5 Storylines to Watch at Pro Swim Series- San Antonio

2022 PRO SWIM SERIES – SAN ANTONIO

• March 30 – April 2, 2022
• Northside Swim Center, San Antonio, Texas
• LCM (50 meters)
• Live Results
• Psych Sheets

The final Pro Swim Series of the year is already upon us, with some of the biggest American swim stars converging on Northside Swim Center in San Antonio, Texas this week. The pool is an outdoor pool operated by the Northside Independent School District and hosted the 2015 US Nationals and the Team USA pre-Olympic training camp in 2016. 

Due to the changes in the international swimming calendar, this is one of the last major meets before the USA Swimming International Team Trials get under way on April 26th in Greensboro, North Carolina. That meet will serve as the selection meet for the American contingents at the 2022 World Championships and Junior Pan Pacific Championships. 

The San Antonio Pro Swim gets under way on Wednesday evening with the timed final 800 free and will follow a prelim-final format through Saturday night. Wednesday finals will start at 4 PM CST, while prelims will start at 9 AM Central and finals will begin at 6 PM Central. 

1. What will Claire Curzan do as an encore to Westmont?

Tac Titans’ Claire Curzan has continued to be on fire since qualifying for her first Olympic team last summer. The future Stanford Cardinal broke Erika Brown’s SCY American Record in the 100 fly in early February and then had a massive meet at the Westmont Pro Swim Series at the beginning of this month. 

Curzan won all four of her events in Westmont, swimming a 2:07.31 200 back, 58.94 100 back, 56.89 100 fly and 24.59 50 free and was just off the Pro Swim Series record in several of those races. She will swim all of those events again this week, and she will add the 100 free as well, where comes in with a 53.55 seed. 

She enters this meet as the top seed in the 100 fly and 50 free and also holds top 3 seeds in the 100 free, 100 back and 200 back. 

2. Can NCAA stars carry over short course success to long course?

Some of the NCAAs biggest stars, including American Olympians Drew Kibler, Phoebe Bacon and Rhyan White, are all entered to compete. 

Kibler, who was the NCAA champ in the 200 free while playing a critical role in a Texas 2nd place finish, comes in as the top seed in the 200 free and is also entered in the 50 and 100 free. Bacon, who competes for the University of Wisconsin, is entered in the 100 fly, 100 back and 200 back, while Alabama’s Rhyan White is entered in the same three events. Both Bacon and White were several-event All Americans for their universities earlier this month at the women’s NCAA Championships. 

But perhaps the most interesting collegiate name to watch is Arizona State’s Leon Marchand. Marchand was a sensation in his first season in Tempe, becoming the fastest man ever in the SCY 200 IM, winning the 200 breast NCAA title and finishing runner-up in the 400 IM last week. Marchand is entered in the 200 free, 400 IM, 200 fly, 200 breast and 200 IM in San Antonio. 

3. The return of Chase Kalisz

While Marchand will draw plenty of attention in the IM races, the defending 400 IM Olympic gold medalist Chase Kalisz will swim his first long course races since Tokyo this weekend. Kalisz competed in the ISL in the fall, but has been fairly quiet since then. 

Sources tell SwimSwam that Kalisz has begun to shift his training away from the 400 IM and towards shorter events like the 200 IM, 200 fly and 200 breast, and his entry list lends credibility to that. Kalisz is not entered in the 400 IM, but is entered in the 100 breast, 100 fly, 200 fly, 200 breast and 200 IM. 

4. What can Katie Ledecky do with a distance-less schedule?

Katie Ledecky has been the world’s best female distance swimmer for nearly a decade, but she will focus her energy on shorter races this week. While she has looked strong since moving to Gainesville, Florida to train with Florida head coach Anthony Nesty, Ledecky will swim neither the 800 or 1500 free this week, both events that she is the World Record holder in. 

Instead, she will suit up for the 200 free, 400 free and 100 free, testing out her top end speed. With a more limited schedule, will she be fresher to chase a US Open record?

5. Will Sandpipers look ready to shake up another US trials? 

Last summer, the Las Vegas-based club team Sandpipers of Nevada made waves by putting three swimmers, Erica Sullivan, Bella Sims and Katie Grimes, on the United States Olympic team. With the US International Team Trials less than a month away, the Sandpipers may be primed for another big performance. 

16 year old Bella Sims comes in as the top seed in 800 free, the fourth seed in the 200 free, the event she made the Olympic team in as a member of the 4×200 free relay and the 13th seed in the 100 fly. While her Olympic teammate Katie Grimes will not be in attendance, 15-year-old Claire Weinstein comes in as the fourth seed in the 800 free. If Weinstein looks strong this week, she could be a dark horse pick to make an American team next month, following in her teammates’ footsteps.