Swimming

NAPLES, Florida, May 19. AT the T2 Norris Foundation Meet this weekend, T2's own Matthew Limbacher, just 12 years old, took down the U.S. National Age Group record in the boys 11-12 50-meter breastst...

SANTA CLARITA, California, May 19. ANDREW Gemmell (Wilmington, Del.) and Haley Anderson (Granite Bay, Calif.) won the 5-kilometer national titles on Sunday to conclude the USA Swimming Open Water Nati...

15-year-old Becca Mann swam over 3 hours against the toughest fields in American female open water swimming history...and came within 3.2 seconds of winning both races. In today's 5 km sprint in rough water conditions, Mann lost to Haley Anderson 1:00:36.51 vs. 1:00:38.04. In Friday's 10 km marathon, she lost to Christine Jennings 2:02:14.33 to 2:02:16.06. Stroke-for-stroke, shoulder-to-shoulder, the Clearwater, Florida swimmer kept her composure throughout the tactical races. She clearly has a mental aptitude for the sport and her physical skills are without question as the high school freshman now turns her sights to the pool. "I going to go back to the pool and train for the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyles at the [USA Swimming] World Championship [pool] qualifiers. I am also looking at the 400 IM and 200 butterfly. I really like swimming more events, not just one. I recover pretty well and like them all." She acknowledges her advantage with the profound wisdom of an experienced, well-spoken veteran. "I am still young, but last week, I was really tired. I was at a pool competition, but then just started to relax for about 5 days [leading up to the USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships]. I was doing some hard training, but just needed to relax. And I really like the energy of this venue [Castaic Lake]. I really liked both races [the 5 km and 10 km]. The weather is great, the water is warm, the surrounding mountains are pretty. It really is just perfect." Spoken like an athlete with a clear path to success. Photo of Becca Mann taken minutes after the tough 5 km race was over with an untouched gel pack still tucked under her swimsuit on her right leg. "I didn't need to take it." Copyright © 2013 by Open Water SwimmingFrom Open Water Source's Daily News of Open Water Swimming

Commentary by Brent Rutemiller PHOENIX, Arizona, May 19. CASEY Barrett and Peter Busch got the story right. Michael Phelps is going to come back and compete again for the United States in the sport...

Ashley Twichell, Eva Fabian, Christian Jennings, Haley Anderson, Becca Mann, Emily Brunemann: the stars were out when the 2013 USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships was held. And so were the upstarts. At one point, Tristin Baxter sprinted into the lead going into the third and final loop in Castaic Lake. It was like a heavyweight championship fight with each athlete getting in their own body blows. “Tristin moves into the lead...now Anderson has forged into the front...Fabian has a great line...Jennings is picking up where she left off in the 10K...Twichell is making a break for it...Fabian is making it a go with her...Brunemann has come up on their side...Becca Mann is on their tail...Haley is charging now…” Back and forth, the athletes kept upping the ante and pushing the pace as they charged into the wind and came screaming downstream with the currents. Lead changes kept coming without stop. Lap 1, lap 2, lap 3. Without a doubt, it was anyone's game. The pace was relentless and punishing as they fought each other and collectively against the elements. On the last loop, the leaders kept taking body blows by the rest of the field. No one could pull away and no one was giving an inch. But 6-time Olympic coach Jon Urbanchek predicted the winner as they came around the last turn buoy with 150 meters to go. "Haley was attacking. She was pissed [about the outcome of Friday's 10 km race]. The whole way, she took it to the field." "The race was hard," explained Becca Mann of Florida. "I was in a bad place and had to move around." As did everyone as they all chased Anderson over the last 150 meters when the recent USC graduate opened up an ever slight lead. "I felt strong going into the wind and gained confidence after the Olympics. I really got back into it during this race." And things look very good for the American team heading into the 2013 World Championships after two extremely hard-fought races among the top 8 athletes. "There is plenty of room for improvement," said Coach Urbanchek who assists Dave Salo and Catherine Vogt who are Anderson's coaches at Trojan Swim Club. "She is about 85% with everything going on during her senior year." And her post-graduate activities look to be very promising. Copyright © 2013 by Open Water SwimmingFrom Open Water Source's Daily News of Open Water Swimming

