FEDERAL WAY, Washington, July 24. AT the Pacific Northwest Swimming Long Course Championships, KING's Megan Jendrick matched her unofficial morning split in the 50 breast with a 30.36. However, Jendrick got off the blocks too quick and drew a disqualification for a false start.
In what has been an odd day all around at the PNS Long Course Championships, Jendrick missed out on setting the American record in the 50 breast twice.
This morning, Jendrick clocked a 30.36 en route to a 1:06.22 to lead the preliminary round. Her 50 split, which cleared the American record of 30.53 set by Jessica Hardy as part of a 100 breast at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, did not count due to the format of prelims.
According to an earlier Swimming World report, official results at the PNS meet do not provide splits for prelim races, since prelims are being conducted in a double-ended chase format – a popular meet format for large age group meets conducted in long course meters.
This means a heat starts at one end of the pool while a heat that started at the other end of the pool is finishing its race (for all distances 100 meters and above), and so on, allowing a meet to be run in the quickest way possible. This type of format requires two independent timing systems on both ends of the pool, which means the touchpad in Jendrick's lane at the turn would not have been programmed to register her touch, as it is being reset for the heat about to start at that end of the pool.
Because there was no automatic timing to register Jendrick's split, the prelim time cannot count as an American record, according to the USA Swimming rules and regulations Rule 102.16B. This rule states that world, American and U.S. Open records, as well as relay leadoffs and split times, must be registered on automatic timing. Only if the timing system experiences a malfunction will records be accepted from three stopwatches.
This evening, Jendrick missed the mark again even after touching in 30.36 due to the false start disqualification. Jendrick would have finished with a 1:06.48 for the win if her time stood.
Jendrick still has the 200 breast tomorrow if she decides to keep going for the 50 record. Swimming World will keep an eye on the meet.