A group of U.S. national team members led by Jessica Hardy, top collegians and high school standouts from Orange County and beyond highlight entries for this weekend’s TYR Fran Crippen Memorial Swim Meet of Champions in Mission Viejo.
The annual summer meet at the Marguerite Recreation Center opens Thursday night at 5 with two distance races and runs through Sunday. Finals each night begin at 5.
Hardy, an Olympic gold medalist in 2012, could duel in the 50 and 100-meter freestyles with recently crowned national high school record-setters Katie McLaughlin of the host Mission Viejo Nadadores and Santa Margarita and Abbey Weitzeil of Saugus High.
The 100 free is Friday while the 50 arrives on Saturday. Hardy is the meet record holder in both events.
Hardy, 27, the former Long Beach Wilson and Irvine Novaquatics star, also is entered in Sunday’s 100 breaststroke. The American record holder owns the sixth-fastest time in the world this year with a 1:06.86.
Senior-to-be sprinter Seth Stubblefield from Cal’s NCAA champion men’s team and NCAA 500-yard free champion Cristian Quintero of USC are among the collegians.
The weekend also will feature a mix of Canadians and county swimmers such as SOCAL’s Ella Eastin (Crean Lutheran), Aquazot’s Corey Okubo (University) and the JCC Waves’ Lindsey Engel (Crean Lutheran). McLaughlin, a senior-to-be at Santa Margarita, is seeded first in the 100 and 200 butterfly.
