Alright, perhaps it should be called "Shootout at the OKC Olympic Festival Pool, but that was too long and I think that the former sounds better. But it was a shootout and it was held in a city that earlier in the week was devastated by an ice storm that left hundreds of thousands without power and even this weekend continued to pound with freezing rain, snow, and blustery cold conditions.

But under the lights of the Oklahoma City Community College Olympic Festival Pool, the competition was hot. This weekend was the 16th Annual Elite Pro-Am Swim Meet presented by Chesapeake Energy Corporation and hosted by the Chesapeake Swim Club. This is the one national swim meet that brings out the pros to compete with the amateurs and, this being the year before the Summer Olympics, it brought out the stars in droves. Twenty-eight members of the USA National Swim Team and other up and coming stars of the sport were in attendance; both Olympians and hopefuls for the 2008 games in Beijing.

One added feature to this years Elite Meet was the presence of Floswimming.org who was on hand to film every event this weekend. They also provided interviews with the athletes and Chesapeake Head Coach John Brown; the founder of the Elite Meet. Having to miss a number of swim meets that my son attended, this is a great addition as it provides an avenue so that parents, family, and friends can still watch the events.

Those who where in attendance included two time gold medalist Megan Jendrick; who competed in 2000 under her maiden name of Megan Quann. Two time Olympian (2000, 2004) Aaron Peirsol who has won 3 gold medals and one silver. Two time Olympian (2000, 2004) Ian Crocker, Olympian (2004) Rachel Komisarz, and two time Olympian Neil Walker.

There were also many rising stars in the international world such as Robert Margalis Jr., Tanica Jamison, Elizabeth Wycliffe, and Oklahoma's own member of the national team, Samantha Woodward.

While there were great swims all weekend, one of the highlight's came on Saturday with the shootout. With most event finals the top eight swimmers from preliminaries come back to fight it out for the top spot. However, with the shootout, the top eight swim in four pairs of two in bracket formation. The winners of each bracket come back to take on the other winners until two are left; third place is also decided in a swim off from the losers of the semi-finals. Each of these swims takes place throughout the rest of the evenings events.