Psych Sheets For 2014 Jr. Pan Pacs Posted; Japan Bringing Teen Phenom Runa Imai

The psych sheets for the 2014 Jr. Pan Pac Championships have been posted, and many, many records could be going down in Hawaii.

See the full Psych Sheets/Start Lists Here.
Full U.S. roster for Jr. Pan Pacs here.
Full Australian roster for Jr. Pan Pacs here.

The meet runs from August 27th-31st in Maui at the Kihei Aquatic Center and will feature swimmers aged 13-18 from eligible federations, which is namely any non-European federation. Any athlete from the charter nations (USA, Canada, Japan, and Australia) are eligible to compete, except those who have competed at the Olympics, Worlds, the Commonwealth Games, or Pan Pacs. For non-charter nations, athletes who have competed at the Olympics, Worlds, the Commonwealth Games, or Pan Pacs, and who have also placed in the top 16 at one of those meets are not allowed – recognizing that for many nations, being the best in a country and qualifying for those major meets does not mean that developmentally the athletes are on par with American, Australian, Canadian, and Japanese Olympians, etc.

Based on seeds alone, the Americans should come out with the lion’s share of the medals, but there are a few exceptions. Among those include Australian sprinter Shayna Jack, who is very familiar to those American fans watching closely after she performed very well at the 2013 U.S. Open.

Less familiar to most American fans might be Runa Imai, a Japanese breaststroker born in the year 2000. Last year, at only 12 years old, she swam a 2:25.14 in the 200 meter breaststroke, and now is seeded at 2:24.00. She’s one of only a handful of swimmers at this meet born in the “oughts” (2000’s), but there will be many, many victories expected from 14 and 15 year olds at this meet.

The rules are similar to the regular Pan Pacs: only two swimmers can advance to the A-Final, with a total of three swimmers eligible for the B-Final in events where B Finals exist.

Participating nations:

• Australia
• Canada
• China
• Fiji
• Japan
• Mexico
• New Zealand
• United States