Heron played his cards right as he stuck in the lead pack throughout the race until he swam up the sides of teammate Janardan Burns, North Carolina's Dan O'Connor and Southern California rival Jordan Wilimovsky of Team Santa Monica.
Drafting like a veteran waterman throughout the race, Heron picked up his kick with 500 meters to go and shot off like a rocket, doing his version of The Ilchenko.
"He looked like he was swimming a 50 towards the end of his race," commented race announcer Mike Lewis on Heron's 57:59.2 victory. The top 5 men included the next generation of top American open water swimmers, making their names known now:
1. David Heron
2. Jordan Wilimovsky
3. Dan O'Connor
4. Janardan Burns
5. Daniel Graviss
Courtesy of Open Water Source
