Individual Medley

LONG BEACH, Calif. - With swirling breezes blowing off Long Beach Harbor, the open-air pool was supposed to be choppy and slow. With another five events in front of him, Michael Phelps surely would conserve energy on opening night of the U.S. Olympic trials for swim ming. No chance. Phelps began the meat of the Olympic year the way he ended 2003's championship season, with a world record. He had an empty tank when he capped last year by lowering his own standard in the 200-meter individual medley.

phelps' schedule Today --200-meter butterfly final Tomorrow --200-meter individual medley final Friday --4 x 200-meter freestyle relay final Saturday --100-meter butterfly final Sunday --400-meter individual medley final; 4 x 100-meter medley relay

Olympics Various events 8 p.m. [NBC]: The Michael Phelps show continues tonight as the American swimmer goes for his sixth gold medal in Beijing in the 200-meter individual medley. Women's gymnastics continue with the individual all-around.

On Monday, Katie Hoff won the 200-meter individual medley at the FINA world championships with the fourth-fastest time in history (2:10.41). This morning, she goes for another medal in the 200 freestyle. She set an American record (1:57.19) yesterday in the semifinals of the 200 free (she's shown at left on finishing that race).

2 Individual events won by each of the sophomore Lloyd twins, Sarah and Emily, in leading the Severna Park swimming team to the county championship Friday. The Falcons piled up 135 points to 112 by runner-up Broadneck. Sarah established county records in the 200-yard individual medley (2 minutes, 11.34 seconds) and 100 butterfly (56.42), and Emily won the 200 and 50 freestyles.

SwimmingCarroll County's Retrievers Swim Club placed first in the recent New York State Team Championships.In winning, the locals outpaced a field of 41 squads from New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Michigan, New Jersey and Canada.The meet, held at State University of New York at Buffalo, drew over 900 swimmers aged 8-18.A number of Retrievers scored team points by placing in individual events.They were:Jason Kay: boys 9-10 50-yard freestyle-second, 200 freestyle-4th, freestyle-6th, 100 individual medley-6th, 50 butterfly-7th, 100 butterfly-9th.

SwimmingThe Westminster Swim Club finished its regular season with a 324-157 victory over Baltimore City's Bolton Hill.Westminster's winners were: girls 11-12 100-meter individual medley -- Aimee Smith (1 minute, 29.22 seconds); boys 11-12 100 individual medley -- Sean Avore (1:43.84); girls 13-14 100 individual medley -- Mandy Gierlach (1:20.74); boys 13-14 100 individual medley -- John Beal (1:30.49); girls 15-18 100 individual medley -- Marie Tomarelli (1:13.48); girls 6-under 25-meter freestyle -- Kelsey Coons (37.10)

MONTREAL - It was a dreary, rainy day yesterday at Parc Jean-Drapeau. Three days of sunshine were replaced by gray clouds, and sporadic raindrops peppered both spectators and athletes on hand for the FINA World Championships. It was not, however, a bad day for swimming. Baltimore's Michael Phelps didn't race in a final for the first time this week, but he still swam four times, cruising through the quarterfinal and semifinal heats in the 100-meter freestyle and the 200 individual medley.

The past year has been less than kind to 1992 Olympic swimming medalist Anita Nall.Mononucleosis, first diagnosed last spring as the flu, reduced and hindered her training and affected her meet performances for part of last year. A recurrence of mono kept her out of the water from Dec. 1 until Feb. 1.Then, two weeks ago, Australia's Rebecca Brown broke Nall's 200-meter breaststroke world record of 2 minutes, 25.35 seconds with a time of 2:24.76.Now, tentatively, Nall is attempting a comeback.

The Anita Nall-led contingent of Baltimore area swimmers bound for the Phillips 66 U.S. National Championships includes at least two others who have a chance at top 16 finishes.The meet, which has attracted more than 800 swimmers from more than 300 clubs, will begin a five-day run today in Nashville, ++ Tenn. The competition will be held in Tracy Caulkins Pool, named in honor of the former Olympian.Nall, the world-record holder in the 200-meter breaststroke and a triple Olympic medalist, is the likely favorite in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events.