After a season of wins for Indiana men’s and women’s swimming and diving, three Hoosiers head to the USA Swimming Open Water Nationals from April 1-3 in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
Junior Michael Brinegar will compete in the 10K National Championships at 10:30 a.m. on Friday. Brinegar has experience as a five-time National Team member, summer 2020 Tokyo Olympian and three-time National Junior Team member.
He was described as a top seed by a USA Swimming article previewing the event.
Senior Maggie Wallace and freshman Mariah Denigan are set for the 5K National Championships at 8:05 a.m. on Sunday.
Denigan has provided depth to Indiana’s longer events, setting personal records similar to her senior counterparts. In the 1,650-yard freestyle, Denigan’s career-best is 16:08.80 set on Nov. 20, 2021, at the Ohio State Fall Invite.
Denigan has been a Team USA National Team member since 2018, coming in third place at the Junior World Open Water Championship in 2018. She was also a part of the 2019 team.
Wallace is coming off a 39th place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle at the 2021 NCAA Championships and a sixth place finish at the 2021 Big Ten Championships’ 1,650-yard freestyle, timing in at 16:15.19.
Qualifying in these events this weekend will be important as the top finishers make the 2022 U.S. Open Water National Team and the 2022 FINA Open Water World Championships U.S. team.
The top finishers in the 10k are based on the top six males in the event.
The U.S. roster for the 2022 FINA Open Water World Championships will follow a points-based system.
Points are given to top finishers in the 2022 Open Water National Championships 5K and 10K events, as well as top finishers in 2022 FINA Marathon Swim World Series events in Portugal, taking place May 28-29, 2022, a USA Swimming release said.
After the two competitions, the six male and six female swimmers who collected the most points will represent the United States at the 2022 FINA Open Water World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, from June 26-30.
Follow the Hoosiers as they compete this weekend by visiting the USA Swimming’s event page for more information.
