USA Swimming recognizes legends in the sport of open water swimming, Olympian Mark Warkentin and Olympic Head Coach Bill Rose.

Mark Warkentin received the 2008 Male Open Water Swimmer of the Year. Mark is the first American in history to qualify for Olympic Team in open water swimming. Mark placed among the Top 10 at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. He also earned the 2008 World Championship Silver Medal in the 25K.

Coach Bill Rose was honored with the 2008 Glenn S. Hummer Award, recognizing one who has made greatest contribution to long distance swimming. Coach Rose represented the United States as the Inaugural Open Water Swimming Head Coach at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. This is the first time the sport of open water swimming debuted in the Olympic Games.

The Chicago Cubs extended a warm welcome to the Chicago local Matt Grevers. Matt was the honored VIP guest at the Cubs versus Milwaukee game. Our Olympic Gold medalist threw out the legendary First Pitch to kick off the game.

Fans crowded Matt for baseball autographs and inspiring encouragements. Local media interviewed the Northwestern grad.

At the Beijing Olympic Games, Matt helped set a World Record while capturing two Olympic Gold medals and a Silver medal.

Watch the pitch here.

For two weeks in row for Becky Lavelle defends her title of Queen of Triathlons. This weekend, she repeated victory at the Los Angeles Triathlon after winning the Chicago Triathlon just one week prior.

At the Los Angeles Triathlon, Becky leaped in the Venice Beach waters to swim 1.5k in a time of 20:39 minutes. Speeding on her bike, she split from the pack during the 40k bike race as she clocked this leg in 1:01:05. Finally, setting her winning pace of 36:17 minutes on the 10k run, she crossed the finish line victoriously. Becky was the only female to break the 2 hour barrier at this year’s Los Angeles Triathlon as she finished in 1 hour 59 minutes and 46 seconds.

“It feels really great to finish the race really strong, without any weaknesses, and taking off some of the pressure about the series points championship going into the last race in Dallas,” Becky reflects.

Becky will complete the Life Time Fitness Series in hopes to secure the Overall Series Championship at the Dallas Triathlon on October 5. She currently tops the female leaderboard with her successful competition season.

In Almere, Netherlands Chrissie Wellington captured another prestigious world title at the ITU Long Distance World Championship. The race consisted of a 4k swim, 120k bike ride and 30k run. Chrissie dominated the event finishing 3 miles and 17 minutes ahead of all female competitors. Her final time was 6 hours 12 minutes and 44 seconds. Chrissie’s professional career marks an incredible feat of undefeated performances while setting course records time and time again.