Peirsol reaches final

Defending world and Olympic champion Aaron Peirsol, a Newport Harbor

High product, will be seeking his third straight 200-meter backstroke

title in today’s final of the swimming world championships in

Montreal.

Peirsol, 22, winner of three gold medals at last summer’s Olympics

in Athens, Greece, posted the fastest time (1 minute, 56.60 seconds)

in Thursday’s semifinal to qualify.

Peirsol claimed the 100 backstroke title Tuesday, making him the

first man since Roland Matthes of East Germany in 1973 and 1975 to win consecutive 100 back titles a the world championships.

Powers, Merlo score

* WATER POLO: Former UC Irvine All-Americans Jeff Powers (two

goals) and Rick Merlo (one) contributed to the U.S. men’s national

water polo team’s 10-6 victory over Cuba in the 11th-place game at

the FINA World Championships in Montreal Thursday.