Beisel Wins Three Events at Arena Grand Prix Opener

Olympic Gold medalist Elizabeth Beisel finished up at the Arena Grand Prix at Minneapolis by touching the wall first in three out of her four races.

The three-day, short-course yards meet, which concluded on Nov. 22, was the first of six Arena Grand Prix Series meets that will be held through next year.

Beisel, a Saunderstown native, won the women’s 1650y free with a time of 15:59.36 on Saturday and took second in the 200y back.

On Friday, Beisel earned her second win of the meet, leading wire-to-wire en route to the victory in the 500y free in 4:37.00. Brooke Zeiger (Cumberland, R.I.) touched second in 4:39.50, and Lindsay Vrooman (Baden, Pa.) was third in 4:40.13.

Her first win was on Thursday, where she took the 400-yard individual medley.

“I’m definitely pleased with where I am right now. I didn’t really know what to expect coming in,” Beisel said. “Short Course Worlds are in about two weeks, so this is definitely a good indicator for where I’ll be.”

As part of USA Swimming’s partnership with swimwear leader Arena, the Arena Grand Prix Series features $300,000 in overall prize money. Swimmers may earn awards for top-three finishes in all individual Olympic events across the series. At each meet, $1,000 will be provided for a first-place finish, $600 for second and $200 for third. In addition to the single-event prize money, the overall male and female winners of the season-long Series will earn a $10,000 bonus.

For the second consecutive season, USA Swimming partner BMW will award the grand prize of a one-year lease of a BMW vehicle to the highest-scoring eligible male and female U.S. swimmers.

Male and female overall Arena Grand Prix Series champions will be honored at the conclusion of the 2014-15 series based on the number of points accumulated throughout the six meets. Participants will be awarded points in each individual Olympic event throughout the duration of the Series (Five points for first, three for second, one point for third place).