Gatormen Face Rough Water In La Jolla

Anne Cleveland reported from the yesterday's La Jolla Rough Water Swim, America's largest and oldest open water swim: "It was a close race for first in the 3-mile Gatorman all the way to the finish, but Deni Cullom finished 5 seconds ahead of Alex Kostich, followed by Catalina Channel men's record holder Todd Robinson."

"The first female finisher Dawn Heckman was not far behind in the usual choppy afternoon conditions."

"We had a high tide combined with a mixed predominantly west swell, causing some big surf at the finish. The lifeguards were working overtime keeping swimmers off the stairs near the finish. A nightmare for safety, but they got everyone in with no mishaps."

The top five Gatormen finishers in the 79th annual event included:


1. Deni Cullom 1:00:03
2. Alex Kostich 1:00:08
3. Todd Robinson 1:01:25
4. Samuel Morgan 1:01:38
5. Jerry Mahoney 1:02:58

1. Dawn Heckman 1:02:58
2. Lynette Lim 1:04:37
3. Jaqueline Corcoran 1:05:45
4. Amy Dantzler 1:09:24
5. Stacy Peterson 1:11:53

Photos of Deni Cullom by Howard Lipin of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Great Canadian and American National 10K Championship Race in Florida

Swimming World Magazine covered the strategic USA Swimming National 10K Open Water Swimming Championship in Ft. Myers this warm Sunday morning in Florida.

As America's most experienced international referee Sid Cassidy summarized the competitive race for the Swimming World Magazine, "This was unlike any other race on American soil. It was much more like an international race. It was strategic, the swimmers were making moves and being physical. It was an incredibly effective race, especially for our young [swimmers]."

Read the Swimming World Magazine article here. The results are as follows:

Top 10 Men's Results
1. Philippe Debreuil (Team Canada/Sherwood, Canada), 1:51:38.74
2. Fran Crippen (Germantown Academy Aquatics), 1:52:41.37
3. Andrew Gemmell (Delaware Swim Team), 1:52:43.14
4. Sean Ryan (Scenic City Aquatic Club), 1:52:45.95
5. Alex Meyer (Unattached), 1:52:46.74
6. Deni Cullom (Mission Viejo Nadadores), 1:52:49.42
7. Joe Kinderwater (WSY Swimming), 1:53:06.83
8. Mark Warkentin (Santa Barbara Aquatics Club), 1:53:23.78
9. Connor Signorin (Peddie Aquatic Association), 1:53:32.32
10. Simon Tobin (UL, Canada), 1:53:36.67

Top 10 Women's Results
1. Emily Brunemann (Club Wolverine), 1:58:11.38
2. Eva Fabian (Greenwood Memorial Swim Club), 1:58:13.24
3. Emily Hanson (Club Wolverine), 1:58:27.57
4. Chloe Sutton (Mission Viejo Nadadores), 1:58:54.00
5. Christine Jennings (Minnesota Aquatics), 1:58:54.30
6. Nicole Vernon (Delaware Swim Team), 2:01:43.29
7. Heidi George (Los Altos & Mountain View), 2:01:48.32
8. Kirsten Groome (First Colony Swim Team), 2:02:11.99
9. Claire Thompson (West Florida Lightning Aquatic), 2:03:42.50
10. Zsofia Balazs (Team Canada, Canada), 2:03:44.37

Photo shows Sid Cassidy giving a yellow flag to a swimmer in the 10K race in Ft. Myers.

Copyright © 2009 by World Open Water Swimming Association

Open Water Preview of London 2012?

Notwithstanding the young and accomplished open water elite like Larisa Ilchenko, Ana Marcela Cunha, Chad Ho and Chip Peterson, Guam will play host to some very fast young guns in the Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships 10K race on January 12th.

To compete against battle-tested Kane Radford from New Zealand, Australia’s fast Belinda Bennett and a top contingent from Canada including Zsofia Balasz and Craig Dagnall, USA Swimming will send 5 teenagers to Guam.

Eva Fabian of Greenwood Memorial Swim Club (coached by Jack Fabian), Kelly Baird of Winston Salem YMCA Swim Team (coached by Mike Brady), Deni Cullom of Mission Viejo Nadadores (coached by Bill Rose), Sean Ryan of Scenic City Aquatics Club (coached by Stan Corcoran) and Harry Stephenson of Gulf Coast Swim Team (coached by Don Henshaw) will race 4 loops of a 2.5K triangular course in Tumon Bay, Guam's most popular beach.

Going mano-a-mano, goggle-to-goggle and shoulder-to-shoulder around 12 buoy turns will not only be exciting, but also an excellent proving ground for those with dreams of representing their country in London 2012. The winner will undoubtedly balance great aerobic conditioning and fast closing speed with excellent race tactics and a high degree of navigational IQ.

