The 2016 Fran Crippen Swim Meet of Champions opened in Mission Viejo, California Thursday night, with Stephanie Peacock and Ous Mellouli earning distance wins.
Live results (also available on the Meet Mobile app)
Peacock, who now trains with the Mission Viejo Nadadores club that hosts the yearly event, won the women’s 800 free in 8:25.89. That’s a great midseason swim for Peacock – it’s the fastest she’s been since the U.S. Open in 2012, where she set her lifetime-best at 8:24.36. She was 8:28 at Nationals last summer.
Her winning swim from the Swim Meet of Champions ranks her #8 worldwide for the season:
2015-2016 LCM Women 800 Free
LEDECKY
8.04.79*WR*OR
| 2 | Jazmin CARLIN | GBR | 8.16.17 | 08/12 |
| 3 | Boglarka KAPAS | HUN | 8.16.37 | 08/12 |
| 4 | Jessica ASHWOOD | AUS | 8.18.14 | 06/05 |
| 5 | Mireia BELMONTE | ESP | 8.18.55 | 08/12 |
| 6 | Leah SMITH | USA | 8.20.18 | 07/02 |
| 7 | Brittany McLEAN | CAN | 8.21.40 | 04/09 |
| 8 | Becca MANN | USA | 8.21.77 | 11/14 |
| 9 | Lotte FRIIS | DEN | 8.22.54 | 08/11 |
| 10 | Sarah KOHLER | GER | 8.22.80 | 05/05 |
Behind her, 18-year-old Hailey Houck of the Sandpipers of Nevada had a huge swim, cutting more than three seconds off her lifetime-best and notching a new Olympic Trials cut time. Houck was second overall in 8:47.23, more than seven seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
32-year-old Olympic champion Ous Mellouli, also swimming for Mission Viejo, won the men’s 1500 free in 15:15.46. That’s a drop of about a second from what he went at the Mesa Pro Swim Series earlier in the month, and is his best swim since 2013 in the event.
Mellouli won this event at the 2008 Olympics for Tunisia, and he took the bronze medal in 2012.
The top 5 finishers were all under the U.S. Olympic Trials cut, though it was a new cut for just one of them. Mission Viejo’s Daniel O’Connor was 15:35.98 for second behind Mellouli, with former Mission Viejo standout and now-California Golden Bear Nick Norman going 15:48.09 for third.
17-year-old Carter Grimes of the Sandpipers of Nevada went 15:48.09, dropping 5 seconds and earning a new Olympic Trials cut. Meanwhile Logan Redondo was 15:49.30 for Mission Viejo.
Race Videos
Women’s 800 Free
Men’s 1500 Free
Wow. Looks like the site works almost perfectly for me right now without needing to block JavaScript. So I can post comments with your new comments’ system. But I still preferred the previous one. The comments were automatically in the chronological order (except the replies of course) and especially without the useless up/downvotes which bring nothing to that great website and only encourage the populism and the idiots with no brain to have fun.
Back to that meet, it’s cool to see Stephanie Peacock back at her best. Who knows for the second spot behind Miss Ledecky? That’s so open with her, Becca Mann, Leah Smith or Cierra Runge.