Swimmers Compete In Santa Clara Invitational
Ben Smith, National Coach and Sharks Swim Club Head Coach, reported on the Santa Clara Invitational.
He said, “The Santa Clara Invitational is the last of the Grand Prix Series and attracted a huge number of entries and many of the top world swimmers as they prepare for this summer’s Fina World championships. I attended the meet with 3 of our elite athletes Roy-Allan Burch, Nick Thomson and Lisa Blackburn.”
“Nick Thomson had two good swims in the 50 and 100 free and will now set his sights on preparing for his sophomore season at FSU and on reaching the London qualifying time. Lisa Blackburn also swam well in the meet in the 200 and 100 breast, and will be looking to continue her season at the upcoming CCCAN championships in Mayaguez Puerto Rico. Lisa will then be setting all of her focus on making the qualifying time for London.”
Continuing, Mr Smith stated, “Roy-Allan continued the good form that saw him set 3 National records in the Bermuda National Championships. He had a very strong swim in the heats of the 50 free qualifying him 9th for the championships final. In the final he was matched up against some of the best 50 free swimmers in the world including Cullen Jones who is the American record holder.”
“Roy had a very good final where he missed the National record by 1 hundredth of a second and tied Cullen Jones for 6th place. When you watch the race on video you can see how close Roy was to the winner going into the last few strokes. We are very pleased with his progress in Charlotte and are looking forward to what he is able to achieve in Shanghai when he is shaved and tapered for the meet. He will be working closely with Cullen Jones during the taper process.”
“As this meet was the last opportunity for our swimmers to qualify for the World Championships BASA are happy to announce our team of Roy-Allan Burch, Julian Fletcher and Kiera Aitken. They will all be starting their taper now and will be preparing for fast swims in Shanghai.”
