By Eric Eaton
Hoosier Crossroads Conference Coordinator
Recent Hoosier Crossroads Conference graduates Jenny Connolly of Harrison High School and Lindsay Rogers of Hamilton Southeastern High School each took to the pool this week at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska in hopes of representing the United States at next month’s Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
Both swimmers came away with top-20 performances in Omaha, but unfortunately neither will be making the trip to Beijing.
Connolly began her Olympic Trials competition on Sunday, June 29 by finishing 53rd in the 100-meter butterfly prelims with a time of 1:01.11. Since only 16 swimmers advanced to the semifinals, she then turned her attention to her next event the 100-meter backstroke the following day. Christine Magnuson won the 100-meter butterfly trials with a time of 58.11. (The top-2 finishers from the finals of each event earn a spot on the Olympic Team.)
Connolly though performed much better in the 100-meter backstroke, qualifying for the semifinals by finishing 12th in the prelims with a time of 1:02.30. Then in the semifinals, the University of Tennessee signee finished in 11th-place with a time of 1:01.69. The top-8 finishers qualified for the finals which were to be contested on the evening of July 1. Natalie Coughlin set a new world record in the event in the prelims with a time of 59.03.
Click here to read a story from the Lafayette Journal & Courier with quotes from Connolly about competing in the Olympic swim trials.
Rogers also competed on June 30 in the 100-meter breaststroke prelims and finished in 17th-place with a time of 1:09.95. The University of Florida signee missed out on qualifying for the semifinals of the event by two-tenths of a second. Rebecca Soni is the top-seed in finals of the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:06.87 which was also scheduled to take place on the evening of July 1.
Also of note, Michelle McKeehan a recent graduate from Center Grove High School and the owner of eight state championships, qualified for the semifinals of the 100-meter breaststroke with a prelim time of 1:09.67 which was good enough for a 14th-place tie. The University of Georgia signee then finished in a tie for 11th in the semifinals with a time of 1:08.97 and missed qualifying for the finals by just over a tenth of a second.
McKeehan then came back the next morning on July 1 to compete in the 200-meter individual medley, but didn’t make it out of prelims after swimming a time of 2:19.59 and finishing in 64th-place.
Click here to view all of the results from the 2008 United States Olympic Swim Trials courtesy of usaswimming.org
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