TYR Athletes and Coach Contend for Golden Goggles

Vote HERE. With the USA Swimming Foundation’s Golden Goggle Awards scheduled to take place on Sunday, November 22nd in Beverly Hills, Calif., TYR-sponsored athletes and coaches will be up for awards in five out of eight categories. Recent TYR member Ariana Kukors is nominated the most of any other female with her name gracing three of the categories, including 2009 Female Athlete of the Year. The annual gala will celebrate the achievements of the top U.S. swimmers in the 2009 season-featuring the 2009 U.S. World Championships swim team-as well as serve as a fundraiser for the foundation to work to make communities better through the sport of swimming. TYR athletes up for nominations from the team that raced in red, white, and blue while in Rome, Italy are Kukors, Matt Grevers, Amanda Weir, and open-water swimmer Fran Crippen. Head women’s coach at the championships Sean Hutchison is also up for an award. Kukors is nominated for 2009 Female Athlete of the Year as well as Female Race of the Year after her world record-breaking performance in the 200m Individual Medley, where she lowered the previous mark twice to capture her first world championship gold in 2:06.15. She also helped Team USA to a silver medal in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay-demonstrating her role as one of the strongest female athletes currently in the sport. The Perseverance Award, presented to the athlete who came back from adversity, retirement, illness, injury, etc. to have an outstanding performance at the 2009 World Championships feature three TYR athletes- Fran Crippen, Amanda Weir, and Kukors. Crippen earned the nomination after taking six months off from August of 2008 through February of 2009 and contemplated retirement to come back and capture a bronze medal in the men’s open water 10K. Weir and Kukors both narrowly missed the 2008 Olympic team and used the setback to propel them into the 2009 season-not only making the world championships team, but excelling. Weir reclaimed her American Record in the 100m freestyle (52.20), and played an instrumental role in all of the sprint events at the championships. In the Relay Performance of the Year category, Grevers will join teammates of the 4x100m freestyle relay in hopes of accepting the Golden Goggle. Swimming the third leg of the relay in Rome, Grevers caught and passed the USA-rival French relay to help secure a gold medal victory. The relay team shattered a new championship record in the process. This is his second nomination for a Golden Goggle, after being up for the 2008 Breakout Performance of the Year award. Aside from his long-time swimmer, Kukors, being nominated for three awards, coach Sean Hutchison also received a nomination for 2009 Coach of the Year. The nomination comes after he successfully lead the women’s championship team to capture two gold, three silver, and four bronze medals while lowering three world records. The women’s medal count contributed to Team USA’s overall dominance at the championships and its presentation of the FINA trophy as the top national team of the championships. Show your support for TYR athletes and coaches by voting online HERE. Voting is open now and will continue through Wednesday, November 18th.