Rebecca Soni makes waves only in the pool

Rebecca Soni doesn’t flinch in the pool.

Not a bit.

Out of it? Perhaps the quickest way to get Soni to duck her head and giggle is to pass along high praise or ask her to predict a world record in her next race.

“Don’t say that,” she said, looking genuinely embarrassed.

What caused that specific reaction was when one reporter talked about making people think 2:19 was within her reach in the 200-meter breaststroke, which, of course, would be a world record.

It certainly seems within reason the way the 23-year-old Soni is swimming at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine. On Thursday night, she won the 100 breaststroke in 1 minute 4.93 seconds, beating former world-record holder Leisel Jones of Australia, who went 1:05.66

There is, remarkably, no Soni swagger out of the water.

“I think all these elite athletes all have these things that really drive their personalities when they get up to the blocks, they put all their demons aside and just get up and race,” said Soni’s longtime coach, Dave Salo.

“And she’s a great racer. Very humble. I think there’s a common thread with all those athletes. They’ve got their demons, afraid to perform poorly, all these things. After 30-plus years of coaching, you’ve got to be more aware of those things, so you don’t add to that whole trauma.”

The only trauma is being inflicted on the rest of the breaststroke field. Soni has not lost in the 100 breaststroke in more than a year, dating to the Janet Evans meet in 2009.

Consistency from the big names seemed to be the theme on the second night of this international meet. Among other winners were Natalie Coughlin in the 100 freestyle (53.67, a Pan Pac three-peat), Nathan Adrian in the 100 freestyle (48.15), Kosuke Kitajima of Japan in the 100 breaststroke (59.35) and Ryan Lochte in the 400 individual medley (4:07.59). He came back about an hour later and anchored the U.S. team in the 800 freestyle relay.

The relay won in a meet-record 7:03.84, and the American women also won the 800 freestyle relay in 7:51.21, also a meet record.

Michael Phelps was the leadoff leg for the relay, a relatively light night for him as he did not qualify for the final of the 400 IM.

But at least Phelps still has his world record in the 400 IM. Lochte was under world-record pace through the first 150 meters before falling off.

“That was my fault,” Lochte said. “My coach told me before the race, like, the last thing he said right before I walked out, ‘Whatever you do, go smooth on the first 50.’ And I kind of did not listen to him at all.”

Lochte was asked why he changed the plan. “I dove in,” he said. “I felt good. So I kept going. Yeah, that was definitely a mistake.”

Phelps, swimming in the 400 IM for the first time since the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, was the third-fastest American in the morning heats, which meant he did not make the final.

“I’m trying to think of how many other times I’ve been faster than that in a prelim,” he said in the morning. “I definitely wasn’t expecting those boys to come out and fire one off like that. I expected them to go maybe 4:12, 4:10, hopefully try to get close to that. But it just wasn’t there.

“I knew coming into that race it was going to be a rather painful way to sort of wake me up. I’m happy I did it. I don’t remember it ever being that painful. But, oh, well, it’s a good reminder we need to be in a whole lot better shape.”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

Twitter.com/reallisa