The Brazilian Short Course Swimming Championships came to a close in Santos today, but not until two more South American records were broken, bringing the meet total to 19.

Thiago Pereira made it three for three in the IMs,taking the men's 200 tonight handily, clocking a new South American and Brazilian record of 1:57.63. Second place went to Lucas Salatta in 1:59.38. With his wins here in Santos, Pereira looks good to swim even faster in Indy, and will undoubtedly be Brazil's best male hope for a medal, maybe even three.

Another dominant IM swimmer took a third win this evening as well. Argentina's Georgina Bardach had her closest race yet as Brazil's Joanna Maranhao, still smarting from her loss her pet 400 IM, didn't give her any time to pull away at any point during the race. Through the last 25, the two swimmers were stroke for stroke, and hitting the wall, it was anyone's guess as to who actually touched first. A few seconds later, the scoreboard lit up with Bardach's name by the number 1, in 2:13.10 to Maranhao's 2:13.14. The rematch will be in Indy. Gaby Rose's South American record of 2:12.64 remains intact for the time being.

It was a good night for breaststrokers as both Henrique Barbosa and Mariana Katsuno notched hat tricks, winning all breaststroke events at this meet, and sealing their domination on the domestic front.

In addition to her wins, Katsuno also capped her meet off in style with a new Brazilian and South American record in the 100 breast. In preliminaries, she touched in at 1:09.39 to notch the new standard. In finals, she won easily, but was a second and a half slower in 1:10.72 over Patricia Comini's 1:11.49.

Henrique Barbosa, in his third attempt, finally notched a World qualifying standard, winning the 100 in 1:00.01 for his third win of the meet. Second place finisher Eduardo Fischer (1:01.30) holds the South American and Brazilian record in a time two seconds faster than he swam today.

Rebeca Gusmao swam to a win in the women's 100 free at 54.70 over perennial bridesmaid Flavia Neto de Jesus (55.01). In the men's 100, Nicholas dos Santos touched in 48.66 to finish ahead of Cesar Filho (48.84). There were no Worlds qualifiers here in either event.

The same situation was to be found in the men's and women's 100 backstroke. In the men's event, Guilherme Guido took a win in 54.08 over Leonardo Costa (54.68). In the women's event, mainstay Fabiola Molina touched first in 1:01.79 ahead of Talita Ribeiro (1:02.37)

The ladies from Pinheiros A kept the records tumbling tonight in the 400 free relay, notching yet another South American and Brazilian record. Flavia Neto de Jesus, Flavia Delaroli, Paula Ribeiro, and Tatiana Lima teamed to win in 3:41.98, almost seven seconds ahead of the A squad from Unisanta (3:48.83).

The men's A squad from Minas used their momentum from a relay win last night to propel them to another victory. The 4x100 free relay squad of Thiago Pereira, Teofilo Ferreira, Andre Cordeiro, and Rodrigo Castro touched in 3:16.65, nearly three seconds ahead of the men from Pinheiros A (3:19.42).

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