Caeleb Dressel Headlines Star-Studded Field At Westmont Pro Swim (Psych Sheets)

2024 PRO SWIM SERIES – WESTMONT

• March 6-9, 2024
• FMC Natatorium – Westmont, Illinois
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets

A good portion of the swimmers who will be in the hunt for a berth on the 2024 U.S. Olympic team will be in the field next week at the Pro Swim Series event in Westmont, the second stop of the three-leg series that will wrap up in San Antonio next month.

Highlighting the pre-scratch psych sheets is seven-time Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel, who is slated to race for the first time in the calendar year after withdrawing from the opening PSS stop in Knoxville due to the impending birth of his child (his son, August Wilder, was born on Feb. 17).

Dressel holds entries in the men’s 50, 100 and 200 free, and the 100 fly, with a strong field of challengers in the men’s sprints set to take him on.

The 27-year-old’s most recent competition was the U.S. Open at the beginning of December, where he posted times of 21.99 in the 50 free, 48.85 in the 100f ree and 51.31 in the 100 fly, all three of which were faster than what he went at U.S. Nationals in June.

The sprint free events will feature the likes of Jack Alexy, Ryan Held and Brooks Curry, while in the 100 fly we’ll see Dressel go to battle with Shaine Casas, Dare Rose and rising young star Thomas Heilman, among others.

Alongside Dressel, other swimmers based out of the University of Florida on the entry lists include Kieran Smith, Bobby Finke and Natalie Hinds.

Among the most notable absences are swimmers like Carson Foster and Jake Foster, who are returning from the World Championships last month in Doha. In fact, among the US team for Worlds, only Shaine Casas, Zach Harting, and David Johnston are entered in this meet.

Also missing is seven-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky. In her last outing at a Sectionals meet in Florida, she lost her first 800 free final in 13 years. Other members of Ledecky’s University of Florida training group are attending the meet, and she has made a habit out of early-March racing in recent seasons: she has swum the relevant Pro Swim Series stop in each of the last four seasons, and last March swam meets each of the first two weekends of the month.

Some of the other noteworthy training squads in attendance include:

ARIZONA STATE PRO GROUP

ASU’s pro squad will be out in full force, headlined by Regan Smith, who is entered in the women’s 100 and 200 back, and the 100 and 200 fly.

Other ASU swimmers include Held, Chase Kalisz, Jay Litherland, Luca Urlando and Drew Kibler on the men’s side, and Olivia Smoliga, Simone Manuel and Paige Madden for the women.

CAL CONTINGENT

As reported earlier this week, some of the top swimmers on the Cal men’s team will opt out of next week’s Pac-12 Championships in favor of the Pro Swim event, with Alexy, Rose, Destin Lasco and Gabriel Jett all in the field.

We’ll also see the Cal post-grads, including four-time Olympic gold medalist and multi-time world champion Ryan Murphy, holding the top seed in the men’s 100 and 200 back.

Abbey Weitzeil will be a top contender in the women’s sprint free events, while Curry will do the same in the men’s events and Hugo Gonzalez holds six entries, including top-five seeds in the 100 back, 200 back, and 200 IM.

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR

Some key international names are on the psych sheets, most notably Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui, the reigning Olympic champion in the men’s 400 free and 2023 world champion in the 800 and 1500 free.

Hafnaoui, who had a poor showing at the 2024 World Championships last month, is set to battle Bobby Finke in the 400, 800 and 1500 free.

Brazil is sending a large team of athletes to the meet that includes Olympic medalist Fernando Scheffer, along with female freestyler María Fernanda Costa, who set a pair of South American Records last month in Doha. Former NCAA stars Vini Lanza and Nicolas Albiero are also in the field representing Brazilian club Minas Tenis.

Albiero changed his sporting citizenship from the U.S. to Brazil last year.

Austrian Felix Auboeck holds just one entry in the men’s 200 free, while a group of Canadians competing includes Penny Oleksiak, Taylor Ruck, Bailey Andison, Katerine Savard and Tess Cieplucha.

OTHER NOTABLE ENTRANTS

The women’s field will feature other top American names including Lilly King, Katie Grimes, Torri Huske, Claire Weinstein and Leah Hayes.

On the men’s side, Santo Condorelli and Justin Ress will add to the stacked sprint field, while Trenton Julian adds dome strength to the butterfly events and Jake Magahey strengthens the distance freestyles.

Find the full psych sheets here.