For 57 minutes the men in the 2013 USA Swimming National 5 km Open Water Swimming Championships had battled each other and the rough water elements in Castaic Lake. After barreling in the finish chute in two parallel 5-wides, the men slapped the finish pontoon with some loud slaps. The crowd gave a collective gasp…and then waited. No one knew who won. Not the official nor the athletes. Not the coaches nor the parents. But the one thing that was obvious was the championships were treated to a truly entertaining and exciting race webcast live by USA Swimming. For 23 minutes the swimmers, coaches, parents, and teammates stood by the officials tent waiting for the final results. No one was making predictions; the race was simply too close to call. Using a high-resolution camera, the race officials had to review the finish over and over to get the results right. Finally, race announcer Sam Kendricks made the announcement. “Andrew Gemmell is the 2013 USA Swimming national 5 km champion.” “Sean [Ryan] and Jordan [Wilimovsky] were pushing the pace early in the race,” recalled the University of Georgia senior-to-be Gemmell. “I tried to make a move two times, especially going into the waves. It is easy to get lost in the waves, but it is also harder. I could feel the spray of the waves, but we all had to deal with it.” Unlike the conditions during the 10 km race two days ago, the winds whipped up a fury on Castaic Lake. Going down the backstretch, the field was flying fast with the currents and winds pushing them faster than many of them had ever swum in the open water. But coming back the men faced a relentless series of random waves and surface chop, slapping them around like socks in a dryer. “When I pushed the pace twice, I had to fall back both times [into the pack]. With 800 meters to go, the lead pack slowed down. I had to fight back into position, but I got boxed in the middle of the pack. So I moved closest to the shore as I fought my way to the far left coming into the finish. I breathe to that side so I wanted to be in a position to look at the field.” And Gemmell will next swim a 5 km at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. After his disappointing third-place finish in the 10 km, Gemmell recouped his energies and regained his focus. “After the 10K, I recovered pretty well. I put [the 10 km finish] in the back of my head. I have done multiple open water races before, so I was ready.” Ready he was and ready he will be. The official results: 1 Andrew Gemmell (Nation's Capital Swim Club-PV) 57:22.07 2 Joey Pedraza (Davie Nadadores Swim Team-FG) 57:22.68 3 Sean Ryan (Club Wolverine-MI) 57:22.75 4 Jordan Wilimovsky (Team Santa Monica-CA) 57:23.24 5 Janardan Burns (Mission Viejo Nadadores-CA) 57:24.07 6 Brendan Casey (Team Santa Monica-CA) 57:25.14 7 David Heron (Mission Viejo Nadadores-CA) 57:25.35 8 Chip Peterson (North Carolina Aquatics Club-NC) 57:25.90 9 Daniel O'Connor (Mission Viejo Nadadores-CA) 57:27.18 10 Arthur Frayler (Germantown Academy Aquatic Club-MA) 57:27.33 11 Shawn Parkhurst (Unattached-NI) 57:29.26 12 Sam Petersen (University of Tennessee-SE) 57:30.96 13 Drew Ledwith (Greenwood Swimming-NE) 57:31.65 14 Riley Mita (Navy Swimming-MD) 57:31.86 15 Steve Sholdra (Fordham Swimming-MR) 57:33.28 16 Ryan Feeley (Club Wolverine-MI) 58:02.21 17 Bradley Phillips (Nation's Capital Swim Club-PV) 58:04.84 18 Nick Norman (Mission Viejo Nadadores-CA) 59:19.10 19 Joe Szczupakiewicz (Southwest Aquatic Team-WI) 59:35.97 20 Cory Mayfield (La Mirada Armada-CA) 59:48.10 21 Bobby Yribarren (Tiger Aquatics-PC) 59:48.26 22 Ryan Kao (La Mirada Armada-CA) 59:49.09 23 Jerad Kaskawal (FAST Swim Team-CA) 59:51.60 24 Scott Simmer (Team Santa Monica-CA) 1:00:40.38 25 Bryce Bevier (University of Tennessee-SE) 1:01:48.32 26 Nathan Pawlowicz (Nation's Capital Swim Club-PV) 1:02:12.85 27 Dirk Bell (LTP Racing Club-SC) 1:02:25.59 28 Simon Lamar (FAST Sw

CARSON CITY, Nevada, May 19. FOR the first time, high school swimmers competed in Divisions 1 and 1A to determine champions in the Nevada High School Swimming and Diving Championships. The two meets w...

