Sutton Stops Presses with 8:26 at Fran Crippen SMOC

As is only appropriate, the annual TYR-sponsored, Fran Crippen Memorial, Swim Meet of Champions at Mission Viejo (which is one of the biggest club meets in the country outside of the Grand Prixs). Begins with the two distance races. The late Fran Crippen, who has become one of the rallying-cries of the entire sport since his tragic death in an open water race in 2010, was a distance swimmer at Mission Viejo after all.

I think his former teammate Chloe Sutton channeled an absolutely outstanding tribute in the first event, the women’s 800 free, when she kicked off the action with an amazing 8:26.68. That’s the fifth-best time of her relatively-short pool career, as well as fifth-best in the world this year. She went out in a 4:11.6; that split alone is exactly a second off of her best 400 time of the year. She was dead-on with her pacing for most of this meet, doing so well as to split exactly 31.77’s on three separate lengths.

That time is outstanding, it truly is. However, we also know that Mission Viejo puts a little bit of focus on this meet, which is the team’s biggest hosted event every year. She swam a similar 8:26 last season at the same meet. She also suited-up for the swim, which is not something she does, for example, at many of the Grand Prix meets. At the same time, the Nadadores are coming off of a recent stint at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs – with “stint at the Olympic Training Center” usually being code for “brutal training”.

The question here is – is this time right? Is it right for Sutton to be at nearly the same spot as she was last year? She acknowledged last season that her taper – which is a new experience for her coming from open water – wasn’t right. It seems, based on this limited results, that her and coach Bill Rose are staying the course to this point of the season, and will make their adjustments later on.

Ashley Steenvoorden took 2nd in 8:32.93, which is one of the better times in her career as well. She’ll be better equipped to challenge Sutton in the 400 free, and we could see a big number from her in that race.

Sutton’s teammate Ashley Twichell was 3rd in 8:40.88. Though she and Sutton train together, Twichell is making her focus the open water swimming. As such, with Open Water Nationals coming up in just over a week in Florida, she’s totally geared towards those 10km, much more than this .8km.

Janet Evans, the latest comeback-swimmer, took 6th in 8:46.89.

Janet Evans prepares for her 800 free on night one of the 2012 SMOC. (Photo Courtesy: Melissa Lundie)

And the men’s 1500 wasn’t too far off that level, either. Chad la Tourette, who is back training with Mission Viejo for now after finishing his NCAA career with an American Record in yards in March, looked outstanding in the men’s 1500. He swam a 15:09.55. As the only elite-level swimmer in the race, he won by over 50 meters.

That puts him just behind Arhur Frayler as the second-best American in the race this year, though Frayler had a much better push at the Indy Grand Prix from Matias Koski than La Tourette got in this race.

Much like Sutton, that swim seems to be right on target for him.

And at the end of the day, there’s no better way to kick off what should be an awesome meet than with a pair of Nadadores winning their distance races.

Full, Live Results available here.