Junior and Senior Squad Trials Selections Announced

USA Artistic Swimming is pleased to announce new additions to both the junior and senior national team training squads after a trials process concluded last weekend in Geneva, Ohio. Head Coach Andrea Fuentes and Assistant Coach/High Performance Manager Lara Teixeira were onsite with some of the nation’s most experienced judges to evaluate talent in the final phase of trials that included land skills, interviews and routine swims. Full quantitative results from the weekend can be viewed at the page HERE.

Invitations to join the senior training squad were extended to Jacklyn Luu (Stanford University), Audrey Kwon (La Mirada Aquabelles), Atira O’Neil (Unafilliated), Calista Liu (La Mirada Aquabelles) and Claire Kim (Santa Clara Aquamaids). The entire squad will be made up of these new additions, the current full-time training athletes as well as remote training athletes. The selection field represents a wide range of age and experience, with many national team returners and a few young, newcomers. The top two athletes of trails included Luu and Kwon. Luu rejoins the national team program after a fantastic career with Stanford University while Kwon, just shy of 16 years old, dominated at her first Junior Nationals. The blend of experience illustrated by these two athletes has worked extremely well for the national team recently. 

Six junior-aged athletes were also offered invitations to join the squad that will prepare for 2022 Junior World Championships this summer. Those athletes include Audrey Kwon (La Mirada Aquabelles), Calista Liu (La Mirada Aquabelles), Claire Kim (Santa Clara Aquamaids), Elle Santana (Arizona Desert Dolphins), Giordanna Zuniga (Walnut Creek Aquanuts) and Campbell McMillan (Walnut Creek Aquanuts). This squad will also include several athletes that are currently in full-time training with the senior national team. All selections are subject to change as athletes accept or decline their positions.

This year’s trials were filled with many extremely talented athletes from several United States clubs. The selected athletes will be exciting additions to an incredible talent pool that will represent the United States at international competitions and championships in the coming years. With Pan American Games, World Championships and an Olympic Games all on the schedule in the next two years, the program will be increasingly competitive and the opportunity to add more talented athletes to full-time training to become a cohesive unit will improve synchronization and allow for added difficulty of USA's routines.