Entry Lists for 2018 Pan Pacs Open Water Races Posted

2018 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, August 9th – Sunday, August 12th; Open Water
• Tatsumi International Swim Center, Tokyo, Japan
• LCM
• Meet Central
• Open Water Entries List

Psych sheets for the open water portion of the 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships have been posted.

Countries are allowed to enter as many swimmers as they want into the open water races at Pan Pacs, with the United States taking the biggest advantage of that  rule: entering 5 women and 4 men.

The only swimmer that took advantage of USA Swimming’s selection procedure that allows pool qualifiers to add the open water races as additional events was Erica Sullivan. She took 3rd in the 10k at Open Water Nationals earlier this year, but didn’t race in the Gravelines, France open water race that served as the second-leg of the qualifying.

She did, however, place 3rd in the 1500 free, behind Ashley Twichell and Ally McHugh, in the 1500 to earn a spot in the pool and an opportunity to race this event as an optional swim. She’s entered in the 400, 800, and 1500 freestyles as well.

Other Notes, for those wondering:

• Ashley Wall is Ashley Twichell; she married Derek Wall in September of 2015, and while she still generally competes under her maiden name, sometimes these married names sneak in for international entries because of visas and matching passports, etc.
• There are two names entered under “United States of America” that you might not immediately recognize: 14-year old Mark Imazu and 16-year old Mineri Kurotori Gomez. Both swimmers are from Guam, which is an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States. Gomez represented Guam in the pool at last year’s World Championships (her best finish was 46th in the 100 fly in 1:17.47). Guam has its own national teams and Olympic team, but is technically part of the United States. Both swimmers will race in the pool as well, where they’re properly labeled as representing Guam.

The open water races will take place on Tuesday, August 14th, which is two days after pool swimming concludes. The races will be held on Hojo Beach in Hojo, Japan, after being moved from their original location at the Odaiba Seaside Park due to water quality testing. Odaiba Seaside Park will be the host to the open water races at the 2020 Olympic Games.