It’s bringing plenty of excitement for the swimmers, who can’t wait to swim in their home pool and represent Prince George.

“I didn’t realize we would be able to host something like a swim meet of this level, so just the fact that we’re able to host it, and the fact that we have so many people coming down for it, it’s really cool,” said 17-year-old Prince George Swimmer Jocelyn Murguly.

“I love this pool. Obviously, I’ve grown up swimming in it. It’s great to compete in, and it’s just good to have my family and friends around,” added fellow 17-year-old swimmer Finn Boyle.

Monday’s action started with diving, and will be followed by water polo on Tuesday and Wednesday, artistic swimming Thursday, and competitive speed swimming Friday to Sunday.

“The really nice thing about the home pool is our swimmers will get to stick with their routines. They’ll get to sleep in their own beds. They’ll have their families there to cheer them on. They know the pool. There’s a lot of excitement to represent their pool, and we’ve got some really fast swimmers in the north,” said Rory Boyle, the Cariboo Regional Director for the BC Summer Swimming Association.

“I find that I always race better at home. Whether it’s being in my own bed, or if it’s the pool, I’m here so much so it’s kind of hard to tell what it is. But I find whenever we’re racing up in PG, I always do great,” add Finn.

Staying in your own home pool and enjoying the extra crowd support from family friends is certainly appreciated by the Prince George swimmers, but Rory adds it’ll be enjoyed by all of Northern B.C..

“Typically our region, which includes Dawson Creek, Mackenzie, Vanderhoof, and Quesnel, we have to travel long distances to swim meets, always. I mean, Dawson Creek has got a four hour trip anywhere they go. So it’s really nice to be able to keep something close to home,” Rory said.

“The closest provincials up until now is Kamloops. We’ve been there twice, and this being here is great,” added Finn.

The competitive and logistical advantages are certainly great, but home town pride is also a big aspect of the excitement.

“The fact that it’s in my hometown, like the fact that I get to compete at a high level and I get to actually go for gold, that’s really cool for me,” Murguly said.

“It’s really nice to be able to keep something close to home. To bring 6000 or 7000 people to the north, to experience the northern hospitality and to be able to showcase our pool and ultimately all of our swimmers, is really nice,” Rory added.

Diving concluded on Monday, and water polo will be up next beginning on August 12.

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≡ SPOTLIGHT ≡

It’s a pretty quiet week on the world sports calendar, but there are highlights, especially in athletics:

● Diamond League: The Skowlimowska Memorial is on for Chorzow’s Silesian Stadium in Poland on Saturday, but with three events now moved to Friday in the town center in Katowice: the women’s high jump featuring Olympic champ Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR), the women’s vault with NCAA champions Amanda and Hana Moll of the U.S., and the women’s shot, with two-time World Champion Chase Jackson of the U.S.

On Saturday, the stadium meet starts at 2 p.m. locally (8 a.m. Eastern, broadcast on the FloTrack subscription service) with 13 events, headlined by World Champion Noah Lyles of the U.S. in the men’s 100 m and Olympic silver medalist Kishane Thompson of Jamaica, plus American 100 m champ Kenny Bednarek and fellow U.S. stars Courtney Lindsey, Christian Coleman and Trayvon Bromell!

Niels Laros (NED) stunned American star Yared Nuguse at the Pre Classic mile and they are back in the men’s 1,500 m, and Karsten Warholm (NOR) is looking to regain his Tokyo Olympic world-record form in the 400 m hurdles.

Tokyo Olympic and Paris Olympic high jump winners Gianmarco Tamberi (ITA) and Hamish Kerr (NZL) and Swedish superstar Mondo Duplantis headline the field events, along with world shot leader Leonardo Fabbri (ITA).

Reigning World Champion Sha’Carri Richardson of the U.S. and two-time women’s 200 m World Champion Shericka Jackson (JAM) are looking for breakout performances in the women’s 100 and 200 m. Olympic 400 m winner Marileidy Paulino (DOM) leads that field and Olympic 5,000-10,000 m winner Beatrice Chebet (KEN) is dropping down to the 1,500 m.

Olympic 100 m hurdles champ and American Record setter Masai Russell of the U.S. and reigning 400 m hurdles World Champion Femke Bol (NED) headlines the hurdles as does Tokyo Olympic long jump winner Malaika Mihambo (GER).

Quite a meet!

● World Athletics Continental Tour Gold: The annual Istvan Gyulai Memorial Hungarian Grand Prix (HUN) comes on Tuesday (12th) in Budapest, with the main program beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern time (on FloTrack).