TOPEKA, Kansas, May 19. HANNAH Angell, a senior at Blue Valley Southwest, was named Athlete of the Year at the Kansas Girls 5-1A Swimming and Diving Championships May 16-18 in Topeka. Her coach, Arvel...

Lane 1 - Desert Sun posts "Olympians teach water safety in Palm Desert.  On Saturday at the world-class Palm Desert Aquatic Center, Goodell was joined by five other Olympians to take part in the Swim to Win 2013 campaign organized by the Family YMCA of the Desert with help from the City of Palm Desert to raise drowning awareness in the valley.  Palm Desert Mayor Jan Harnik participated in a ribbon-cutting opening ceremony and the six Olympians — Goodell, Janet Evans, Rowdy Gaines, Eric Shanteau, Aaron Peirsol and Chloe Sutton — marched in to the Olympic theme for a singing of the national anthem." Lane 2 - Youtube has "Arise Entertainment 360, Olympic Swimming Gold Medalist Cullen Jones.  Olympic Swimming Gold Medalist Cullen Jones joins the show to discuss winning the gold and his campaign to teach more children how to swim." Lane 3 - The Post has "Cameron has hunger for more success.  South African swimming sensation Cameron van der Burgh said he plans to continue his stay on top of the world after his gold medal victories at last year’s Olympics and the 2010 World Swimming Championships.  Visiting UCT yesterday to be named the first South African brand ambassador for a well-known shampoo." Lane 4 - Daily Star posts "TOM DALEY'S OLYMPIC PARTNER PETER WATERFIELD ENTERED BGT AFTER FUNDING CUTS.  TOM DALEY’s Olympic diving partner Peter Waterfield entered ­Britain’s Got Talent ­after his sports funding was stopped." Lane 5 - Brooklyn News 12 posts (w/video) "USA Swimming Foundation's Make a Splash water safety initiative kicks off.  The USA Swimming Foundation's Make a Splash water safety initiative kicked off today. The foundation's ambassadors visited nine local pools today to stress the importance of kids learning how to swim." Lane 6 - ESPN posts "Tulsa inspires small-town Olympic dreams. Sydney. Athens. Beijing. London. Rio. Tulsa.  Wait. What?  One city doesn’t belong, right? If you’re a member of the Tulsa 2024 Olympic Exploratory Committee, though, your answer is that all six cities are equals. We have an almost-Olympic-sized swimming pool in town! It had a leak in it last year, but thanks to a bake sale fundraiser led by the Lions Club, it got patched! We have two diving boards. There is no platform dive, what with the high cost of insurance, but maybe an Olympic event can be added to feature our 38-foot water slide with TWO turns! For the fans, we have a fully stocked snack bar featuring pizza, hot dogs and soda. There is also a blacktop basketball court inside the pool grounds that could host the early rounds of the men's and women's basketball competition. There is no hanging on the rims, however. Doing so results in immediate ejection from the pool grounds."

