The 2001 USA Swimming Central Zone Championship will be held this Friday-Sunday, August 10-12, on the campus of Oakland University at the Aquatics Center. The meet will continue on Monday, August 13 with the Open Water competition at the Oakland County Independence Oaks Crooked Lake in Springfield, Michigan. The Central Zone Championship is being hosted by Oakland University, the Oakland County Parks and Recreation and the Oakland Live ???Y???ers swim team. The participating Central Zone Local Swimming Committees are Lake Erie, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The indoor competition begins every morning at 8:40 a.m. with the prelims for 13-14 and 15-18 year olds. Finals for these age groups will be held at 5 p.m. The timed finals for the 10 and under and 11-12 year olds will be at 12:30 p.m. each day. The Open Water competition on Monday, August 13 will begin at 10 a.m. The 15-18 year olds will swim two miles, the 13-14 year olds one and a half miles, the 11-12 year olds one mile and the 10 and under age group will swim one half mile. The morning and afternoon session each day is $4 and the evening session each day is $4. An all-sessions pass is available for $20. OU Director of the Aquatics Terri Eudy will serve as the meet director August 10-12 and Mike Rossi, the Aquatics Coordinator for Campus Recreation at OU, will serve as the meet director at the Open Water competition August 13. ???The Central Zone Championship is the hightest level age group championship prior to athletes being eligible to compete at sectional and senior nationals,??? Eudy said. ???It is one of the last fundamental meets an athlete can participate in before embarking on their highest level of competition in their careers. It is exciting for Oakland University to host an event like this. For our pool to showcase such a meet is an incredible opportunity. ???To have the open water championship in the state of Michigan is also significant due to USA Swimming???s commitment to open water swimming in the United States this year. The state of Michigan has so much to offer in terms of of open swimming venues and for USA Swimming to recognize that is a great thing for the state and Oakland county in particular.???