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Sandpipers of Nevada Suspend Training Due to COVID-19 Concerns

The Sandpipers of Nevada have halted all practices as of March 15th, joining a growing list of large club swim teams having to halt operations around the country due to COVID-19 concerns. In a letter sent out to team families on the 15th, head coach Ron Aitken says the the Sandpiper staff met and decided the safest option was to halt all operations. The letter also states that the staff will be reviewing the situation on a weekly basis to determine when it’s safe to resume practice.

The Sandpipers have approximately 400 swimmers on their roster. They have a large group of swimmers already qualified for the Olympic Trials in June. Erica Sullivan is one of Sandpipers’ Trials qualifiers. Sullivan is one of the rising stars in U.S. women’s distance, currently ranked 5th all-time in the U.S. women’s 1500, 15th in the 400 free, and 19th in the 800 free.

Here are the rest of Sandpipers’ Trials qualifiers:

Men

Women

*Brennan Gravley is currenty a swimmer for the University of Florida. He’s included on the list because qualified for Trials when he was a member of the Sandpipers. Many college students, inlcuding athletes, have been sent home, so Gravley may be back in Nevada.

The Sandpipers are a USA Swimming Club Excellence Gold Medal team, marking them as one of the top 20 teams in the country for last season. As we’ve seen over the past week, the largest teams in the country are being hit the hardest by this pandemic. The current recommendation is for groups to be no larger than 10 people, which isn’t feasible for clubs with hundreds of swimmers. The Sandpipers are, however, currently looking for pool space so their top group can practice in some capacity. As the situation has developed over the past week, more pools have begun to close for the time being.

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Stan Crump
4 years ago

Interesting to hear that some clubs are still training. My understanding is that all workouts are cancelled by USA Swimming. Am I missing something here?

SwimMomForever
Reply to  Stan Crump
4 years ago

USA swimming has cancelled meets and events for a while. I don’t know about swim workouts. However, most cities around the United States and worldwide have implemented lockdowns and shelters in place in order to contain the virus. I’m not sure how clubs can continue training right now. It seems risky and disrespectful of our health care system.

Nswim
4 years ago

If Leah Smith doesn’t go for the 1500 Sullivan is a huge favorite for that second Olympic team spot. I know some of the OW swimmers may try for it, but they may not be fully rested already being qualified for the team

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Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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