USA Swimming’s ‘Big 4’ Scheduled to Compete at Arena PSS – Mesa

Press Release Courtesy: USA Swimming

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Eight U.S. individual gold medalists from the 2012 Olympic Games, including world-record holders Missy Franklin(Centennial, Colo./Colorado Stars), Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md./Nation’s Capital Swim Club), Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla./SwimMAC Carolina)and Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md./North Baltimore Aquatic Club), are expected to compete at next week’s Arena Pro Swim Series at Mesa.

Held at Mesa’s Skyline Aquatic Center, the long-course meters meet opens Thursday, April 14 and continues through Saturday, April 16, with daily prelims at 9 a.m. Pacific followed by finals at 5 p.m. Tickets are on sale now online.

Television coverage of April 15-16 finals from Mesa will air on NBC Sports Network on next-day delay, while NBC Sports Live Extra will stream April 15-16 finals live. A live webcast of the entire meet also will be available at usaswimming.org.

NBC Sports Network television coverage is as follows:

Competition Day        Air Time                           Network
Friday, April 15            April 16, 6:30 p.m. ET        NBC Sports Network

Saturday, April 16        April 17, Midnight ET         NBC Sports Network

Additional individual 2012 Olympic champions expected to compete include Nathan Adrian (Bremerton, Wash./California Aquatics), Tyler Clary(Riverside, Calif./SwimMAC Carolina), Allison Schmitt (Canton, Mich./North Baltimore Aquatic Club) and Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas/California Aquatics).

Also expected to swim is Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./Team Santa Monica), who is already qualified for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games at the 10-kilometer distance.

In addition to the Tempe-based Phelps and Schmitt, 2012 Olympian and Mesa native Breeja Larson (Mesa, Ariz./New York Athletic Club) is also slated to compete next week. In total, more than 500 swimmers, including 60-plus members of the USA Swimming National Team, are expected to swim.

The Arena Pro Swim Series at Mesa is the fourth of seven stops of the 2015-16 Arena Pro Swim Series. As part of USA Swimming’s partnership with swimwear leader Arena, the circuit will feature a record $350,000 in overall prize money. Swimmers may earn awards for top-three finishes in all individual Olympic events across the series. At each meet, $1,000 will be provided for a first-place finish, $600 for second and $200 for third. In addition to the single-event prize money, the overall male and female winners of the season-long Series will earn a $10,000 bonus.

For the third consecutive season, longtime USA Swimming partner BMW will award the grand prize of a one-year lease of a BMW vehicle to the highest-scoring eligible male and female U.S. swimmers.

Male and female overall Arena Pro Swim Series champions will be honored at the conclusion of the 2015-16 series based on the number of points accumulated throughout the seven meets. Participants will be awarded points in each individual Olympic event throughout the duration of the Series (Five points for first, three for second, one point for third place).

Ledecky currently leads the women’s Arena Pro Swim Series standings with 40 points, while Adrian tops the men’s standings with 30 points.