San Jose Duo Goes After Title in Today’s Finals at Cerritos

Becky Martin has been very busy this summer.

The 17-year-old from San Jose missed the Goodwill Games synchronized swimming team by one place, which made her the top qualifier for the U.S. Swiss Open squad. At the Swiss Open in early July, she placed second in both the solo and team competitions, then traveled to Hilo, Hawaii, for the U.S. Open, where she won the solo competition.

After the U.S. Open, which concluded July 18, Martin returned home to begin practicing with a new duet partner, Andrea Nott, 16, also of San Jose. They had only a week and a half before the American Cup VIII, an international, 13-country junior competition at the Cerritos Olympic Swim Center.

During Saturday’s qualifying, Martin and Nott placed second behind Japan’s Satoe Hokoda and Kanako Kitao. Martin also advanced in the solo competition, placing third behind Canada’s Anouk Reniere LaFreniere and Japan’s Naoko Kawashima.

“This meet is great preparation for the Junior World [Championships] that has all the countries in it and will be in Colombia next year,” Martin said. “I’m very excited about [today’s] finals.”

Today’s events begin at 10 a.m. with the American Cup junior duet finals. At 2 p.m. will be the American Cup junior solo and junior team finals. Also in the afternoon will be the team finals of the Amateur Swimming of the Union of Americas (ASUA) competition, which involves seven countries from North, Central and South America.

In both the solo and duet competitions, Canada and Japan have provided the stiffest competition for the U.S. Canada’s swimmers have shown amazing flexibility, and Japan’s swimmers have shown excellent synchronization.

At the last American Cup, at St. Peters, Mo., in 1996, the U.S. won the solo and team titles, and the duet title went to Korea.