Katie Grimes Leads All Earners in Knoxville with $6,500 in Prize Money (FULL TABLE)

PRO SWIM SERIES – KNOXVILLE

  • January 11-14, 2023
  • Knoxville, Tennessee
  • LCM (50 meters)
  • Prelims/Finals
    • Prelims: 9:00 AM (EST)
    • Finals: 6:00 PM (EST), Day 1 4:00 PM
  • Meet Central
  • Live Results

17-year old Katie Grimes won 3 events and had a whopping 6 podium finishes at this weekend’s Pro Swim Series stop in Knoxville, Tennessee to lead all swimmers with $6,500 in earnings.

Grimes led a group of 4 women who were among the top 5 earners at the meet, as the top women generally swam, and earned podium finishes in, more events than the men.

Prize money was reinstated for latter part of the 2022 Pro Swim Series and that continued into the 2023 season, which kicked off this week. Each meet in 2023 will offer $102,000 in prize money divided among the top three finishers in each event.

2023 Prize Money Breakdown:

  • 1st – $1,500
  • 2nd – $1,000
  • 3rd – $500

2023 will see four stops on the Pro Swim Series, which adds up to a total of $408,000 in prize money available. The prize money, as compared to prior iterations, is pretty straightforward: there are no series-long points or annual prizes to worry about. If a swimmer finishes in the top 3 in any event (Olympic or otherwise), they earn money.

A total of 53 different athletes earned at least $500 this weekend.

While the series does seem to be getting back on track to pre-pandemic levels with regards to participation, it’s not clear the prize money is a big motivator. The pro group from Cal left before the final session of the meet, where Ryan Murphy was a big favorite in the 200 back and Abbey Weitzeil was a big favorite in the 100 free.

That means at least $3,000 was left on the table – a meaningful amount of money for many athletes, and definitely enough to cover costs of an extra night in a Knoxville hotel.

While high school and college swimmers are generally limited to accepting money up to “actual and necessary expenses,” even under new NIL rules, there are plenty of loopholes that allow them to accept more prize money than that. We will never know for sure who actually receives what prize money, but most of the money listed below will wind up with the athletes who earned it.

Knoxville 2023 Prize Money:

Rank Swimmer Team 1st 2nd 3rd Total
1 Katie Grimes Sandpipers $4,500 $1,000 $1,000 $6,500
2 Katie Ledecky Florida (pro) $4,500 $1,000 $0 $5,500
3 Mona McSharry Tennessee $4,500 $0 $0 $4,500
3 Kylie Masse Canada $4,500 $0 $0 $4,500
3 Bobby Finke Florida (pro) $3,000 $1,000 $500 $4,500
3 Bella Sims Sandpipers $0 $4,000 $500 $4,500
7 Ahmed Hafnaoui Indiana $3,000 $1,000 $0 $4,000
8 Kieran Smith Florida (pro) $0 $3,000 $500 $3,500
9 Lyubomir Epitropov Tennessee/Bulgaria $3,000 $0 $0 $3,000
9 Abbey Weitzeil Cal (pro) $3,000 $0 $0 $3,000
11 Hunter Armstrong Cal (pro) $1,500 $1,000 $0 $2,500
11 Chase Kalisz Arizona State (pro) $1,500 $1,000 $0 $2,500
11 Erika Brown Tennessee (pro) $1,500 $1,000 $0 $2,500
11 Daniel Diehl Cumberland YMCA $1,500 $0 $1,000 $2,500
11 Olivia Smoliga Arizona State (pro) $0 $2,000 $500 $2,500
16 Ella Jansen Canada $1,500 $0 $500 $2,000
16 Leah Smith Texas (pro) $1,500 $0 $500 $2,000
16 Miranda Tucker Texas Ford Aquatics (pro) $0 $2,000 $0 $2,000
16 Tommy Cope Indiana (pro) $0 $2,000 $0 $2,000
20 Ryan Murphy Cal (pro) $0 $1,750 $0 $1,750
21 Henry McFadden Jersey Wahoos $1,500 $0 $0 $1,500
21 Justin Ress NC State (pro) $1,500 $0 $0 $1,500
21 Luke Miller NC State $1,500 $0 $0 $1,500
21 David Curtiss NC State $1,500 $0 $0 $1,500
21 Ryan Held Arizona State (pro) $1,500 $0 $0 $1,500
21 Finlay Knox Canada $1,500 $0 $0 $1,500
21 Michael Houlie Tennessee/South Africa $1,500 $0 $0 $1,500
21 Andrej Barna Louisville (pro)/Serbia $1,500 $0 $0 $1,500
21 Claire Weinstein Sandpipers $0 $1,000 $500 $1,500
21 Gabriel Jett Cal $0 $1,000 $500 $1,500
21 Katharine Berkoff NC State $0 $1,000 $500 $1,500
21 Miguel de Lara Mexico $0 $1,000 $500 $1,500
21 Clement Secchi Missouri/France $0 $1,000 $500 $1,500
21 Gui Caribe Tennessee/Brazil $0 $1,000 $500 $1,500
21 Sophie Angus Canada $0 $0 $1,500 $1,500
36 Trenton Julian Rose Bowl Aquatics (pro) $0 $750 $500 $1,250
37 Jay Litherland Arizona State (pro) $0 $1,000 $0 $1,000
37 Lainey Mullins Suburban Swim Club $0 $1,000 $0 $1,000
37 Bjorn Seeliger Cal $0 $1,000 $0 $1,000
37 Alexis Yager Tennessee (pro) $0 $1,000 $0 $1,000
37 Charlotte Crush Lakeside Swim Team (Kentucky( $0 $1,000 $0 $1,000
37 Josephine Fuller Tennessee $0 $1,000 $0 $1,000
37 Brandon Fischer Liver $0 $0 $1,000 $1,000
37 Simone Manuel Tri-Valley Aquatics $0 $0 $1,000 $1,000
45 Charlie Clark Ohio State $0 $0 $500 $500
45 Erin Gemmell NCAP $0 $0 $500 $500
45 Sara Stotler Tennessee $0 $0 $500 $500
45 Nicolas Albiero Louisville (pro) $0 $0 $500 $500
45 Jack Alexy Cal $0 $0 $500 $500
45 Marina Spadoni Unattached $0 $0 $500 $500
45 Michael Brinegar Ohio State (pro) $0 $0 $500 $500
45 Tess Cieplucha Canada $0 $0 $500 $500
45 Javier Acevedo Canada $0 $0 $500 $500

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SWIMMER
1 year ago

How did Ryan Murphy earn 1,750 if he got second place twice. Are there variations to the 1500, 1000, 500 dollar breakdown?

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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