Chinese Teens Win Mile Titles On Day 1 Of Fran Crippen Memorial SMOC

2018 FRAN CRIPPEN MEMORIAL SWIM MEET OF CHAMPIONS

• June 21st-24th, 2018
• Mission Viejo, California
• LCM (50m)  Meet
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results

The opening day of the 2018 Fran Crippen Memorial Swim Meet of Championships in Mission Viejo, California, featured only the men’s and women’s 1500 freestyle timed final.

On the men’s side, it was 19-year-old Chinese swimmer Qiu Ziao taking the win, posting a time of 15:19.56. While Qiu has been sub-15:00 before (14:58.34 in 2016), this swim was a massive best time for 2018, dropping his 15:44.16 from Chinese Nationals.

Michael Brinegar of the Mission Viejo Natadores was within striking distance of Qiu throughout most of the race, and ultimately touched 2nd in a time of 15:25.46. That dropped his season best from the Austin PSS in January (16:03.33) by nearly 38 seconds, and bumps him up into 9th among Americans this year.

Chris Wieser dropped his fastest of the season by over ten seconds for 3rd, and Brinegar’s teammate and fellow open water swimmer Noah Brune was 4th. Check out the full top-8 below:

1. Qiu Ziao, CHN, 15:19.56
2. Michael Brinegar, MVN, 15:25.46
3. Chris Wieser, DART, 15:46.94
4. Noah Brune, MVN, 15:48.89
5. Christian Imbus, FORD, 15:55.93
6. Owen Kao, NOVA, 15:56.46
7. Colin Gilbert, DU, 15:57.19
8. Josh Zakala, ISC, 16:01.41

For the women, it was 16-year-old Chinese stud Li Bingjie picking up the win, holding off American Haley Anderson down the stretch to touch in a time of 16:07.75. Li has been as fast as 15:52.87 this season (beginning September 1st), which ranks her 2nd in the world to Katie Ledecky. This calendar year, she’s 4th in the world with a 15:58.29 from Chinese Nationals.

Anderson wasn’t far behind in 16:10.78, as the two-time 5km Open Water world champion lowered her best time by about a second and a half, having previously been 16:12.29 way back in 2013, and fellow open water star Ashley Twichell was 3rd in 16:16.45.

Check out full top-8 results below:

1. Li Bingjie, CHN, 16:07.75
2. Haley Anderson, TROJ, 16:10.78
3. Ashley Twichell, TAC, 16:16.45
4. Ke Zhang, CHN, 16:18.51
5. Kaitlynn Sims, MAC, 16:31.90
6. Yifan Yang, CHN, 16:31.92
7. Yuxi Chen, CHN, 16:44.89
8. Mackenzie Padington, CRKW, 16:50.10