Hansen gets out fast in 100 breaststroke prelims

Brendan Hansen said that upon learning that Japanese star Kosuke Kitajima broke his world record in the 200-meter breaststroke June 8, he was more motivated than ever to excel at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials and at the Beijing Games.

If his preliminary swim in the 100 breaststroke Sunday at the Qwest Center in Omaha is any indication, Hansen's world record could be in jeopardy in tonight's semifinals.

The Longhorn Aquatics standout clocked 59.84 seconds to lead all qualifiers, giving him half of the top 20 all-time marks in the event. Hansen set the world record of 59.13 in Aug. 2006 at the summer nationals in Irvine.

Mark Gangloff clocked 1:00.10 to take second to Hansen and John Criste, a former Saugus talent and Mission Viejo graduate who recently completed his freshman year at Stanford, qualified sixth for tonight's semifinals in a lifetime-best 1:01.31, more than a second drop from his entry time of 1:02.64.

Swim Pasadena's Cheyne Bloch, the older brother of Oaks Christian of Westlake Village junior Chase Bloch, posted a mark of 1:03.35 to take 34th out of 76 swimmers.