5 Storylines to Watch, All the links you need for 2014 Junior Pan Pacific Championships

2014 Junior Pan Pacific Championships

• Thursday, August 27th-Sunday, August 31st
• Kihei, Maui, Hawaii
• Prelims 9AM/Finals 5PM (local time)
• 2012 results
• Psych Sheets
• Live stream
• Results available on Meet Mobile under “2014 Jr Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.” (We’ll link to live results when they become available)

Start Times Around the World

Local time: Prelims 9AM/Finals 5PM (UTC-10)

4 Founding Pan Pacs Countries:

• USA Eastern Time: 3PM/11PM
• USA Pacific Time: 12noon/8PM
• Tokyo, Japan: 4AM(next day)/12noon(next day)
• Toronto, Canada: 3PM/11PM
• Vancouver, Canada: 12noon/8PM
• Sydney, Australia: 5AM(next day)/1PM(next day)

Others:

• Cape Town, South Africa: 9PM/5AM(next day)
• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 4PM/12midnight
• London, England: 8PM/4AM(next day)
• Paris, France: 9PM/5AM(next day)

Order of Events:

Wednesday, August 27th:

• 200 free
• 100 back
• 200 fly
• Girls 800 free
• Boys 1500 free

Thursday, August 28th:

• 100 free
• 100 breast
• 400 IM
• 4×200 free relay

Friday, August 29th:

• 400 free
• 100 fly
• 200 back
• 4×100 free relay

Saturday, August 30th:

• 200 IM
• 50 free
• 200 breast
• Girls 1500 free
• Boys 800 free
• 4×100 medley relay

Sunday, August 31st:

• 10K Open Water event

Storylines to Watch:

1. Andrew Seliskar and the hunt for 4 individual titles: American Andrew Seliskar is one of the biggest names at this meet, at 17 one of the rising stars of USA Swimming at the junior level. He’s the top seed in three of his four individual races, and will go after the 200 and 400 IMs plus the 100 and 200 butterflys in Maui. He also has great shots at the meet records in the 200 fly and 200 IM.

2. Japan’s youngster Runa Imai: At the other end of the age spectrum is Japan’s Runa Imai, one of the youngest swimmers at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships. Imai was just 13 at the Japanese national meet this spring, where she qualified to compete in Maui. She’s the top seed in the 200 breast with a highly-impressive 2:24.00 – she’s also the third seed in the 100 breast, and will have a lot of eyes on her as her seeds make her a rising international threat in an event where Japan is already loaded.

3. Shayna Jack, meet Amy Bilquist: Two of the more-talked about young sprinters in two tradition swimming powerhouses will meet this week head-to-head. Australia’s Shayna Jack is the top seed in both the 50 and 100 frees, and looks like a potential heir apparent for current Aussie sensation Cate Campbell. Carmel, Indiana’s Amy Bilquist, meanwhile, was one of the stars of the US Junior Nationals, and sits second to Jack in both, plus second in the 100 back. There’s no doubt Bilquist wants to rise to gold medal status here, and doing it over Jack would be a great way to kick off what looks like a potential long-term international rivalry.

4. Boys 50 Free: Just like the Pan Pacific Championships, this meet will limit teams to 2 athletes per A final, though each country can enter as many as it wants into prelims. One event where that may not affect things so much is the boys 50 free, where 4 different nations have boys in the hunt. American Paul Powers is the top seed, an incoming college freshman with big-time sprinting ability. But Australia’s Blake Jones, Canadian Cameron Kidd and China’s Qian Chen all look like threats to pass up Powers on race day, getting a number of different countries involved.

5. Makino vs Eastin: One cross-Pacific rivalry on display in Maui will be Japan’s Hiroki Makino vs American Ella Eastin in the IMs. Eastin is from California, Makino from Japan, and the two meet in the middle of the Pacific to do battle in both the 200 and 400 meter distances. Eastin, the former Junior World record-holder, is the heavy favorite in the 400 IM, but Makino holds a narrow lead in the 200. It’ll come down to who shows up to swim in Maui, and their budding competition should make both IM events ones to watch.