Elite Grand Prix event likely to return to Ann Arbor next year
Ryan Lochte competes in the 200-meter backstroke. He finished second to former Michigan swimmer Tyler Clary.
(MELANIE MAXWELL/Associated Press)
Elite Grand Prix event likely to return to Ann Arbor next year
BY JO-ANN BARNAS | DETROIT FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
The Namesnik Grand Prix, the elite swimming meet which featured Olympians Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Natalie Coughlin this past weekend, could be returning to Ann Arbor next year before the U.S. Olympic team trials.
Although the final dates of next season's Grand Prix series aren't expected to be finalized until later this summer, USA Swimming would like to come back to Canham Natatorium in the spring of 2012 -- possibly late April -- if dates can be worked out with the University of Michigan, said Bailey Weathers, executive head coach of Club Wolverine.
The U.S. Olympic trials for the London Summer Games are June 25-July 2, 2012, in Omaha, Neb.
The three-day Namesnik Grand Prix, named in honor of Eric Namesnik, the two-time Olympic silver medalist and Michigan graduate who died in a car accident 2006, concluded Sunday night.
Returning to Canham for the first time in four years, the event attracted capacity crowds of just under 1,000 fans for the finals the first two nights. More than 50 people who were waiting in line for tickets Saturday were turned away, Weathers said.
Former U-M men's swimming head coach Bob Bowman, who coaches Phelps, said he was impressed with the organization of the meet.
"Look at the crowds, it's been great," Bowman said.
Weathers said: "If it can work out, we'd love to have it again."
Weathers said dozens of volunteers from Club Wolverine helped run the meet. USA Swimming -- the sport's national governing body -- was also pleased with Domino's sponsorship of "Project Detroit," a program that assisted youth swimmers from the city of Detroit to come to Ann Arbor over the weekend to attend the competition, Weathers said.
CHANGE OF SCENERY: Peter Vanderkaay made a difficult decision last December when he left his comfort zone -- Ann Arbor and Club Wolverine -- to relocate to Gainesville, Fla., in a move that he hopes will lead him to his third straight Olympics.
Vanderkaay, 27, is training alongside Lochte under coach Gregg Troy at the Gator Swim Club. Troy is also the U.S. Olympic men's swim head coach for the London Games.
Vanderkaay, who grew up in Rochester Hills and won six NCAA titles swimming for Michigan, won back-to-back gold medals as a member of the 4-by-200 freestyle relay in the 2004 and 2008 Summer Games. He added a third Olympic medal -- a bronze -- in the 200-meter free in Beijing.
Entering Sunday, Vanderkaay was in the "A" final in three events. He took sixth in the 200 free, fourth in the 400 IM and fourth in the 400 free. He was training through the Ann Arbor meet in preparation for the world championships later this summer in Shanghai, where he's slated to compete in the 400 free, 1,500 free and 4-by-200 free relay.
"He's in a very uncomfortable situation, in a completely different environment and he's handling it exceptionally well," Troy said. "So looking ahead to 2012, it's good for the United States that Peter Vanderkaay is still around."
CENTURY CLUB: Before Sunday night's finals, Club Wolverine and Michigan men's swim coach Mike Bottom led the crowd in singing "Happy Birthday" to Reeve Bailey, U-M's oldest living swimming alum, to celebrate Bailey's 100th birthday.
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