Seven current or former World Champions are slated to compete at the National Athletics Centre, including Swedish vault superstar Duplantis, current long jump champ Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE) and Jamaica’s 2019 winner, Tajay Gayle, hammer winner Ethan Katzberg (CAN), Jamaican women’s sprint icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, 400 m hurdler Bol and 2023 long jump winner Ivana Spanovic (SRB).

Jamaica’s world-leading Thompson is scheduled in the men’s 100 m.

Elsewhere:

● Archery: The 2025 USA Archery National Target Championships in Springfield, Missouri.

● Beach Volleyball: The sixth of seven Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 tournaments will be on Montreal from 13-17 August, with Norwegian stars Anders Mol and Christian Sorum top-seeded for the men and Brazil’s Thamela and Victoria seeded first for the women.

● Canoe-Kayak: The American Canoe Association Sprint nationals in Seattle, Washington.

● Cycling: On the UCI World Tour, the ADAC Cyclassics in Germany will be held on Sunday (17th), while the UCI Women’s World Tour also has the three-stage Tour de Romandie from Friday through Sunday.

The 12th World Games continues in Chengdu (CHN) and will finish on Sunday (17th). The II Junior Pan American Games continues in Asuncion (PAR) continues through 23 August.

¶

● Remembering ● Monday, 11 August marks 17 years since the unforgettable men’s 4×100 m Freestyle relay at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing (CHN), and Jason Lezak’s astonishing final leg to win for the U.S. in world-record time.

This was the Olympics where swimming sensation Michael Phelps was trying for eight gold medals and he opened with a win in the men’s 400 m Medley in a world-record 4:03.84. The 4×100 m Free relay didn’t look as easy.

Swimming World Magazine posted a detailed remembrance of the event, complete with the pre-meet work-up, in which France’s 100 m Freestyle world-record holder Alain Bernard said his team would bury the U.S.

In fact, the American “B” team of Nathan Adrian, Cullen Jones, Ben Wildman-Tobriner and Matt Grevers set a world record of 3:12.23 in the prelims, with the French winning heat two at 3:12.36.

In the final, the U.S. substituted Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale and Lezak, 32, and the French subbed in two, including Bernard on anchor. While Australia’s Eamon Sullivan led off with a world record in the 100 Free at 47.24, the U.S. got excellent legs from Phelps (American Record 47.51) and Weber-Gale (47.02) to lead by 0.43.

On the third leg, Frederick Bousquet split a sensational (and fastest ever) 46.63 and took the lead from Jones (47.65) by 0.59, a seemingly insurmountable deficit for Lezak.

Lezak made up a little ground on Bernard on the first lap, but only gained significantly in the final 25 m. And with his final stroke and a lunge, Lezak touched first for a stunning world record of 3:08.24, almost four seconds up on their prelim world record.

Lezak’s split of 46.06 was the fastest ever; before the final, no one had ever split faster than 46.79! Bernard was no slouch at 46.73, but was still short by 0.08 at 3:08.32. He recovered enough to win the individual 100 Free later in the meet.

To this day, Lezak’s split has only been better twice: in 2024 by world-record holder Zhanle Pan (CHN: 45.92) and at the just-completed World Aquatics Championships in Singapore by American Jack Alexy (45.95).

It was an astonishing moment and Phelps, of course, got his eight golds. The race also produced one of the wildest headlines ever, in the English edition of the Israeli daily newspaper, Haaretz, a few days later:

“Two Jews and a Black Man Help Phelps Fulfill Olympic Dream”

Lezak and Weber-Gale are both Jewish and Jones is Black, and without them, Phelps would have had seven golds in Beijing. That would have equaled (but not surpassed) the feat of fellow American Mark Spitz – another Jewish swimmer – in the happy early days of the ill-fated 1972 Munich Olympic Games.

¶

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Salvador, Brazil – August 11 – Team USA claimed a hard-fought 15-14 victory over Greece after a penalty shootout at the World Aquatics U20 World Championship. Emily Ausmus scored six to lead the offense while Christine Carpenter was named player of the match with 15 saves, including three straight stops in the penalty shootout to setup the win. Team USA returns to the pool on Tuesday against Italy at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. Live streaming of all matches is available through the World Aquatics YouTube page by clicking here. Live stats of all matches are provided from Microplus by clicking here.

The Greek side got things started with the game’s first goal but Ausmus responded for Team USA just over two minutes in. Greece retook the lead quickly and extended it to 3-1 before Ausmus found the back of the net once again. The remainder of the quarter saw Greece double its advantage to 4-2 headed into the second.

Team USA was whistled for a penalty and the Greeks converted from five meters to begin the second period. Julia Bonaguidi scored to narrow the deficit and then Rosalie Hassett brought the United States within one. Late in the half, Greece skipped one home to go ahead 6-4 at the break.

