SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING : 217 to Compete in Irvine Event

When Emily Porter, 20, of Mesa, Ariz., arrived home Sunday after the U.S. Synchronized Swimming National Team’s sweep at the World Cup in Lausanne, Switzerland, she spent less time doing her laundry than she usually spends under water during a competition.

Porter, a national team member, immediately joined her club team, the Arizona Aqua Stars, for this week’s U.S. Open Sychronized Swimming Championships at Irvine’s Heritage Park Aquatics Complex, where 217 swimmers, ages 13-22, will compete. Swimmers from Holland, the Czech Republic and Russia, and a team from Mexico are in the Open.

Sychronized swimming in the United States is dominated by two California clubs, the Santa Clara Aquamaids and the Walnut Creek Aquanuts. Porter is the only member of the national A team from outside those two clubs.

Preliminaries all day this morning and Thursday are free. Tickets for semifinals Thursday afternoon and Friday morning are $3; finals through Saturday afternoon are $5.