Night one of the 2012 Santa Clara International Grand Prix meet began, not surprisingly, with a pair of wins by international athletes in the non-Olympic distance freestyles.
The most notable of those was South Korea's Tae Hwan Park in the men's 800 free, where he broke a Meet Record with a 7:52.07. That's ranks him 4th in the world this year, and is even faster than he was in New South Wales in February. At that meet, he was very good, so look for another 3:44 or so in his best event, the 400 free, like he swam last week at the Mel Zajac meet in Canada.
Close behind him was the man whose record he took – Canada's Ryan Cochrane in 7:57.19. That's quite-a-bit slower than he was in this meet last season, but is fairly similar to what he's gone in late May/early June in past seasons.
Wrapping an international medal stand was Australia's Ryan Napoleon in 7:59.10. The top-finishing American was Fullerton's Michael Klueh in 4th in 8:01.23
In the women's 1500, there were no spectacular times, but New Zealand's Lauren Boyle took the win in 16:21.73. This is not her primary event, but is just about a second off of her best time from New Zealand Nationals. She's spending some time back in her collegiate stomping-ground in Berkeley training with Teri McKeever and Cal. The end result wasn't her best, but her closing 200 meters of 2:06.5 is very good.
Emily Brunemann, now that she's shifting back from open water to a pool-trials focus, swam her first 1500 of the season; she took silver in 16:23.26. Venezuela's Andreina Pinto took bronze 16:24.16.
Full, Live Results available here.