Gators Wrap Up Day Seven at U.S. Olympic Trials
Sunday, July 6, 2008 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Day seven of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials concluded Saturday at the Qwest Center in Omaha with an American Record and 50-meter free finals qualification for former Gator Dara Torres, while 2008 Gator grad Caroline Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) and soon-to-be senior Laurabeth Guenthner (Wellington, Fla.) both competed in finals of the 800-meter freestyle.
The morning after qualifying for her fifth Olympics in the 100-meter freestyle, Torres competed in prelims of the 50 free, finishing as the third seed (24.72) going into semifinals. Torres kicked it into high gear in semis, returning a first-place, American Record finish with a time of 24.38 to qualify as the top contender for the final heat to be swum Sunday.
With her American Record semifinals swim, Torres was able to reclaim both her American and Meet Records in the 50 free after Lara Jackson, the first place prelims finisher, broke both in the morning session with a time of 24.40. Torres will return Sunday in finals of the 50-meter free in attempts to qualify for the 2008 games in her second event of the Trials.
In the final heat of the 800-meter freestyle, Burckle touched in at a career-best time of 8:32.26 for fifth place, shaving almost four seconds off of her 8:35.86 preliminary swim. Guenthner swam her way to a seventh-place finish in the final showdown with an 8:41.25 swim after clocking a career-best time (8:36.79) in prelims.
Stephanie Napier (Chattanooga, Tenn.), who additionally swam the 50-meter freestyle in the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials, clocked in at a career-best 25.62 in preliminaries of the event Saturday, placing 16th to advance to the semifinal round alongside Torres. Napier touched in at an even faster 25.52 in semis, finishing 13th overall, just missing advancement to the top-eight Sunday final.
In other Saturday preliminary swims, UF was well represented in distance freestyle action as six Gators swam the 1500-meter freestyle in hopes to make it to the eight-man showdown Sunday evening, however, Ryan Crete (Sarasota, Fla.) was the top finisher for Florida, finishing 18th with a career-best time of 15:35.31.
Tobias Work (Falmouth, Mass.) hit the wall in 15:35.45 to finish 19th just behind Crete, while Clark Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) was the next finisher for the Gators, swimming to a career-best time of 15:38.15 (23rd place). Cody Kauffman (Harrisburg, Pa.), Joey Pedraza (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) and Eric Shrestha (Tallahassee, Fla.) rounded out the competition finishing 33rd (15:43.35), 48th (15:51.71), and 70th (16:07.84), respectively in prelims of the 1500-meter free.
As the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials close Sunday, tune in to NBC from 8-9 p.m. to see Torres in action in the 50 free as she seeks to qualify for the 2008 games in the event.
Please visit www.gatorzone.com following Sunday finals for a recap of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials.
Sunday, July 6 Finals, 7:45 p.m. (ET), NBC
*No preliminaries Sunday*
50 Free – women – FINAL
1500 Free – men – FINAL
-UF-
