Associated Press

Michael Phelps celebrates his victory with a world record time of 1:54.80 in the men's 200-meter individual medley final at the U.S. Olympic trials.

OMAHA, Neb. -- Michael Phelps set another world record. No surprise there.

Dara Torres is going back to the Olympics. Who would've believed it?

Fresh off an endorsement from Mark Spitz, the iconic star he'll try to better in Beijing, Phelps set another world record to win the 200-meter individual medley at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials Friday night.

Phelps claimed his fourth individual victory of the trials in 1 minute, 54.80 seconds, beating the mark of 1:54.98 he set while winning seven events at last year's world championships in Australia.

"I just tried to hang on," he said. "I was hurting that last 50."

Though not nearly as swift, some local athletes shared the pool and likely the sentiment with Phelps. Hidden Valley graduate Jordan Anderson of Auburn was 19th in the men's 100 butterfly prelims (53.76). Anderson, the 2006 Timesland boys' swimmer of the year, missed out on the 16th and last spot in the semifinals by 27 one-hundredths of a second.

Virginia's Pat Reams was 24th (53.86) in those prelims. UVa's Scot Robison was 29th (54.04), while teammate Lee Robertson was 30th (54.09).

In the 50 freestyle prelims, Robertson was 35th (22.98) and Rockbridge County graduate William Copeland of the University of California was 36th (23.00). It was Copeland's final race of the trials; he was 25th in the 100 freestyle prelims Wednesday.

Also in the 50 freestyle prelims, Washington and Lee's Alex Sweet was 64th (23.28) and Virginia Tech's Pete Cancila was 111th (23.98).

UVa's Mei Christensen was 26th in the women's 200 backstroke prelims (2:14.60), while UVa's Jennifer Narum was 36th in the 800 freestyle prelims (8:52.83).

The 200 IM was the second world record of the meet for Phelps, who also swam faster than anyone in history to win the 400 IM. His only piece of unfinished business: the 100 butterfly and an expected showdown with world recordholder Ian Crocker.

Phelps must finish first or second in that event tonight to ensure he swims eight events at the Olympics. Then he'll need to win them all to beat Spitz's record of seven gold medals at Munich in 1972.

Spitz, who was at the Qwest Center and presented Phelps with his award for winning the 200 IM, believes the 23-year-old from Baltimore has a good chance to take down the Holy Grail of Olympic records. He came close four years ago, winning six golds and two bronzes at the Athens Games.

"It's time for someone else to take the baton of responsibility," Spitz said. "Thirty-six years is a long time."

Torres, 41, completed her improbable Olympic comeback, making the U.S. team for the fifth time by winning the 100 freestyle.

Wearing goggles older than some of her competitors, Torres got off to a blazing start and guarded her lead on the furious return lap to win in 53.78, beating out Natalie Coughlin's 53.83.

A nine-time medalist, she already was the first U.S. swimmer to make four Olympic teams.

Now, make it five.

Overshadowed by Phelps and Torres, Aaron Peirsol gained a measure of revenge for his upset loss at the 2007 world championships, tying the world record in the 200 backstroke and beating nemesis Ryan Lochte in 1:54.32.