Liliana Casso and Brendan Casey Preparing for World Juniors

SEAL BEACH, California. June 30. LILIANA Casso (17) and Brendan Casey (15), both of Team Santa Monica, won the 3-mile races at the 43rd annual Seal Beach Rough Water Swim in the hometown of famed open water swimmer Lynne Cox.

The two young teammates experienced wide water temperature differences in the course that was framed by Santa Catalina Island in the background.

They will both represent the United States in next month's FINA Junior World Open Water Swimming Championships in Welland, Canada – where their competition will come from 30 different countries.

Coming down the final stretch swimming parallel with the pier, the top three swimmers were stroke for stroke. “I tried to stay with Cory [Mayfield] and Ryan [Kao] around the course until the last buoy,” said Brendan, a Santa Monica High School student. “Then we turned up the pace.” But the budding ocean waterman had one more trick of the trade to play.

The trio hit the surf zone at the same time, but with three different strategies. Casey hit the 2-foot swells just right, timing it perfectly to catch a wave and rocketed pass his rivals to gain the edge. “I spend a lot of time in the ocean, surfing and doing open water swims.” He stood up first and sprinted up the beach to win. “It was a hard race and these guys are a lot faster than me in the pool, but I like open water.”

Liliana Casso, a distance training partner of Casey at Team Santa Monica, knew who her competition was. “My coach told me to stay with the guys. They are good to pace off of and they are always pushing me in workouts,” said the Marlborough School student. “It was really cold in spots, but it was good to race. I am really excited for the World Junior Championships.”

The duo, and their teammate Jordan Wilimovsky, will make their appearance on the international stage at the first FINA World Junior Open Water Swimming Championships to be held between August 12-20in Welland, Ontario, Canada.

Courtesy of Open Water Source

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