May 30, 2008
Fort Myers, Fla. - Missouri junior Colleen Gordon (Missouri City, Texas) finished second at the USA Swimming 5K Open Water National Championships hosted off the coast of Fort Myers, Fla., Friday afternoon. Finishing in a time of 1:03:46.1, the race was Gordon's first open water competition of her career.
"It was a great experience watching Colleen swim today," Missouri swimming and diving Head Coach Brian Hoffer said. "This was a new experience for her and it was fun to watch Colleen compete in a different environment than she's used to. She really showed people today just how tough of an athlete she is."
Thirteen-year-old Eva Fabian of Greenwood Memorial Swim Club finished first in the 5K competition with a time of 1:02:06.2, while Whitney Sprague took third in 1:04:19.8.
Each lap of the open water tournament was 2.5K and Gordon broke ahead of her pack late in the race to finish second.
Hoffer and 10 members of the Missouri swim team, including Gordon, will travel to Omaha, Neb., Wednesday, June 4 in an attempt to qualify for the Olympic Swimming Trials. The Qwest Center will serve as host to four-day event beginning Thursday, June 5. Preliminaries will begin at 9:30 a.m. (CT) each day, with finals set to begin at 6 p.m. The Olympic Trials will run eight days, beginning Sunday, June 29 also at the Qwest Center.
