold medal that the U.S. had in its grasp slipped away in a late surge by the final French swimmer. Ryan Lochte, swimming the anchor leg for the U.S., touched .45 of a second later than Yannick Agnel. The Russian team won bronze, ahead of the Australians, heavily favored going into the race with their self-described "weapons of mass destruction team.

Highlights from this morning's swimming preliminaries, including Ryan Lochte's thoughts on being added to the 4 X 100 freestyle relay. *"There's some talk about it," Lochte said of possibly swimming in the 400 free relay, "but at the end of the day it is the coaches' decision and they are going to put the best four guys they think are right. I just have to wait and see if they put me on or not. " In other actual, rather than speculated, events: *Allison Schmitt of North Baltimore Aquatic Club led her entire 400-meter freestyle - like the tip of birds flying in V-formation - until the end, when she was out-touched by Camille Muffat of France.

The Maryland wrestling team had its overall best performance in the team's 50-year history at the USA Wrestling Junior & Cadet National Championships this month. A record total of 21 All-American honors were earned by 15 Maryland wrestlers, including two national championships, and six double All-American placements from the 65 wrestlers who made the trip to Fargo, North Dakota. A wrestler earns All-American by placing in the Top 8 in a weight class. Maryland placed eighth overall in Junior Greco-Roman among 47 teams.

Jeff Hiestand has spent the last 11 years beside the pool at McDaniel College, where he has coached five individual conference champions in eight events. In two weeks, he'll still be near a pool, but in a far different location. On Aug. 9, Hiestand will head to London for the Summer Olympic Games. He will watch proudly as former McDaniel swimmer Suzanne Stettinius represents the United States in the pentathlon. The one-day competition features five events: 200-meter freestyle swimming, fencing, pistol shooting, horse show jumping and a 3,000-meter cross country run. Hiestand coached Stettinius for three years on the McDaniel swimming and diving team.

The research involved laser scans, underwater video and special animation software. And it took thousands of hours of computer time to run simulations that crunched complex fluid mechanics equations. All of this scientific firepower was thrown at one question: Which freestyle swimming stroke is superior: the paddle-like motion known as "deep catch," or the propeller action called sculling? The answer: It's the deep catch, in which a swimmer's hands push water straight back toward his or her feet.

Michael Phelps will not chase eight gold medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. His coach Bob Bowman tweeted late Monday morning that the Olympian will not race in the 200-meter freestyle , giving him a slate of seven events in London. "I think it's just smarter," Phelps said Monday. "Sort of thinking of everything and thinking how things went here, I think it's just a better option for me to be able to swim as best I can. And it's going to give me the best opportunity to swim well.

Saturday marked the end of the road to London for Katie Hoff, the former Towson-based swimmer who failed to match her dominating performance in the 2008 U.S. Olympic trials. After failing to qualify in the 200- and 400-meter freestyle races earlier in the week, she entered the 800-free knowing she likely would not advance, which she didn't. "I'm proud of myself for doing it," said Hoff, who said her coach Paul Yetter left it up to her whether to swim the event. "Obviously I wanted to be better.

Jason Lezak , the anchor of the thrilling 400-freestyle relay in Beijing, claimed a spot on the Olympic men's 100-meter freestyle team after a top-six finish in the event Friday. The 36-year-old Lezak will be joined on the team by Nathan Adrian , Cullen Jones , Matt Grevers , Ricky Berens and Jimmy Feigen . "I was nervous. It's a big race for me. I trained four years for this. It's been real hard," Lezak said. "This 36-year-old body was run down.

Katie Hoff may be out of contention for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team after failing to qualify in the 200-meter freestyle preliminaries this morning. North Baltimore Aquatic Club swimmer Allison Schmitt won the prelims, besting the likes of Dana Vollmer and Missy Franklin. But Hoff, a former NBAC swimmer, came in 20th, still ailing from a stomach virus. She said she may not even attempt the remaining event on her schedule, the 800 free, which means she would sit out the London Games.

Omaha, Neb. -- Ryan Lochte again bested Michael Phelps on Tuesday night, this time in by a mere .02 seconds, in their semifinal heat in the 200-meter freestyle event of the Olympic qualifying trials. Both go on to the finals Wednesday night to see if one or both swims the event at the London Games. "I was a little sore this morning but I'm fine with that," said Phelps, who was stretching his neck from side to side as he entered for the race at the CenturyLink Center here.