Burckle Qualifies for 200 Freestyle Final on Day Three of U.S. Olympic Trials
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Day three of the eight-day U.S. Olympic Trials continued at the Qwest Center in Omaha Tuesday as Caroline Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) led the Florida women, qualifying for her second finals showdown of her trials campaign thus far. Heated third after setting a career best 1:59.09 morning swim in the prelims of the 200-meter freestyle, Burckle returned with an even quicker 1:58.50 semifinals swim to position herself fourth going into the Wednesday final of the event.
Burckle will look to keep the Florida tradition in the 200-meter free alive as the 16-year-old meet record, set by standout Gator gold medalist Nicole Haislett (1:58.65) at the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials, fell in prelims and was reset in semifinals by first-place finisher Katie Hoff (1:57.10).
UF swimmers Sarah Peterson (Franklin, Tenn.), Kim Larson (Longwood, Fla.) and Elizabeth Kemp (Potomac, Md.) placed 57th (2:02.56), 66th (2:03.12) and 71st (2:03.44), respectively, in preliminaries of the 200 free, all peaking to shatter personal best times.
Ryan Lochte entered finals of the 100-meter backstroke seated fourth (53.37) following semifinals, needing a first or second-place finish in finals to advance to Beijing in the event. After duplicating the 53.37 time in the Tuesday final event, Lochte improved to third place, but was out-touched by second-place finisher Matt Grevers by two-tenths of a second.
In 200-meter fly prelim action, Clark Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) swam a career-best individual race (2:00.20), barely missing the top-16, but qualifying as the second alternate for the Tuesday evening semifinal. 2008 UF grad Tim Hughes (Winter Park, Fla.) finished 21st, a half second after Burckle in 200 fly prelims, touching at 2:00.71 and setting a new career-best time, while teammate Dustin McLarty (DeLand, Fla.) recorded a personal best time of 2:02.26, good for 44th.
UF alumna Ashley Carusone (High Springs, Fla.), a 2007 graduate, represented the Gators in the 200-meter individual medley, placing 98th out of the 106-woman field with a time of 2:22.59.
As the Olympic Trials continue, please visit www.gatorzone.com for results following each evening of finals competition.
Day Four Schedule of U.S. Olympic Trials:
Wednesday, July 2 Prelims, 12 p.m. (ET), NBCOlympics.com
100 Free – men
200 Fly – women
200 Breast – men
Wednesday, July 2 Finals, 7:45 p.m. (ET), USA
100 Free – men - semifinal
200 Free – women - FINAL
200 Fly – men - FINAL
200 Fly – women - semifinal
200 Breast – men - semifinal
200 IM – women – FINAL
-UF-
