Trailing by almost a second and a half at one point, Phelps displayed his famous finishing kick and nearly made up the deficit in the final 50 meters to bring the crowd to its feet.
“We both hate to lose but we enjoy racing each other,” Phelps told reporters. “Hopefully we can push each other and see what happens.”
Ledecky had set a new world mark in the 400m freestyle on Saturday but the 17-year-old decided to pull out of the 1,500m at the Irvine, California meet, which also serves as a qualifier for the Pan Pacific Championships in Australia later this month.
Missy Franklin had a day off too but was honoured as the high point award winner on the women’s side. Her nationals meet included a win in the 100m and second place in the 200m freestyle.
Matt Grevers, winner of the 100m backstroke, took the award on the men’s side.
Sunday’s winners included Simone Manuel, who captured the 50m freestyle with a time of 24.56 and managed to turn a recent weakness into a strength.
“I wanted to have a good finish. That’s something I’ve been struggling with,” said Manuel, who also finished second in the 100 freestyle during the competition.
“In the 50 free you have to get everything as perfect as possible.”
With Ledecky out of the 1,500m, Kathy Campbell won the event with a personal best time of 16:17.69.
Melanie Margalis claimed the 200m IM in 2:10.20, while Michael McBroom swam through the pain to win the 800m freestyle.
“The second 400 (my body) started to hurt, but I did my best to ignore it,” he said. “I just wanted to get the title. I think it sets up well for me to cut my time moving forward.”
Anthony Ervin turned back the clock in winning the 50m freestyle. The 33-year-old won 14 years after earning a gold medal in the event at the 2000 Olympics.
(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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