The 2013 Fran Crippen Meet of Champions begins Thursday in Mission Viejo, California, and the field will include a list of national and international swimmers worthy of honoring the memory of the man for whom the event is named.
Many of the swimmers who were further north in Santa Clara for the Grand Prix meet last weekend have migrated south for this event, including many Canadians and 14 Australians.
Liz Pelton, Emily Seebohm, and Brittany Elmslie will be among the highlight names on the women’s side, while the men’s meet will include appropriately enough distance star Ryan Cochrane and rising distance star Mack Horton.
Tom Shields will see a little bit broader event schedule than he did in Santa Clara, racing the 50 free and 200 fly in addition to his more standard 100 fly. He’ll be joined by much of the Cal men’s and women’s teams (think those who were in school still at the end of 2013) including Jeremy Bagshaw, Rachel Bootsma, Rachael Acker, Will Hamilton, Jacob Pebley, Adam Hinshaw, Josh Prenot, Cindy Tran, and Caitlin Leverenz.
There will be no Missy Franklin at this meet, but Canadian/Indiana swimmer Brooklyn Snodgrass will join a still very deep women’s backstroke field.
The meet will run through Sunday, June 9th.
The women’s distance events look strong with Sutton, Steenvoorden, King, and Twitchell.
Can we safely read Tom Shields entry in the 50 free as an entry in the 50 fly?
Olsswim – that would be my guess…at least in one round of the race.
Good field of swimmers! That MV pool is in a big-time need for a refurbishment. There’s exposed rebar all over the pool deck and along the gutters from concrete erosion. Lots of rust staining.
Looks like they haven’t done much to the facility since Schubert’s days there!
ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN! USA swimming has posted the finals of Santa Clara on its youtube channel! Too cool! I’m happy! My lobbying has worked! Thank you very much.
Don’t forget the local girls in your preview with Chloe Sutton and Katie McLaughlin.
Live webcast
http://www.usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=2127&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en