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Phelps falters, Franklin wins at Nationals

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — Michael Phelps botched his turn halfway through the 100-meter freestyle and finished next-to-last in a star-studded field at the U.S. national championships.

Nathan Adrian led all the way to win in 48.31 seconds Wednesday night, claiming his sixth title in seven years. Ryan Lochte was second in 48.96, swimming in the far outside lane. Jimmy Feigen finished third in 48.98.

Phelps was last at the turn and straggled home in 49.17, beating only Seth Stubblefield. It was Phelps’ worst showing ”“ albeit against the strongest competition yet ”“ since launching a comeback in April. He is focusing on shorter and fewer events than what he did in winning 18 Olympic gold medals.

In the women’s 100 free, Missy Franklin surged over the last lap to win in 53.43, tying for the fifth-fastest time in the world this year. Simone Manuel, the quickest qualifier in morning preliminaries with a career-best time, finished second in 53.66. Franklin was third at the turn, behind leader Manuel and Natalie Coughlin.

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Padres choose Preller as new GM

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The San Diego Padres hired A.J. Preller as general manager Wednesday.

Preller has been assistant GM of the Texas Rangers. He has extensive international scouting experience, particularly in Latin America.

Preller replaces Josh Byrnes, who was fired June 22.

He beat out a field of finalists that included assistant GMs Mike Hazen of the Boston Red Sox and Billy Eppler of the New York Yankees, and Kim Ng, senior vice president for baseball operations for Major League Baseball. Ng is one of the highest-ranking women in baseball. There has never been a female GM in MLB or any of the other major sports. Ng also interviewed for the Padres’ GM job in 2009 after Kevin Towers was fired. The job eventually went to Jed Hoyer.

Hoyer gets start over Manziel

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BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Johnny Manziel will start Cleveland’s exhibition opener on the sideline.

Browns coach Mike Pettine chose Brian Hoyer as the starting quarterback for Saturday’s game in Detroit, giving the veteran the first chance to impress before Manziel takes the field.

Pettine said the decision to start Hoyer over Manziel was based on the veteran’s performance so far in training camp.



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