INQUIRER Sports

ANNAPOLIS ? Olympic swim star Michael Phelps enjoyed a restful race just minutes from his home on Saturday, cruising to a 200-yard individual medley victory at the Maryland State Championships.

Phelps, who won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and six more at the 2004 Athens Games, won in 1:40.58 in the state meet at the US Naval Academy after dropping out of the 500-yard freestyle to focus on the IM event.

While Phelps was .50 of a second off fellow US Olympian Ryan Lochte's US record, his swim was 1.02 seconds under his prior best in the event, a time from 2006.

"I felt good in the pool," Phelps said. "For right now, that's very good. There are still parts I can improve but to be able to go out and swim my best time and come within half a second (of a US record), I'm very pleased."

Bob Bowman, who coaches Phelps as he continues training toward the 2012 London Olympics, was pleased with the result.

"For him to be just a five-tenths off the record is a big step forward," Bowman said.