SWIMMING: JONES IS THE SHOW-STOPPER RECORDS WORLD'S FASTEST TIME IN 50 FREESTYLE.

Byline: ERIK BOAL Special to the Daily News

IRVINE -- Michael Phelps stood near the north end of the competition pool Thursday night at William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center, less than 15 minutes removed from his finest performance at this year's ConocoPhillips National Championships.

But for the first time in three days, all eyes weren't on Phelps, who had just knocked off world-record holder Ian Crocker in the 100-meter butterfly to win his fourth title of the meet.

Instead, Phelps and the capacity crowd of 3,126 found themselves ``wowed'' by the performance of Cullen Jones, who stole the show with his victory in the 50 freestyle.

Competing against a field that featured reigning Olympic gold medalist Gary Hall Jr., seven-time national champion Jason Lezak and last year's summer national champ Ben Wildman-Tobriner, Jones -- the reigning NCAA champion -- used a strong surge in the final 25 meters to clock 21.94, the fastest time in the world this year.

``My coach told me that at NCAAs I was swimming against the big boys and now I'm swimming against the men,'' said Jones, 22, a North Carolina State graduate who clocked the fifth-fastest time in American history.

Said Hall, who took fourth in 22.49, behind Wildman-Tobriner (22.16) and Lezak (22.22): ``I just met him this week and he's a great guy. He is an extremely intelligent and a talented swimmer. I think we can expect a lot more out of him.''

Expectations didn't get any higher than for the butterfly showdown between Crocker (Portland, Maine) and Phelps (Ann Arbor, Mich.), who hadn't raced in the event since last year's World Championships in Montreal, when Crocker broke his own world record (50.40) to avenge the loss to his close friend at the Athens Olympics.

But on the four-year anniversary of their first meeting in the 100 butterfly, Phelps, 21, got the best of the 23-year-old Crocker for the eighth time in 11 head-to-head battles, clocking a world-leading 51.51. Crocker, who led at the halfway point, was second in 51.73.

``It's fun to get in the water and race the best, and Ian has proved that he is the best in the 100 fly,'' said Phelps. ``He seems to get me in overall time and in the past two World Championships, but the races go back and forth. It's good for us and it's good for the sport.''

Katie Hoff (Towson, Md.) set a meet and U.S. Open record in the 400 individual medley, clocking 4:35.82, just off the world-leading mark recorded Monday by Italy's Alessia Filippi (4:35.80) at the European Championships in Hungary.

Megan Jendrick (Puyallup, Wash.), a 2000 Olympic gold medalist, captured the women's 100 breaststroke in 1:07.54, rallying from third at the turn to beat Cal sophomore and American record- holder Jessica Hardy and Stanford graduate Tara Kirk, who tied for second (1:07.65).

Georgia senior Kara Lynn Joyce won the women's 50 free (24.97), ahead of Cal graduate Natalie Coughlin (25.17). Coughlin later contributed to Cal Aquatics' victory in the 800 freestyle relay (8:08.16).

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