Lincoln Driesse and Una Diaz Win 5K Titles at Open Water Junior Nationals
One day after the United States identified its qualifiers for this summer’s World Championships in the open-water 10K race, Lincoln Driesse and Una Diaz showed their potential. Driesse and Diaz secured titles in the 5K Junior National Championships on Saturday. Driesse was contesting just his second open-water race while Diaz competed in just her third open-water competition.
Driesse won the men’s race in 58:37, which was more than a half-minute faster than the 59:10 of Sawyer Hansen. Taking third place was Joey Eaddy, who posted a time of 59:33.
“It was rough on the last lap and the water was really churning,” Driesse told USA Swimming. “I was building every single lap. When I saw I was in the lead a little bit, I just kept on going.
“This was only my second open water swim ever. I really enjoyed this opportunity to do something different. I will definitely be back to compete in open water again.”
On the women’s side, Diaz recorded a time of 1:05:29, which was 11 seconds faster than the 1:05:40 of runnerup Sarah Zhang. Third place went to Zayda Miehl in 1:05:53.
“It was super hard the first lap with everybody going all at once,” Diaz said. “During the second and third lap, I got into a pace and then went all out. I wanted to get in the front pack and draft with everyone and then slowly started moving up places, then I started passing people.”