The U.S. Nationals competition slated to run from July 26th to July 29th in Irvine, California will see a solid Australian contingent among its list of racers.
Swimming Australia has announced a 20-strong ‘A’ team which is set to compete at the prestigious meet after a short stint at a staging camp in Laguna Hills, California.
Western Australia Institute of Sport head coach Ben Higson will lead the squad, supported by David Proud, Janelle Pallister and Craig Stewart.
Among the lineup of athletes is Josh Edwards-Smith, the 20-year-old who surprisingly missed out on World Championships qualification despite owning the top time in the world in the men’s 200m backstroke.
Speedster Thomas Nowakowski is another first-class name on the list, with the 22-year-old representing Australia’s 6th fastest 50m freestyle performer in history.
20-year-old Bronte Job leads the women’s side of the roster, joined by Ella Ramsay and Mikayla Smith.
Job topped the women’s 50m back at the Aussie Trials while Ramsay earned bronze in the 200m IM, 200m breast and 400m IM. Smith was the runner-up in both the women’s 100m breast and 200m breast events in Melbourne.
General Manager – Performance Pathways and Team Lead for the tour, Gary Barclay said of the squad, “Providing international racing opportunities for this group of athletes is vital to ensuring continued upward pressure for places in the Paris Olympic team.”
“The quality of US swimmers competing at these Championships is very high and this will enable our Australian swimmers to gain further experience travelling and competing one year out from the main game.”
Australian ‘A’ Team for U.S. Nationals
| ALEXANDRIA PERKINS |
| BOWEN GOUGH |
| BRITTANY CASTELLUZZO |
| BRONTE JOB |
| CHARLIE HAWKE |
| ELLA RAMSAY |
| HAIG BUCKINGHAM |
| HANNAH FREDERICKS |
| JESSE COLEMAN |
| JEZZE GORMAN |
| JOSHUA EDWARDS-SMITH |
| JOSHUA YONG |
| LILY PRICE |
| MATTHEW GALEA |
| MIA O’LEARY |
| MIKAYLA SMITH |
| OLIVIA LEFOE |
| THOMAS NOWAKOWSKI |
| TY HARTWELL |
| WILLIAM PETRIC |
Thomas Hauck is now going, as per Instagram post today
I still don’t understand why USA Swimming scheduled this meet at the same time as Worlds. They’d get better coverage and more elite athletes attending by moving it back 2-3 weeks
Will Nowakowski still be able to qualify for worlds or is there a trials only policy?
trials only. qualification based on an A time is dependent on that person placing highly in a relay event. nowakowski only had one event, so he was left off the team
The team is chosen strictly from trials. Also this meet overlaps with worlds so anyone on this team definitely isn’t attending worlds