Despite her size, diminutive Eva Fabian, who can be seen in the red cap (towards the left) on the November 2008 cover of of Swimming World Magazine, will be someone to contend with. "I love competing in the open water," said Eva after doing well at the 2008 RCP Tiburon Mile.

Up-and-coming athletes 18 year and under swimmer from Canada, Australia, China, USA, Japan, New Zealand, Bermuda, Mexico, Guam, El Salvador and Costa Rica will compete at the 2009 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in January.

It Ain't Over 'til the Last Step

In the same way, gold medalist Larisa Ilchenko swam past Keri-Anne Payne and Cassandra Patten at the end of the women's Olympic 10K Marathon Swim and Maarten van der Weijden just nipped David Davies and Thomas Lurz in the men's 10K race in Beijing, Mission Viejo's Deni Cullom just got by Alex Kostich in the 3-mile Gatorman race at the 78th annual La Jolla Rough Water Swim.

Great photo by Peggy Peattie of the San Diego Union-Tribune captures the last few steps of the Gatorman race between Cullom (blue suit) and Kostich (black body suit).

Gatorman from Mission

Coming off of a very close second-place finish at the USA Swimming Open Water Swimming National Championships last month, Deni Cullom of the Mission Viejo Nadadores won the featured 3-mile Gatorman race at the 78th annual La Jolla Rough Water Swim.

17-year-old Cullom beat 5-time 38-year-old champion Alex Kostich of Los Angeles after swimming even with him for the first part of the race. "[Alex] had me going the entire way. I was worried until the last two steps of the race," said Cullom pictured on the bottom left in the famed Mission Viejo Nadadores distance training program below.

But the camaraderie between the competitors shined brightly after the tough race. "I'm really happy," said the smiling Kostich who finished in 58:32. "I'm glad there are these whippersnappers moving up and enjoying the sport."




But the masters got the upper hand over the teenagers in the women's race. 31-year-old Dawn Heckman, who trains with Kostich in Pasadena, won 1:01:05 over Olympic 10K swimmer Chloe Sutton, who trains with Cullom.

"I had no idea about my lead," said Heckman, a former 9-time All-American from the University of Florida. "I was just swimming to land."

As were the other 567 swimmers in the Gatorman...and 2,200 other swimmers in the shorter races in the beautiful La Jolla Cove just north of San Diejo.

Upper photo shows start of race and lower photo shows Dawn Heckman from the University of Florida swim team website.

USA Swimming National 10K Championships - Continued

22 men entered the 2008 USA Swimming Open Water National Championships in Lake Harriett, Minneapolis.

Fran Crippen of Mission Viejo Nadadores won in 1:58:41 over Deni Cullom, also of Mission Viejo, and Josef Kinderwater of WSY Swimming, in an extremely close race.

A lead pack of 9 played cat-and-mouse with each together for most of the race until Crippen took off with 800 meters to go on the final loop. 4 men were able to respond to Crippen's challenge. Josef Kinderwater was included in the chase pack and received a yellow card for intentional contact about 700 meters from the finish. Deni Cullom, Crippen's Mission Viejo teammate who hung back in the third row of the pack for the entire race, suddenly caught fire and made a move on Crippen in the last 30 meters moving up on Crippen's right side in clear water around a very tight 3-wide to take second.

Just like the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim hopefully will be, the three-wide of Kinderwater, Kiminski and Ryan was a tough, physical, but clean, battle that came down to a very close video finish.

Both the men's and women's races had a disqualification for feeding station violations. The swimmers intentionally held onto the feeding station, they were red-carded.

The top 5 male and female swimmers below were named to the 2008 USA Swimming National Open Water Team:

1. Fran Crippen, Mission Viejo Nadadores: 1:58:41.4
2. Deni Cullom, Mission Viejo Nadadores: 1:59.11.6
3. Joseph Kinderwater, Wsy Swimming: 1:59.13.1
4. Matthew Kaminske, Sarasota YMCA Sharks: 1:59:13.3
5. Sean Ryan, Scenic City Aquatic Club: 1:59:13.6

1. Kirsten Groome, First Colony Swim Team: 2:03.25.6
2. Eva Fabian, Greenwood Memorial Swim Club: 2:03:37.8
3. Christine Jennings, Minnesota Aquatics: 2:05:15.0
4. Ashley Whitney, Excel Aquatics: 2:05:21.1
5. Brittany Massengale, Rice Aquatics: 2:05.30.9

Photo of Fran Crippen provided by TYR.

Copyright © 2008 by World Open Water Swimming Association