Jean Basson and Scot Robison are the latest swimmers added to the lineup for the Pro Duel Meet 1 event that will take place in a few weeks in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Basson trains with the Tucson Ford Aquatics club in Tucson, Arizona, from which there are several competitors in this lineup. The South African native counts amongst his international accomplishments two medals as a member of the South African relay at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and a 4th-place finish at the 2008 Olympics in the 200 free.
At the 2009 NCAA Championships, Basson took the title in the 500 free while swimming for the Wildcats in 4:08.92, which is the 4th-best swim of all time.
Robison is an American who has been very as a member of the USA National Team since his graduation from Virginia 5 months ago. His time has included trips to Shanghai for the World Championships, as well as to Guadalajara, Mexico for the 2011 Pan American Games. Robison specializes, as an international, in the 100/200 freestyles, which he rode to 17 ACC Championships and 22 All-American honors.
One of the meet’s organizers, Bobby Savulich, was also a member of the American Pan Ams team, and while he was in Mexico, he was able to recruit a few more Latin-American stars. The biggest among these are Venezuelans Octavio Alesi and Daniele Tirabassi, both of whom are Venezuelan National Record holders and Pan Ams finalists.
This meet is really starting to shape up with a complete lineup. Not every swimmer attending is a super-star, but each has their own role and fits erll into the overall meet. Think about it like baseball – not everybody needs to be Derek Jeter or Albert Pujols. Sometimes, the fans fall just as quickly in love with and get just as attached to the role-players.
With 31 entrants now (to be split into two teams), the numbers are getting to the point where all of the events will be filled, which can be a concern for any swim meet that’s limited to professionals (since there are so few professional swimmers). This can only be attributed to the hard work by Savulich and Mark Hill, who have had to reach far and wide into their networks to put together enough professional swimmers to make this meet happen.
Below is the full list of confirmed attendees. For more, check out proswimleague.com.
Darian Townsend
George Bovell
Wu Peng
Jason Dunford
Jean Basson
Bryan Lundquist
Davis Tarwater
Scot Robison
Clark Burckle
Matt Patton
Nick Brunelli
Joe Bartoch
Barry Murphy
David Dunford
Alex Hetland
Elliott Keefer
Bobby Savulich
Eugene Godsoe
Ian Hulme
Octavio Alesi
Gard Kvale
Chris Brady
Frederico Veloso Castro
Felipe Ferreira Lima
Daniele Tirabassi
Sebastien Bodet
Martyn Forde
Richard Hortness
BJ Johnson
Adam DeJong
Kevin Doak
I think this is a great idea but how supportive are some of the coaches of it? Especially swimmers who are already slatted to go to say, PanAms or the GP meets.Is it one more weekend long weekend of missed practices?