Olympians Maya DiRado, Elizabeth Beisel, Cammile Adams and Connor Jaeger have been named captains of USA Swimming’s SwimSquads for the 2019 TYR Pro Swim Series.
USA Swimming announced the four captains in a YouTube video today. You can check it out below:
The SwimSquads are part of USA Swimming’s revamped Pro Swim Series. The team captains draft rosters from the pool of the 2018-2019 U.S. National Team (though last year, a few 2016 Olympians were also able to throw their names into the mix, among them Ryan Lochte). Then, each captain selects six “starters” in a fantasy football-like format for each individual meet, with running scores for the starting lineups at each meet.
Last year, each team swam for a specific charity, with the winning team earning a large sum of money to donate to that charity.
This year’s captains are a bit more contemporary: all four swam in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Last year’s captains were Jason Lezak (most recently an Olympian in 2012), Natalie Coughlin (also 2012), Kaitlin Sandeno (2004) and Lenny Krayzelburg (also 2004). Krayzelburg won the SwimSquad Battle by a wide margin last year.
The USA Swimming promo teases a live draft of the teams on November 18 at 11 AM Eastern Time, hosted by Rowdy Gaines.
Maybe I’ve been living under a rock the past few years but…I thought DiRado retired??
The captains are all retired as athletes.
DiRado, at least, is a member of the USA Swimming Board of Directors.
I think bringing in captains that have competed at a high level more recently is a great idea. I liked last year’s captains, but I, among many, never watched most of the captains actually swim in the Olympics and I was unfamiliar with some of the names.
Oh my God…
I am old!
I really liked last year’s captains, but am super excited for these ones. Such a mix of characters