Refing at the Minnesota Grand Prix and other Swimming activities.

Day one of the Minnesota Grand Prix is in the Record Books. Both Matt Papenfuss and Abbet Staats were swimming and BOTH qualified for the evenings finals. Both were in the “C” Finals of the 200 Freestyle. Matt with a 1:42.29 and Abbey with a 1:53.96. Matt finished 3rd in his Final heat, Abbey 5th in hers.


Besides standing next to Gold Medalist Ryan Lochte and Rebecca Soni on the pool deck, I was assigned to ref the turn end of Lanes 3 & 4. So I got to judge all the fast swimmers like Soni, Bulgarian Olympian Michael Alexandrov, Kenyan Olympian Jason Dunford, and Brazilian Olympian Thiago Pereira in the Fly and IM. In the Freestyle I moved to the side of the pool and was watching over US Olympians Chloe Sutton and Kate Ziegler, as well as US National Team member 31 year old Erika Erndl.


From USA Swimming.org: http://www.usaswimming.org/usasweb/ViewNewsArticle.aspx?TabId=80&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en&ItemId=2675&mid=4553

Olympians Chloe Sutton and Rebecca Soni both won two medals and set meet records Friday on the first night of the Minneapolis Grand Prix. Sutton, of Mission Viejo Nadadores, won gold in the women’s 1000-yard freestyle with a meet record of 9:33.72, and also took silver in the women’s 200y free in 1:48.18. Soni, of Trojan Swim Club, set the meet record in the finals of the women’s 100y breast in 59.69 and later took silver in the 200y IM in 2:01.75.

Sutton came out on top of a close race in the 1000 free, edging 2008 Olympic teammate Kate Ziegler by four-tenths of a second. The former meet record of 9:33.98 was set in 2007 by Swiss Olympian Flavia Rigamonti. Both Sutton and Ziegler finished more than eight seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Soni bested the former meet record in the 100y breast, set by Trojan Swim Club’s Jessica Hardy in 2007, by about a half a second. Soni touched nearly a second ahead of second-place finisher Katlin Freeman of Santa Barbara Aquatics (1:00.67), while Jillian Tyler of Minnesota was third in 1:01.16.

Besides Sutton and Soni, a number of other swimmers claimed multiple medals on day 1. Andre Schultz of the University of Michigan won gold in the men’s 1000y free (9:05.01) and silver in the 200y IM (1:46.83); Erika Erndl of Swim Florida won gold in the women’s 200y free (1:47.84) and bronze in the 200y IM (2:02.62); Talor Whitaker of Washington State won gold in the women’s 200y IM (2:00.89) and bronze in the 100y fly (55.66); and U.S. National Teamer Dan Madwed of the University of Michigan won bronze in the men’s 200y free (1:38.18) and bronze in the 100y fly (49.04).

Other swimmers winning gold in individual events Friday included Bulgarian Olympian Michael Alexandrov in the men’s 100y breast (53.61); Cal’s William Copeland in the men’s 200y free (1:36.16); Washington State’s Michaela Ahlin in the women’s 100y fly (54.11); Kenyan Olympian Jason Dunford in the men’s 100 fly (47.25); and Trojan Swim Club’s Thiago Pereira in the men’s 200y IM (1:45.41)


So it was an exciting day, coupled with getting to watch diving! Between the Prelims and Finals of swimming, they held a diving meet between U of MN and U of Nebraska. While I was watching the competition, Women’s Team Co-head coach Kelly Kremer sat next to me and we talked. He said right now the Distance swimmers are doing 65,000 yards per week. The mid-distance swimmers are at 50,000 yards and Sprinters 40,000 yards per week. He is very excited about the future of the Gopher team, they have a great underclass. A core of seniors graduated last year that will make scoring more difficult this year, but the future is very bright. They also have a new diving coach, Wenbo Chen the USA Diving Coach so the diving program is looking up as well. I asked him if the lack of diving was what cost him the Big Ten title last year. And he said no, Indiana deserved it, the U of M could not have scored enough points in diving to allow for the difference. So that was kind of cool as well as getting to watch 1 ½’s 2 ½’s and even 3 ½’s being thrown on the diving boards with most scores being in the 6’s & 7’s. I cannot wait to go back on Sunday.


On the rest of the Winona & Midwest Swimming scene, Mankato was swimming at the Border Battle Meet at Wisconsin Stevens Point today (Friday) and Saturday. In action Saturday are the Winona Winhawks at Section 1AA Finals in Rochester. The Winona Winfins travel to Mankato to swim against the Marlins, the St. Mary’s Cardinals are at home against the Macalester Scots, UW Eau Claire is swimming against UW Oshkosh, UW – La Crosse is swimming against Lawrence, and the Gopher Men & Women are of course wit hme at the Minnesota Grand Prix.