Streamlined News: College and Olympic Headlines

PHOENIX, Arizona, September 20. THE California Golden Bears men’s and women’s swim team kicked off their competition schedule with a trip down to Cal Poly for the annual pentathlon to determine the King and Queen of the Pool. Everyone swims 100 yards of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle, followed by a 100 IM. Marcin Tarczynski was looking to make it four in a row as King of the Pool, but he was dethroned today by freshman Ryan Murphy, who had the best cumulative time from all five events. Junior Josh Prenot finished in second place, 1.6 seconds behind Murphy, while Tarczynski had to settle for third place this year. A 47.43 100 back by Murphy helped him win the overall title, as did a fast 50.14 in the 100 IM. Also of note today was the 44.52 by Tyler Messerschmidt to win the 100 free. You might remember that Messerschmidt had to sit out last semester to improve his grade point average, and it looks like he’s ready to start representing the Golden Bears again. Rachel Bootsma was looking to repeat as Queen of the Pool, but like Tarczynski, she was going to have some tough competition. Today marked Missy Franklin’s first college competition, and it’s likely the freshman put up a good fight in all five events. Results of the women’s event were not available by the time we recorded today’s episode, but when they are available, we’ll bring them to you on swimmingworld.com. (Editor’s note: Results available here.)

Not many top college teams are racing this weekend. Alabama is traveling to Delta State for a dual meet today to start their season, while Texas Christian and North Texas will square off today as well.

When the Tokyo organizers made their bid to host the 2020 Olympics, the bid book suggested that the existing 50-meter competition pool, the Tatsumi International Aquatic Center, would remain and give Tokyo two great competition pools once the brand-new Olympic Aquatic Center is built. Reports from our Japanese correspondent Hideki Mochizuki indicate that the Tatsumi pool might be dismantled after the Olympics, as officials are not sure that two major pools are necessary in Tokyo. The reason the Tatsumi pool is not holding Olympic competition in 2020 is because it does not have the required spectator seating, and the land around the pool makes it difficult to expand for more seating.

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