Arizona Sibling Swimmers Medal Winners

Pan Pacific Wrap-Up: Team USA Captures 48 Total Medals, Sets Five World Records

VICTORIA, B.C. – Team USA captured 48 medals – 26 of them gold – and smashed five world records at the 2006 Mutual of Omaha Pan Pacific Championships, held Aug. 17-21 at the Saanich Commonwealth Pool in Victoria, British Columbia.

And, congratulations are in order for Arizona siblings Kalyn and Klete Keller of Phoenix — in the open-water 10K race.

The United States finished with 511 total points to win the meet ahead of second-place Japan, which finished with 285 total points. Individual performances from this meet will factor into deciding a number of international teams in 2007, most notably the team headed to the FINA World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.

All told, six world, seven American and 23 meet records fell throughout the five-day meet. Americans accounted for five of the six world records and 20 of the 23 meet records.

Two of the three sibling duos won medals in Victoria. For the third time, Aaron and Hayley Peirsol (Irvine, Calif.) medaled on the same day of competition when Aaron won gold in the 100m back, and Hayley won silver in the 1500m free on Aug. 17. Aaron finished with three golds for the meet, while Hayley won a silver and a bronze.

Klete and Kalyn Keller (Phoenix, Ariz.) also both medaled at Pan Pacs. Klete won two golds and a bronze, and Kalyn finished with silver in the open water 10K race.

Americans won four of the six medals awarded in the inaugural Pan Pac open water races, finishing 1-2 in both the men’s and women’s 10K. Chip Peterson (Chapel Hill, N.C. / NCAC) won gold in the men’s event and Fran Crippen (Philadelphia, Pa. / Mission Viejo) captured the silver medal. On the women’s side, 14-year-old Chloe Sutton (Ashburn, Va. / The Fish) became the inaugural women’s gold-medalist, while Kalyn Keller (Phoenix, Ariz. / Trojan) won silver.

The race marked the first time that open water swimming was a scored event at the Pan Pacific Championships. In addition, it was the first international competition for U.S. open water swimmers since the event was added to the Olympic program.

The Americans finished with 48 total medals – 26 gold, 18 silver and four bronze. The next-closest nation was Japan, who had 24 medals, three of them gold. Australia was third with 17, and host Canada was fourth with eight.

For more information on the 2006 Mutual of Omaha Pan Pacific Championships, visit the special Pan Pacs media page at http://www.usaswimming.org/media.