Streamlined News: FINA World Cup Resumes; College Women’s Rankings Released; Club Wolverine Addition; Missy Franklin’s Award

PHOENIX, Arizona, November 1. THE FINA World Cup is back after a two-week break, landing in Beijing, China, tomorrow for the first of three meets in Asia to wrap up the series. The World Cup points leaders, Kenneth To and Katinka Hosszu, are racing at the site of the 2008 Olympics for the chance to increase their leads and win the $100,000 prize next week. Anthony Ervin and Jessica Hardy are ready to race in Beijing after having successful meets in Berlin. Ervin got back on the top of the podium in the 50 free and will try to make it a 50-100 free double, though George Bovell will present his biggest challenge. With many of the World Cup's top swimmers staying away from Asia, Hardy will have little challenge in the breaststroke events, at least in Beijing, but she will have her hands full with Britta Steffen and Inge Dekker in the sprint freestyle events.

Swimming World will have live coverage of the meet in Beijing, so come back to swimmingworld.com later for a full recap.

The Division I women's top 25 college teams were released yesterday by the Collegiate Swimming Coaches of America, and the University of Southern California was the number one team, just ahead of Georgia. The University of California-Berkeley, the reigning NCAA champions, are third. The rankings are based solely on dual meet performances.

Yesterday, Swimming World learned that 2009 world champion Junya Koga would be moving to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to train with the Club Wolverine postgraduate program there. Koga won the 100 back at the 2009 worlds, and came within five hundredths of a second of making the Japanese Olympic team this year. Koga will re-locate to Ann Arbor for at least four years, according to Japanese media reports.

Also announced yesterday were the sites of the 2014 NCAA swimming and diving championships for Division I and Division II. The University of Texas at Austin will host the Division I men's meet, with Minnesota taking the women's meet. The combined men's and women's Division II meet will be held at the SPIRE Institute outside of Cleveland, an interesting choice since SPIRE was yanked as host for the 2013 meet when coaches complained of the long driving distance between hotels in Cleveland and the SPIRE Institute.

Missy Franklin will be a part of the December issue of Glamour Magazine, on the list of their Women of the Year. Franklin is going to be part of a photo spread that includes four other Olympic champions, but unfortunately we won't see Franklin's face on the cover. The Women of the Year honorees, which include Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, will be recognized at an event on November 12.

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