Early on in the third, Ausmus scored her third on the day when she went bar in from long range. Both offenses went dormant for minutes until Greece tacked on two more in the back half of the quarter. Allison Cohen and Hassett would return the favor for the Americans, leaving the score at 8-7 for the Greeks after three.

Charlotte Raisin leveled the score to begin the final frame with a nice backhand shot from set before a penalty foul allowed Ausmus to give Team USA its first lead from five meters. With just under three minutes to play, Greece tied things up, and then Ausmus found the back of the net with a sidearm delivery to give the United States a one-goal lead once again. The Greeks had an answer again, tying the score at 10-10 and sending this contest into a penalty shootout.

The two sides traded goals in the penalty shootout with Ausmus converting the first, Hassett making good on the second, Bonaguidi scoring the third, and Cohen knocking down the fourth before both goalkeepers got involved. Each team’s fifth and sixth shots were blocked before Team USA got it done. Carpenter came up with a third consecutive save and Hassett stepped up to fire home the game-winner.

Team USA went 1/8 on power plays and 1/1 on penalties (before the shootout) while Greece went 1/6 on power plays and 1/1 on penalties (before the shootout).

Scoring – Stats

USA 15 (2, 2, 3, 3, 5) E. Ausmus 6, R. Hassett 4, J. Bonaguidi 2, A. Cohen 2, C. Raisin 1

GRE 14 (4, 2, 2, 2, 4) F. Tricha 5, A. Karampetsou 2, N. Krassa 2, R. Saltamanika 2, D. Koureta 1, E. Kovatsevits 1, Z. Tzortzakaki 1

Saves – USA – C. Carpenter 15 – GRE – N. Kyriakopoulou 11

6×5 – USA – 1/8 – GRE – 1/6

Penalties – USA – 1/1 – GRE – 1/1

 

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The first Orange County matches of the 2025 boys water polo season will be played Tuesday.

The schedule includes four nonleague matches: Los Amigos at Ocean View, Rancho Alamitos at La Quinta, Cypress at Buena Park and Whitney-Bolsa Grande at Garden Grove High.

One of the top matches of the opening week arrives Friday with Beckman playing host to Huntington Beach. Both schools reached the CIF-SS playoffs last season with the Oilers advancing to the Division 1 semifinals.

Two county teams are reigning section champions: Newport Harbor (Open Division) and Brea Olinda (Division 2).

The Southern Section finals are scheduled for Nov. 15 with the regional championships on Nov. 22.

Newport Harbor and JSerra have faced off in the past three Open and regional finals.

ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference announced its women’s soccer Players to Watch list on Monday, with three Washington upperclassmen featured on the preseason list in Kolo Suliafu, Samiah Shell and Laura Cetina.
 
Suliafu enters her senior season well established as not only the anchor of the stingy Husky back line but one of the most feared defensive talents in both the Big Ten and nationally.
 
The Southern California product earned All-Big Ten and United Soccer Coaches All-Region plaudits a season ago as the Dawgs posted arguably the greatest defensive season in program history, matching the school record with just 12 goals conceded in 21 matches. Suliafu enters the 2025 campaign with 48 starts under her belt.
 
Meanwhile, Shell serves as UW’s top returning scorer from last season’s squad, bagging five goals in her first season as a starting XI mainstay. Quite possibly the Huskies’ trickiest threat in the midfield, Shell also dished out three assists in 2024 for 13 total points.
 
Entering her junior season, Shell will look to build off of last season’s success and a standout showing during this summer’s USL W League campaign with Salmon Bay FC as Washington looks to replace the firepower departed by leading scorer Ioanna Papatheodorou.
 
Speaking of Papatheodorou, Washington once again added to its talent pool with a European transfer from UMass Lowell in Cetina. A native of A Coruña, Spain, Cetina starred for the Riverhawks for the past two seasons, making 35 starts with four goals.
 
The Huskies will look for Cetina to add a different dimension to its attack, providing the creativity and flare akin to her home nation’s La Liga. The 5^th year senior also brings with her a winning pedigree, guiding Eastern Florida State to its first-ever NJCAA national Championship in 2021.
 
In addition to the Player to Watch list, the Big Ten also released its 2025 Preseason Coaches Poll on Monday. Returning the bulk of the roster from last season’s Husky team that advanced to the Big Ten Tournament Semifinal and the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament, Washington was picked to finish 10^th in the league table by the conference’s head coaches.
 
With the preseason in the rearview, Washington turns its attention and focus to matchweek preparation, hosting Oregon State on Thursday and Idaho on Sunday at Husky Soccer Stadium.
 
For more information on Husky Women’s Soccer, follow @UW_WSoccer on Twitter and Instagram.