Working The Dream At USA Swimming Open Water Champs

By Steven Munatones, Open Water Source

VALENCIA, California, May 11. USA Swimming will have its largest annual open water swimming extravaganza next week in Castaic Lake in Southern California.

With scenic rolling hills surrounding the venue, Castaic Lake presents a gorgeous amphitheater where all eyes will be on the athletes.

Starting on May 15th, Canyons Aquatics and the Fran Crippen Elevation Foundation will sponsor the first of seven H2OpenPlus Summer Sunset Series races.

The series event will feature the Fran Crippen Mile that will consist of one lap around the National Championship course. In addition, series participants can swim a 3.3 km swim, a 400-meter swim and a 100-meter swim for 5-10 year olds, and can register here.

On May 17th, the most competitive and closest races on American soil will take place in Castaic Lake as the athletes will be competing for berths on the USA Swimming National Team. The 10K World Championship Qualification race will feature silver medalist Haley Anderson who will be pushed 19 Barcelona-bound aspirants including Yale University freshman Eva Fabian, Duke graduate Ashley Twichell, Michigan Wolverine Emily Brunemann, Florida teenager Becca Mann, 2-time FINA World Cup champion Christine Jennings.

On the men's side, all eyes will be on Olympian Alex Meyer who will be surrounded by a tough field including open water stalwarts such as 2012 Olympian and 2009 world championship 10K silver medalist Andrew Gemmell, 2005 world 10K champion Chip Peterson, and Germantown stud Arthur Frayler. But guys like Joey Pedraza, Michigan teammates Sean Ryan and Ryan Feeley, Team Santa Monica teammates Jordan Wilimovsky, Brendan casey, and Nicholas DeVito, and Mission Viejo Nadadores teammates David Heron, Janardin Burns, and Daniel O'Connor will not for a moment let anyone develop too large of a lead on the field of 38 open water gladiators.

Flat water, warm-water conditions, and a clearly laid-out course will prove a fast-moving field where the outcome may hinge on those swimmers who can handle the physicality and swim conservatively until the race breaks open with 3-4 km to go. The last loop of the qualification race will undoubtedly see major changes where some very strong representatives will emerge.

On May 18th, an open water swimming clinic led by 2008 Olympian Mark Warkentin is open to swimmers and coaches interested in everything from triathlons and channel swimming. Registration for the clinic is here.

On May 19th, the 5 km national championships will be held in the same venue as all the athletes will be working on realizing their own dreams.

The 10 km World Championship Qualification races will include the following athletes:

1. Becca Mann (15) of Clearwater Aquatic Team
2. Eva Fabian (19) of Greenwood Swimming
3. Amanda Richey (16) of Boulder Swimming
4. Lauren Abruzzo (18) of DU Hilltoppers
5. Liliana Casso (18) of Team Santa Monica
6. Heidi George (37) of The Great Wolf Swim Team
7. Lauren Baker (20) of UCLA Swimming
8. Kaitlin Pawlowicz (20) of Nation's Capital Swim Club
9. Christine Jennings (26) of RallySport Aquatic Club
10. Megan Rankin (19) of UCLA Swimming
11. Katy Campbell (19) of UCLA Swimming
12. Audra Burtch (19) of Concord Swim Club
13. Haley Anderson (21) of Trojan Swim Club
14. Jessie Arnold (16) of SMAC
15. Ashley Twichell (23) of Mission Viejo Nadadores
16. Tristin Baxter (21) of Clovis Swim Club
17. Rachel Zilinskas (18) of Germantown Academy Aquatic Club
18. Brooke Lorentzen (17) of Mission Viejo Nadadores
19. Emily Brunemann (26) of Club Wolverine
20. Lindsey Clary (17) of FAST Swim Team

1. Andrew Gemmell (22) of Nation's Capital Swim Club
2. Sean Ryan (20) of Club Wolverine
3. Jordan Wilimovsky (19) of Team Santa Monica
4. Ryan Feeley (21) of Club Wolverine
5. David Heron (18) of Mission Viejo Nadadores
6. Janardin Burns (17) of Mission Viejo Nadadores
7. Daniel O'Connor (21) of Mission Viejo Nadadores
8. Nick Norman (16) of Mission Viejo Nadadores
9. Bryan Draganosky (19) of Germantown Academy Aquatic Club
10. Alex Meyer (24) of Crimson Aquatics
11. Scott Simmer (17) of Team Santa Monica
12. Luke Trimmer (21) of Indiana
13. Ryan Kao (17) of La Mirada Armada
14. Chip Peterson (25) of North Carolina Aquatic Club
15. Joey Pedraza (25) of Davie Nadadores Swim Team
16. Drew Ledwith (20) of Greenwood Swimming
17. Ben Miller (18) of Marlins of Raleigh
18. Steve Sholdra (19) Unattached
19. Brendan Casey (16) of Team Santa Monica
20. Travis Morrin (17) of Mount Pleasant Swim Club
21. Bobby Yribarren (27) of Tiger Aquatics
22. Christoph Grimmett‐Norris (18) of Nation's Capital Swim Club
23. Nicholas DeVito (17) of Team Santa Monica
24. Brandon Johnson (31) of Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics
25. Arthur Frayler (19) of Germantown Academy Aquatic Club
26. Bradley Phillips (20) of Nation's Capital Swim Club
27. Sam Petersen (21) of University of Tennessee
28. Brennan Jacobsen (20) Unattached
29. Bryce Bevier (20) of University of Tennessee
30. Alex Nickell (19) Navy Swimming
31. Matt Roe (20) of Team Rebel Aquatics
32. Cory Mayfield (19) of La Mirada Armada
33. Shawn Parkhurst (21) of Town of Tonawanda Titans Swim Team
34. Riley Mita (19) of Navy Swimming
35. Noah Martin (18) of Navy Swimming
36. Scott Clausen (17) Unattached
37. Kyle Kemp (18) of Y‐Spartaquatics Swim Club
38. Dirk Bell (17) of LTP Racing Club

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