Bay Area Standouts Highlight arena Pro Swim Series at Santa Clara
By USA Swimming | Tuesday, May 23, 2017
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Many of the United States' top swimmers – including several Bay Area Olympic medalists – will be in action at next week's arena Pro Swim Series at Santa Clara for a final tune-up ahead of next month's Phillips 66 National Championships.
Olympic champions Nathan Adrian (Bremerton, Wash./California Aquatics), Anthony Ervin (Valencia, Calif./SwimMAC Carolina), Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md./Stanford Swimming), Simone Manuel (Sugar Land, Texas/Stanford Swimming) and Ryan Murphy (Jacksonville, Fla./California Aquatics) are expected to highlight the field for the June 1-4 event at Santa Clara's legendary George F. Haines International Swim Center.
The four-day meet opens Thursday, June 1, with a 5 p.m. PDT timed-final, distance freestyle session and continues through Sunday, June 4, with daily prelims at 9 a.m. PDT followed by finals at 5 p.m. Single- and all-session tickets are on sale now online.
Among the additional Team USA Olympians slated to swim include men's individual medalists Conor Dwyer (Winnetka, Ill./Trojan Swim Club), Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill./Tucson Ford Dealers Aquatic), Cullen Jones (Irvington, N.J./Wolfpack Elite), Chase Kalisz (Bel Aid, Md./North Baltimore Aquatic Club) and Josh Prenot (Santa Maria, Calif./California Aquatics). On the women's side, Cal standout Kathleen Baker (Winston-Salem, N.C./SwimMAC Carolina) and Elizabeth Beisel (Saunderstown, R.I./Bluefish Swim Club) are individual medalists expected to compete.
Three days of television coverage from Santa Clara will air on NBC Sports Network, including live telecasts at 8 p.m. EDT on Friday, June 2 and Sunday, June 4. The Saturday, June 3 action will be broadcast on delay at 1:30 a.m. ET on June 4. All three finals sessions also will be streamed live via NBC Sports. A live webcast also will be available at usaswimming.org.
This event is the fifth and final stop of the 2017 arena Pro Swim Series. The men's lead is shared by U.S. Kalisz and Prenot with 38 points, while Olympian Melanie Margalis (Clearwater, Fla./St. Petersburg Aquatics) leads the women's standings with 39 points.
The arena Pro Swim Series scoring system awards eligible swimmers prize money and points based on first-, second- and third-place performances at each meet in the Championship final only. The prize money and scoring system is as follows: First place, $500 (five points); second place, $300 (three points) and third place, $100 (one point).
At 2017 Phillips 66 Nationals, the point totals will double to 10 points for first place, six for second and two points for third place. The final series tally will be computed after the 2017 Phillips 66 National Championships, slated for June 27-July 1 in Indianapolis, and the prizes will be awarded at that time.
The top eligible male and female overall point total winners in the series will earn a one-year lease of a BMW vehicle, as well as a $10,000 series bonus.