Last night at the United States Aquatics Sport Convention in Anaheim, California, Catherine Vogt won the Glen S. Hummer Award and Haley Anderson won the Female Open Water Swimmer of the Year Award. The two had outstanding roles and performances this past summer at the 2013 Open Water World Championships in Barcelona.
Anderon, who just graduated from USC this past spring, followed up her silver medal from London with a solid 2013. In March she won two NCAA titles, 500 and 1650 freestyle, and won a World berth by winning the 5km race at Open Water Nationals.
In a thrilling race, Anderson stayed calmed and made her move at the last 300m. In a furious battle to the finish, Anderson won the first gold medal of the FINA World Championships by a mere .2. She then went on to team up with Andrew Gemmell and Sean Ryan in the Team 5K swim that went on to finish 6th.
Catherine Vogt is the queen of open water coaching. While coaching at the NCAA level at USC, she has been involved with Open Water since her years at UNC. Serving on many international teams since 2006, Vogt made her mark at London in 2012 when Anderson won silver and Ous Mellouli (Vogt served as one of the Tunisian assistants) won gold in the 10km race.
This past summer Vogt was named the head coach of the open water squad for Barcelona. Other than Anderson’s success in Barcelona, Vogt coached Eva Fabian, who won bronze in the women’s 25km race and Alex Meyer, who finished 4th, right outside of a medal, in the men’s 25km. Plus, Mellouli won gold in the men’s 5km race in Barcelona.
Vogt is entering her sixth year at USC this season, and Anderson will continue to train with Trojan Swim Club in her post-graduate career.
Congrats to these very deserving women! They are outstanding both in the water as well as out of the pool! Proud that they were recognized for their accomplishments!