Another big meet, another major record for
Missy Franklin.
Franklin, a 16-year-old junior at
Regis Jesuit (Aurora, Colo.), set a national independent high school record in the 200-yard freestyle during the preliminaries of the Colorado Class 5A state swimming championships Friday.
She covered the distance at the Edora Pool Ice Center in Fort Collins in 1 minute, 43.98 seconds, breaking the old mark of 1:45.12 set by Chelsea Chenault of Carondelet (Concord, Calif.) last May.
National prep swimming records are classified by public or independent (private) high school, and Franklin's time was shy of being the best overall. The public record is held by Dagny Knutson of Minot (N.D.), who posted a time of 1:42.81 in 2008. Knutson owns four public school records.
At the Colorado state meet last year Franklin set the national independent marks in the 100 backstroke (52.30) and the 100 freestyle (48.39).
In her other individual event Friday - the 100 backstroke - Franklin just missed on eclipsing her 2011 mark with a time of 52.91. (The public school record in the event, 51.53, belongs to Rachel Bootsma of Eden Prairie (Minn.), and was set in 2010).
Franklin is expected to be one of the breakout athletes at the 2012 London Olympics this summer after setting two world records last year, in addition to being selected the 2011 Female Swimmer of the Year by FINA, the sport's governing body. She owns the world record in the 200-meter backstroke (short course) and is a member of the record-setting 400-meter medley relay team (short course).
Franklin's participation at the state meet has resulted in sell-out crowds and has generated national attention. She was featured on the cover of the New York Times on Thursday and ESPN3 will broadcast live the meet finals Saturday. The finals begin at 2 p.m. MST.