The 2009-2010 USA Swimming Grand Prix Series will kick off in Minneapolis on Nov. 13 and will feature a total of eight stops throughout the U.S., an increase of two swim meets from last year’s Series. The top swimmers in the country will be back in the pool competing for a $20,000 purse that will be awarded to the swimmer with the most points at the conclusion of the Series.

The 2009-2010 USA Swimming Grand Prix Series will feature stops in Minneapolis, Minn; Long Beach, Calif.; Columbia, Mo.; Austin, Texas; Charlotte, N.C and Santa Clara, Calif. Two new meets have been added to this year’s schedule and will take place in Columbus, Ohio and Los Angeles. The $20,000 prize will be awarded at the final stop of the series in Los Angeles on July 11, 2010.

This is the third year in a row that prize money has been awarded to the overall point leader of the Grand Prix Series. In its inaugural year, Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps took home the prize, while last year’s purse went to National Team swimmer Mary DeScenza.

The scoring system awards swimmers points based on gold, silver and bronze-medal performances at each of the eight meets. A gold medal earns a swimmer five points, a silver medal is worth three points and a bronze medal is one point. The standings integrate male and female participants, recognizing the swimmer with the highest cumulative point total. In the event of a tie, the winner will be the swimmer who earned the highest single-race FINA power point ranking. Leaders will be tracked online at usaswimming.org and in Splash magazine, the official magazine of USA Swimming.

Online coverage of all 2009-2010 USA Swimming Grand Prix events will be provided by swimnetwork.com, including live webcasts from select events.  Check swimnetwork.com for details.

The USA Swimming Grand Prix Series allows fans across the country the opportunity to see their favorite swimmers in action. The full schedule for the upcoming USA Swimming Grand Prix Series is below.