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Several Olympians will compete at Short Track Nationals at the Aquatic Center Dec. 3-5

By CASEY OLSON
Federal Way Mirror Sports editor
Nov 25 2009

Top American swimmers, including members of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Swim Team, will compete at the 2009 AT&T Short Course National Championships, December 3-5 at the King County Aquatic Center.

Among the swimmers expected to compete are U.S. Olympians Rebecca Soni (Plainsboro, N.J.), Margaret Hoelzer (Huntsville, Ala.), Eric Shanteau (Lilburn, Ga ) and Katie Hoff (Towson, Md.).

Additional Olympians competing at Short Course Nationals include Olympic gold medalists Garrett Weber-Gale (Milwaukee, Wis.) and Peter Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich.), World Championship silver medalist Tyler Clary (Riverside, Calif.), Olympic bronze medalist Caroline Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) and Worlds bronze medalist Kasey Carlson (Walnut Creek, Calif.). Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif.), who just took home the FINA World Cup female title, will also swim in the meet.

Japanese Olympic gold medalist Kosuke Kitajima, who won both the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke at the 2008 Olympics, will be back in the water in Federal Way. The swimmer, who did not compete at the 2009 FINA World Championships, is currently training with the Trojan Swim Club in Los Angeles.

Many top Seattle-area swimmers will also compete in Federal Way, including Olympians Nathan Adrian (Bremerton, Wash.) and Megan Jendrick (Tacoma, Wash.), and World Championship gold medalist and world record-holder Ariana Kukors (Auburn, Wash.), and Andie Taylor (Issaquah, Wash.).

Additionally, 15-year-old Amber Cratsenberg from Thomas Jefferson High School will be competing in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events. Those are the same two events she won state championships in earlier this month. Cratsenberg will be joined by several other Federal Way area swimmers at the meet.

The meet will follow the traditional schedule of morning prelims and evening finals with the morning sessions starting each day at 9 a.m. Evening finals begin at 5 p.m. Five to seven events will be contested daily.

Footage from the meet will air nationally on NBC on Saturday, December 12 from 11 a.m. to noon. All three days of prelims and finals will also be available for viewing on-demand at www.swimnetwork.com

Federal Way Mirror Sports editor Casey Olson can be reached at sports@fedwaymirror.com or (253) 925-5565.
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