Gulliver Swimming State Champion Alicia Mancilla (Class of 2018), has been selected as one of 24 up-and-coming distance athletes for the USA Swimming’s National Open Water Select Camp to take place June 6-10 at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers.
“We’re thrilled to have one of our own selected for Open Water Camp,” said Chris George, Gulliver Swim Club head coach. “We’re excited for Alicia to broaden her knowledge of open water swimming and to have the chance to learn new techniques from leading open water coaches.”
“The camp identifies the best distance swimmers in the U.S., offering them a unique motivational and educational experience. The National Open Water Camp is viewed as an integral step for athletes to move from the pool to open water, then to the international scene.
“National Open Water Select Camp plays a key role in strengthening Team USA’s open water team at the international level,” said Pat Hogan, USA Swimming Club development managing director. “Elite distance swimmers already have the swimming ability, but this camp encourages athletes to explore open water swimming as an additional option to their current pool training to potentially represent the U.S. in international competition.”
Athletes will experience workouts in the pool, lake and ocean, in addition to educational sessions throughout the four-day camp. Athletes will learn open water strategies, technique, nutrition, recovery and more from elite open water coaches.
The swimmers were selected based on times from the 2016 season; eight men and eight women were chosen using the top 1,500 times of the year, while four men and four women were selected based on the results of the 2016 five-kilometer National Open Water Championships. Twenty-one clubs from 16 states will be in represented.
The camp staff is comprised of accomplished open water coaches and managers from across the nation and include a head coach, four assistant coaches and two managers.
For more information on National Open Water Select Camp visit usaswimming.org.
