The Dolphins travelling road show rolls into California tomorrow for a meet against more top international competition at the Swim Meet of Champions in Mission Viejo.

After Leisel Jones, Libby Lenton and Tay Zimmer led a successful Dolphins assault on the Mare Nostrum Series that concluded in Barcelona last weekend another group of Australian swimmers are preparing in the USA.

The 45-member Australian contingent made up of a National team and swimmers from the Queensland Academy of Sport will first contest the four-day meet in Mission Viejo before moving onto the Santa Clara International Meet next week.

The first meet will be headlined by Olympic 1500 metre silver medallist Larsen Jensen, Commonwealth Games 100m freestyle winner Simon Burnett and Japanese star Sachiko Yamada, while the Santa Clara meet is expected to feature superstars Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff.

Eleven members of the Australian group are using the tour to prepare for the Pan Pacific Championships to be held in Victoria, BC in August, whilst a further 16 team members are readying themselves for the Oceania Championships in Cairns from July 7-12.

Australia’s National Head Coach Alan Thompson, who was in Europe and has now travelled to the US, said this Dolphins team is made up mostly of different swimmers than the Mare Nostrum tour because different swimmers have taken on different programs for the remainder of 2006.

“The majority of the group we had in Europe are going home now to rest for a week or so and then start back a preparation for the World Championship Trials in December,” Thompson said.

“The majority of the guys on this West Coast tour have started their preparation for the Pan Pacs or are competing at the Oceania Championships and will then move onto the World Championship Trials.”

Thompson noted that the Australian men’s sprinting stocks for the tour would be strong but the opposition would again be tough.

“Eamon Sullivan and Patrick Murphy have come from Mare Nostrum, where they performed very well, to the USA and we have Ashley Callus here too, so we have a pretty formidable sprint group,” Thompson said.

“There are going to be some really good swimmers racing here over the next few weeks and our guys will be able to take a lot away before final Pan Pac preparations.”

Dolphins Australian Team: Katie Bird (VIC), Talia Goddard (VIC), Samantha Hamill (VIC), Karina Leane (VIC), Stephanie Williams (NSW), Lauren Winter (WA), Daniel Arnamnart (NSW), Nicholas Cordner (VIC), Ashley Delaney (VIC), Tim Dodd (NSW), Nic Donald (NSW), Ephraim Hannant (QLD), Josh Minogue (NSW), Stephen Parkes (NSW), Hayden Stoeckel (NSW), Kenrick Monk (NSW), Sarah Paton (NSW), Nick Ffrost (QLD), Hayden Jackson (NSW), Grant Brits (NSW), Kieran O'Regan (QLD), Josh Krogh (QLD), Brenton Rickard (VIC), Danni Miatke (VIC), Sarah Katsoulis (VIC), Jason Cohen (VIC), Steve Neuwert (WA), Patrick Murphy (VIC), Eamon Sullivan (WA), Shayne Reese (VIC) \

Swimming Australia