Dean, Nina to compete in World Championships

Dean Palacios and Nina Mosley will join more than 600 swimmers from over 100 countries in the 7th FINA World Swimming Championships set from Oct. 7 to 11 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Palacios, a silver medalist in the 400m individual medley in the 2003 Suva South Pacific Games, is a college freshman at Stanford University. He will fly to Indianapolis from California, while Mosley and Saipan Swim Club coach Mike Stewart will leave Saipan this morning.

Stewart said Palacios and Mosley are each entered in six events. Palacios will compete in the 100-meter, 200m, and 400m individual medley, 50m and 100m butterfly, and 100m freestyle.

Mosley, for her part, will swim in the 50m, 100m, and 200m freestytle, 50m and 100m breastroke, and 100m individual medley.

Stewart said Mosley has been training hard for Indianapolis the past few weeks. Her workout includes training for speed in the pool and cross training along the beach and hills, especially when the Kan Pacific Pool in Marpi was rendered unusable because of water supply problems a few weeks back.

Palacios, meanwhile, has a harder time training alone and at the same time adjusting to his new surroundings at Stanford. Stewart, however, is confident that the Marianas Baptist Academy graduate will be in tip-top shape for the competition.

He also said it would be hard to compare the two swimmers’ performance in the Championships because unlike the 50m pool in Kan Pacific, the length of the Myrtha System pool that will be used in Indianapolis is only 25m. Stewart said he would’ve to dig up old files to see if SSC members have records for 25m events.

Among the many top-caliber swimmers that will compete in Indianapolis are Michael Phelps of the United States, Lisbeth Lenton of Australia, James Hickman of Great Britain, Thomas Rupprath of Germany, Sachiko Yamada of Japan, Camelia Potec of Romania, Frédérick Bousquet of France, Martina Moravcova of Slovakia, and Yana Klochkova of Ukraine.

According to the FINA website, the Championships will take place in a temporary pool built in one of the most modern sport arenas in the world – the Conseco Fieldhouse, home to the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association. The facility has a seating capacity for 17,500 spectators.