The men's field is stacked for today's USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships 5K, but with one obvious absence: Alex Meyer. But Meyer solidified his position on the USA Swimming national team with his dominant and strategic victory in Friday's 10K national championship. With his victory, Meyer has a choice to swim the 5, 10, and 25 km races at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona. Given his background as the 2010 world 25 km champion, it will be interesting to see what 2 or 3 events he chooses to swim. In today's race in Meyer's absence, look out for Sean Ryan, Andrew Gemmell, Chip Peterson, Arthur Frayler, and Joey Pedraza, but the contingents from the Mission Viejo Nadadores, Nation's Capital Swim Club, and Team Santa Monica will also poke around the lead pack. Undoubtedly, the race will come down to the final few hundred meter sprint. The 2013 USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships 5 km race competitors include the following athletes (listed with their entered times): 1. Andrew Gemmell (22) Nation's Capital Swim Club (14:59.05 1500m) 2. Sean Ryan (20) Club Wolverine (15:20.79 1500m) 3. Jordan Wilimovsky (19) Team Santa Monica (15:23.01 1500m) 4. Ryan Feeley (21) Club Wolverine (15:24.28 1500m) 5. David Heron (18) Mission Viejo Nadadores (15:28.50 1500m) 6. Janardan Burns (17) Mission Viejo Nadadores (15:30.40 1500m) 7. Daniel O'Connor (21) Mission Viejo Nadadores (15:34.62 1500m) 8. Nick Norman (16) Mission Viejo Nadadores (15:41.62 1500m) 9. Scott Simmer (17) Team Santa Monica (15:49.36 1500m) 10. Ryan Kao (17) La Mirada Armada (15:56.42 1500m) 11. Chip Peterson (25) North Carolina Aquatics Club (15:56.98 1500m) 12. Joey Pedraza (25) Davie Nadadores Swim Team (15:57.74 1500m) 13. Drew Ledwith (20) Greenwood Swimming (16:00.25 1500m) 14. Ben Miller (18) Marlins of Raleigh (16:02.89 1500m) 15. Brendan Casey (16) Team Santa Monica (16:07.25 1500m) 16. Bobby Yribarren (27) Tiger Aquatics (16:13.06 1500m) 17. Christoph Grimmett?Norris (18) Nation's Capital Swim Club (16:13.77 1500m) 18. Nicholas DeVito (17) Team Santa Monica (16:13.96 1500m) 19. Cory Mayfield (19) La Mirada Armada (16:18.40 1500m) 20. Alex Palumbo (20) Unattached (16:24.50 1500m) 21. Jerad Kaskawal (17) FAST Swim Team (16:32.28 1500m) 22. Conor Cudahy (18) Nation's Capital Swim Club (16:34.22 1500m) 23. Arthur Frayler (19) Germantown Academy Aquatic Club (14:49.88 1650y) 24. Bradley Phillips (20) Nation's Capital Swim Club (14:58.21 1650y) 25. Mitchell Huxhold (19) Unattached (15:08.61 1650y) 26. Sam Petersen (21) University of Tennessee (15:11.21 1650y) 27. Brennan Jacobsen (20) Unattached (15:22.12 1650y) 28. Bryce Bevier (20) University of Tennessee (15:22.62 1650y) 29. Alex Nickell (19) Navy Swimming (15:26.77 1650y) 30. Riley Mita (19) Navy Swimming (15:30.41) 1650y) 31. Noah Martin (18) Navy Swimming (15:35.45) 1650y) 32. Brandon Goldstein (16) Nation's Capital Swim Club (15:41.16 1650y) 33. Brian Phillips (19) Nation's Capital Swim Club (15:45.71 1650y) 34. Michael Caputo (22) Eastern Express Swim Team (15:50.34 1650y) 35. Noah Johnston (16) Lakeside Swim Team (15:50.69 1650y) 36. Nathan Pawlowicz (16) Nation's Capital Swim Club (15:51.88 1650y) 37. Ian Wheeler (21) Golden West Swim Club (15:55.15 1650y) 38. Evan Munaretto (15) FAST Swim Team (16:00.51 1650y) 39. Michael McGean (18) Shawmut Aquatic Club (16:02.28 1650y) 40. Lamar Simon (13) FAST Swim Team (16:03.65 1650y) 41. Dirk Bell (17) LTP Racing Club (9:08.65 1000y) 42. Shawn Parkhurst (21) Town of Tonawanda Titans Swim Team (9:19.62 1000y) 43. Weston Miller (17) Scottsdale Aquatic Club (9:20.45 1000y) 44. Chris Yeager (14) First Colony Swim Team (9:31.03 1000y) 45. Kyle Kemp (18) Y?Spartaquatics Swim Club SC 60 8:26.14 800m) 46. Joe Szczupakiewicz (16) Southwest Aquatic Team (8:26.35 800m) 47. Steve Sholdra (19) unattached (8:27.49 800m) 48. Peter Kalibat (17) Eastern Express Swim Team (8:31.44