Sutton dominates at Grand Prix

The national team members battled with world-class competition.

By John Montesantos

Published Feb. 16, 2010

The Mizzou Aquatic Center played host to the third stop of the cross-country USA Swimming Grand Prix Series from Feb. 12 to Feb. 15. The eight-meet competition awards points to competitors for each medal, with the final points leader taking home a $20,000 prize.

The meet brought together swimmers from all over the world and featured a few from the Missouri swim team. Among the melting pot of swimming talent, USA Swimming boasted the most competitors. Of the 15 U.S. National Team swimmers who entered the meet, Olympian Chloe Sutton quickly emerged as the frontrunner.

Sutton started out strong, winning the women's 200 freestyle and placing third in the 400 individual medley on the first night. On Saturday, she added her second gold with a win in the 400 freestyle.

The Mission Viejo Nadadores club member didn't stop there, striking her third gold in as many days on Sunday in the 800 freestyle. Sutton then brought her final medal count to six with a silver medal in the 200 butterfly Sunday night and gold in the 1500 freestyle Monday morning.

"I'm really excited about it," Sutton said in a news release Sunday. "I wanted to come out here and go some pretty good times. I'm having a great meet so far."

The Grand Prix series awards five points for gold, three points for silver and one for bronze in each of the eight meets. Sutton's weekend of success added 24 points to her total and put her at 55 points overall. That mark makes her more than 30 points ahead of anyone else in the standings.

Other U.S. National Team swimmers who stole the show this weekend were Eric Shanteau and Nick Thoman. The 2008 Olympian Shanteau took two golds Saturday night, winning the 200 individual medley and 200 breaststroke. The wins put him at three medals for the weekend after taking silver in the 100 breaststroke Friday.

Thoman also excelled in Columbia, winning the 100 backstroke Saturday before dominating the 200 backstroke by two body lengths for his second gold Sunday.

The purpose of the Grand Prix Series for American swimmers is to race against competition from all over the country in preparation for this year's National Championships in Irvine, Calif. This can lead to swimmers racing to beat their own goal times rather than their opponents' times but only to a point, Olympian Ryan Lochte said.

"When you get to a certain level, anyone hates to lose," said Lochte, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist. "They're out there to win. That's all any swimmer at this level does now. Just going out there and racing tough."

The Grand Prix attracted competition from across the globe. Some of the internationals included Olympic gold medalists Kosuke Kitajima of Japan and Ous Mellouli of Tunisia. Other countries in attendance were Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, El Salvador and Lithuania.

Shanteau said the foreign competition is great for the USA Swimming organization and spoke highly of having Kitajima competing in the Grand Prix series.

"He bring a whole new level of intensity and racing," Shanteau said. "To have him racing on a month-to-month basis here in the states is going to be really good in the long run."

Outside the Americans, another country with a strong showing was America's neighbor to the north. The Canadian swimmers won five events in the Grand Prix, led by breaststroke expert Annamay Pierse. Pierse won the 200 breaststroke Saturday. She is the world record-holder in that event.