The psych sheets for the 2014 Austin Grand Prix are out, and though Ryan Lochte is entered in the meet, we’ve confirmed with Roy Burch, the manager of SwimMAC Carolina’s Team Elite social media accounts and is also on SwimMAC’s Team Elite, that Lochte will not be racing at this weekend’s event.
See the full psych sheets here.
It is likely that Lochte was entered before his injury, which we’ve seen at past meets (Allison Schmitt, for example, was entered in the Minneapolis Grand Prix, though she didn’t swim to focus on finishing school).
There’s still plenty to be excited about, however, at this meet. The women’s freestyle races will be among the deepest we’ve seen in quite some time, with the likes of Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, Simone Manuel, Megan Romano, Allison Schmitt, and Natalie Coughlin topping the field.
The men’s races won’t be too far behind, led by Nathan Adrian, Jimmy Feigen, Yannick Agnel, Cullen Jones, and Anthony Ervin.
Other big names in attendance will include Dax Hill, Conor Dwyer, Eugene Godsoe, and FINA’s World Swimmer of the Year Katie Ledecky.
The women’s breaststroke races stack up well also, with a group of Canadians coming down for the meet to challenge Micah Lawrence. That includes Tera van Beilen and Martha McCabe. Lawrence, who now trains with SwimMAC, is an Austin native, and this race will have even more home-town flavor with Laura Sogar.
Neither the collegiate teams from Texas A&M nor Texas will have a significant presence at the meet, though we’ve seen more of that in the past.
We will have a more complete preview before the meet starts on Thursday.
Dwyer’s not swimming the 200 free, but is slated for 200s for all three other strokes. Interesting.
protecting Agnel maybe?
Or it could just be that the 200 free is right after the 400 IM.
that works too
As BOBO pointed out , the race of the meet will be on the 100 free . Very strong field here . Excited in advance for this first meet of the year .
Yes, I’m excited, too you can feel it, boy let’s do this
Looks like Michael Andrew is swimming a full slate of events. Maybe we’ll see a NAG or two from him.
Amanda Kendall is back in the pool?
She’s apparently been training with T2 Aquatics since November, but this will be just her second meet since Trials in 2012 and her first really major competition. Story here:
http://swimswam.com/former-pan-champ-amanda-kendall-make-return-austin-grand-prix/
You may have noticed that issabella rongione is listed as unattached. This is because she left her old team the fish and moved to NCAP. She started training at the Georgetown Prep site along side ledecky and and Carsten vissering and others
Jeremy Bagshaw is on the psych sheet… is he swimming for Cal Bears this year?
Yes, he is.
Will ask for a clarification – but my best guess is that he was entered as a part of the big Canadian squad that will be at the meet.
Just noticed a bunch of Cal swimmers will also be there: Murphy, Prenot, Pebley
Those are the guys that seem to have swam fast enough this year to qualify for NCAAs. They are probably there to get pool experience since NCAAs will be held in that pool.
Lawrence’s swimmac teammate Meili is from texas too… some interesting breaststroke races indeed