Stanford University hosted the first Grand Prix Invitational swim meet earlier this month, bringing toghether swimmers from the Olympic, collegiate, and club team levels, including some Paly swimmer.

Swimming in Avery Aquatics Center’s Belardi pool, Olympians such as Michael Phelps (USA), Rolandas Gimbutis (Lithuania), Duje Draganja (Croatia), Salim Iles (Algeria), Klete Keller (USA), Dana Kirk (USA), and Natalie Coughlin (USA) participated, representing US college club teams.

Local club teams such as Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics (PASA) were also represented, in part by the top high school athletes in the area. Paly swimmers seniors Monika Friedman and Alec Goldfield, juniors Edward Morrison, Leland Takamine, and Becky Wenzlau, sophomore Peter Lo and freshman Liv Jensen participated as PASA athletes.

The invitational was open to club athletes, from teams across the country who made meet qualifying times. "It was pretty cool," Morrison said of swimming with top athletes. "We learned how to race better and pace ourselves … I did really well, maybe because of the people I had to race." Morrison made bonus finals in the 200-meter and 100-meter butterfly races, placing 22nd, with a time of 2:17.26, and 18th, with a time of 1:00.82, respectively.

For some athletes, the experience was somewhat familiar. "It wasn’t the first time I’d swum with fast people," Friedman said. "It was a cool chance [though], and there wasn’t a lot of depth, so we got to swim with the top people." Friedman also made finals in the 200-meter butterfly, a heat in which Olympians Kirk and Ariana Kukors also raced, and placed seventh with a time of 2:23.44. Friedman was somewhat unimpressed by her swim. "It wasn’t very good," she said. "I was seeded third [before preliminaries]."

Paly freshman Liv Jensen, swimming for PASA, also had impressive swims, especially in the 50-meter free; Jensen made bonus finals and swam 27.65, earning her a 17th place finish overall.

The Olympians at the meet also faired well. Michael Phelps, who picked up eight medals (six gold, two bronze) at the 2004 games in Athens, won the 100-meter freestyle (49.82), the 200-meter butterfly (1:57.31), the 400-meter freestyle (3:51.94), the 200-meter backstroke (1:59.94), the 100-meter backstroke (54.92), and the 400-meter individual medly (4:17.06) over the course of the weekend, swimming for University of Michigan’s club team, Club Wolverine. Phelps was accompanied in the meet by club teammates Keller, Davis Tarwater, Chris DeJong, and Peter Vanderkaay.