Peirsol defends title

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. — Auburn University senior Hayley Peirsol, a Newport Harbor High product, successfully defended her NCAA title in the 1,650-yard freestyle on Saturday at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Minnesota.

Peirsol’s time of 15 minutes, 45.92 seconds was over 10 seconds faster than her seed time, and easily beat out second-place Auburn teammate Adrienne Binder (15:53.44).

Her time was nearly four seconds faster than her 2006 NCAA championship time of 15:49.48, and set a University of Minnesota pool record.

The Tigers defended their NCAA Division I championship with 535 total points.

An All-American, Peirsol is also the national champion in the women’s 800 freestyle, which she won at the USA Swimming National Championships at Irvine High last August. She finished fourth in the 500 freestyle at the NCAA Championships.

Hayley and older brother Aaron, the reigning world and Olympic champion in the 100 and 200 backstroke, next swim in the World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, starting March 17.