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National Teamers Headline Upcoming Santa Clara International
More than 15 members of the U.S. National swim team will compete at the 41st Toyota Santa Clara International Grand Prix, May 15-18 in Santa Clara, Calif. Olympic gold medalists Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif.), Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md.), and Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.) are expected to compete at the final West Coast stop on the eight-meet Toyota Grand Prix Series.
Swimmers competing in the meet will look to add to their Toyota Grand Prix Series point totals with strong finishes in Santa Clara. The top medal-winner at the end of the Toyota Grand Prix Series will be awarded $20,000, courtesy of Toyota and USA Swimming.
Other members of the U.S. National swim team expected to compete in Santa Clara include Olympians Kaitlin Sandeno (Lake Forest, Calif.), Erik Vendt (North Eaton, Mass.), Kara Lynn Joyce (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Amanda Beard (Irvine, Calif.), Jason Lezak (Irvine, Calif.), Peter Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich.), and Margaret Hoelzer (Huntsville, Ala.). The star-studded field will also include top '08 hopefuls such as Bay Area native Kim Vandenberg (Moraga, Calif.), and world record-holder Kate Ziegler (Great Falls, Va.).
Phelps currently tops the leaderboard for the 2007-2008 Toyota Grand Prix Series with a total of twelve gold and three bronze medals for 69 points. Mary Descenza (Naperville, Ill.) is tied for second with Katie Hoff (Towson, Md.) each with 51 points. The full leaderboard can be found here.
Tickets for the 41st Toyota Santa Clara International Grand Prix, held at the George F Haines International Swim Center, are $4 for prelim sessions, $8 for final sessions, and an all-session pass is available for $25. Tickets can be purchased at the door. The complete competition schedule can be found online here. Prelims begin each day at 9 a.m and finals commence each day at 5 p.m. On Thursday, May 15, there will be no morning session, and the prelims for the women's 800m and men's 1500m free will begin at 4 p.m.
The Toyota Grand Prix Series serves as an opportunity for athletes to race against top-notch competition as they continue their preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Other stops in the series include Charlotte, N.C. and Omaha, Neb. the last which will take place at the same location of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming.
Here is when you can watch the Swimming Trials on NBC and USA:
U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming Sunday, June 29 8:00-9:00 pm ET NBC
U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming Monday, June 30 8:00-9:00 pm ET USA
U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming Tuesday, July 1 8:00-9:00 pm ET USA
U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming Wednesday, July 2 8:00-9:00 pm ET USA
U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming Thursday, July 3 8:00-9:00 pm ET USA
U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming Friday, July 4 8:00-9:00 pm ET USA
U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming Saturday, July 5 8:00 -9:00 pm ET NBC
U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming Sunday, July 6 8:00 -9:00 pm ET NBC
ETA: USA Swimming is showing an all NBC lineup for Trials. That's not what the USOC press release says, so I'm not sure which it is at this point. To have Trials on NBC-only would be much, much better, in my opinion.
As expected, they each talk about preparation for Beijing among other topics pertaining to swimming. In addition, they are asked to chime in on a lot of pop culture topics that the Access Hollywood viewer would be interested in.
2008 Short Course World Championships - Day 5 Finals
Men's 100 Free Final Team USA's Nathan Adrian bettered the meet record in the men's 100 Free final as he locked up the gold medal with a 46.67 effort. Italian Filippo Magnini scred the silver in 46.70 as 50 Free winner Duje Draganja rounded out the podium with a 46.83. America's other finalist, Bryan Lundquist touched in 48.01 for 7th. [RESULTS]
Women's 50 Back Final Croatia's Sanja Jovanovic captured the gold medal in the 50 Back in World Record fashion. She improved her own mark to 26.37. China's Change Gao took runner-up honors with a 26.70 swim, followed by Ukraine's Kateryna Zubkova in 26.81. Zimbabwe's super star, Kirsty Coventry, turned in a 26.85 swim for 5th place. [RESULTS]
Men's 200 Back Final Austria's Markus Rogan and American Ryan Lochte dueled in the men's final of the 200 Back. Both touched under Lochte's old global standard of 1:49.05, but the gold medal and new WR went to Rogan after he out-touched Lochte 1:47.84 to 1:47.91. A few seconds later, Russia's Stanislav Donets claimed the bronze in 1:50.45. Team USA's Randall Bal touched 7th in 1:52.05. [RESULTS]
