O.C. standouts to race Olympians, college stars at Grand Challenge
Orange County Olympians Jason Lezak and Chloe Sutton and several of their future teammates for this summer’s FINA World Championships are expected to race at the Speedo Grand Challenge, which begins today in Irvine.
The early-season, long-course meters meet runs through Sunday at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center.
Prelims start each day at 9 a.m. Finals on Friday and Saturday are at 5 p.m., and finals on Sunday are at 4 p.m.
Irvine’s Lezak and the Mission Viejo Nadadores’ Sutton are on the U.S. squad for the FINA World Championships in Shanghai, China in late July.
Lezak is entered this weekend in his one individual event for Worlds, the 100-meter freestyle on Sunday.
Sutton is expected to race the 200 and 800 freestyles during prelims Saturday. It’s not certain whether she will race either event in finals on Saturday (200 free) and Sunday (800 free), Nadadores coach Bill Rose said.
The meet also includes Shanghai-bound Chad La Tourette of the Nadadores and Stanford, Jessica Hardy of USC-based Trojan, Nathan Adrian of Cal Aquatics, Trojan newcomer Mike Alexandrov and Jasmine Tosky of Palo Alto Stanford. College standouts such as Cal sophomore Tom Shields (Edison) and top high school swimmers from the county also are expected to race this weekend.
