Artistic Swimming Junior Pan American Games Roster Finalized
October 28, 2021
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The final roster for the 2021 Junior Pan American Games was selected this past weekend following a national team training camp in Las Vegas, Nevada. Elisa Brunel (Austin, Texas), Claudia Coletti (Los Angeles, Calif.), Ivy Davis (Scottsdale, Ariz.), Emily Ding (Cupertino, Calif.), Megumi Field (Wilmington, Del.), Kenny Gaudet (Lakeland, Fla.), Keana Hunter (Seattle, Wash.), Anya Melson (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Atira O’Neil (Pleasant Hill, Calif.) will represent USA Artistic Swimming in Cali this December. Field and Melson will also compete in the duet category while Davis and Gaudet will represent the USA in mixed duet.
Team Roster
The selection process comes ahead of a final month of preparation before the first-ever Junior Pan American Games begin in Colombia. The Junior Pan American Games will serve as an international multi-sport event for athletes aged 17-22 in the Americas organized by Panam Sports. Champions will receive direct qualification to Santiago 2023. The event will kick off on November 25th with artistic swimming competition taking place December 2-4.
The team has been working hard to prepare team, duet and mixed duet routines to showcase American artistic swimming talent and continue the momentum built by the senior team last year. The squad made the move to Los Angeles this summer to break in the national training program’s new home on UCLA’s campus. This has been their home training site since the International Open that was hosted domestically in August. The athletes have been training under the direction of head coach Anna Voloshyna and assistant coach Lara Teixeirawith assistance from assistant coach Megan Abarca who helped prepare many of the athletes earlier in the summer.
In Colombia, 13-15 head coach Ludi Perrin-Stsepaniuk and former national team member and collegiate champion Monica Velazquez-Stiak will lead the team. Ludi was able to work intimately with the athletes at the training camp in Las Vegas and the pair will be able to help refine the routines for a few weeks in Los Angeles before departure south.
For more information about the 2021 Junior Pan American Games, you can visit the official website HERE. If you would like to donate to the USA Artistic Swimming Foundation to help continue to make opportunities like these possible for our athletes, visit the website HERE. To follow the squad’s journey to Colombia follow us on Instagram and Facebook.