American Sarah Denninghoff and Britain’s Lauren Quigley have been selected to represent the United States and Europe, respectively, in the backstroke races at the 2013 Duel in the Pool.
The meet will take place on December 20th and 21st in Glasgow, Scotland.
Denninghoff, who is a senior at Texas, had a breakout year in 2013. That includes breaking a minute for the first time in her career in the 100 back at the 2013 World Championship Trials with a 59.75 and going a very fast 200 in 2:09.14 as well. She placed 4th and 3rd, respectively, in those races to just miss the World Championship team.
Her NCAA success, which includes 11 All-American honors in three years, shows that she has no trouble in short course either.
The 18-year old Quigley has very similar times to Dennighoff, and with a little more experience in short course meters should make an admirable foe (though she’s much more of a long course than short course swimmer to this point of her career).
Quigley has been 1:00.07 in the 100 back and 2:10.15 in the 200 back. She was the winner of the 2013 title at the British Championships in the 100, and swam the 50, 100, and 200 at the 2013 World Championships in Spain. That included an 8th-place finish in the 50.
The rosters so far:
Team USA – Confirmed as of October 14th
Conor Dwyer – NBAC
Nic Fink – Georgia
Chase Kalisz – Georgia/NBAC
Cody Miller – Indiana
Shane Ryan – Penn State
Cammile Adams – Texas A&M
Sarah Denninghoff – Texas
Claire Donahue – W. Kentucky
Meghan Hawthorne – USC
Breeja Larson – Texas A&M
Sarah Henry – Texas A&M
Kendyl Stewart – USC
Chloe Sutton – [iX3]sports
Team Europe – Confirmed as of October 14th
Yannick Agnel – France (trains in U.S. at NBAC)
Jeremy Stravius – France
Velimir Stjepanovic – Serbia (trains in Dubai)
James Guy – Great Britain
Michael Jamieson – Great Britain
Pal Joensen – Faroe Islands/Denmark
Yannick Lebherz – Germany
Charlotte Bonnet – France
Fiona Doyle – Ireland (trains in Canada)
Jeanette Ottesen – Denmark
Lotte Friis – Denmark
Fran Halsall – Great Britain
Lauren Quigley – Great Britain
Sarah, Congratulations and good luck–we will be rooting for you!
Sarah Denninghoff – Texas, good for Denninghoff, she deserves a national team
Sarah Denninghoff – Texas, good she needed it.