With yesterday’s 10K behind them many of the athletes headed back to the course on Lake Castaic to loosing and prepare themselves for tomorrow’s 5K. Over breakfast Emily Brunemann and Alex Meyer said they are fired up after their 10K swims. Unlike prior year’s, tomorrows 5K is more than just a national title it’s also at least one ticket to Barcelona for the FINA worlds. Why only one ticket on up for grabs tomorrow? It goes like this: Christine Jennings, Becca Mann, Alex Meyer and Sean Ryan have qualified to swim the 10K at worlds. Each also is able to select either the 5K or the 25K as their second race (with the Jennings and Meyer getting first choice for their second race for winning yesterdays race). There are several scenarios that could play out. Check out the selection criteria
There was also an open water clinic at the venue today hosted by the Fran Crippen Elevation Foundation. The clinic was geared toward age group athletes and featured talks and drills on tactics and techniques. 2008 Olympian Mark Warkentin, who now coaches the Santa Barbara Swim Club, shared his experiences and inspired the young athletes to choose the open water swimming path. Toward the end of his talk he brought the athletes close together, shoulder by shoulder, and explained the dynamics of swimming in a pack. The clinic featured several current and former national team atletes including Emily Brunemann, Eva Fabian, Alex Meyer, Mich Burden, Arthur Frayler, and Teresa Crippen; Coaches Jack Roach, Emily Hanson and Tyler Fenwick were also helping. Without a doubt Fran Crippen’s spirit lives on and today a lot of young swimmers got a taste of what it takes to be open water swimmers.
