Current, former Hoosiers qualify for Olympic Trials

Current and former IU swimmers continued to compete at the ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships at the Stanford University Avery Aquatic Center in Palo Alto, Calif., with many posting times fast enough to qualify for the Olympic Trials.

On Aug. 4, former IU All-American and 2008 NCAA champion Ben Hesan led the way, placing seventh in the 100-meter backstroke and qualifying for the Olympic Trials in the event along with sophomore James Wells.

Hesan also qualified in the men’s 100-meter butterfly in 18th place.

Senior Brittany Strumbel qualified for the trials after placing 26th in the women’s 200-meter freestyle with a personal best time of 2:01.33.

Both IU representatives in the men’s 200-meter butterfly qualified with former Hoosier Todd Patrick, placing 20th, and senior Tyler Shedron taking 57th.

The women’s 400-meter freestyle relay team of Strumbel, sophomore Stephanie Armstrong, senior Allysa Vavra and senior Courey Schaefer finished 12th.

Vavra was far from done for the meet, however. She set a school record Friday in the women’s 400-meter individual medley, placing fourth in 4:43.98 and qualifying for the Olympic Trials.

She followed that up Sunday with a qualifying 29th place finish in the women’s 200-meter butterfly.

Senior Kim Tracey qualified as well in the women’s 400-meter individual medley, placing 63rd.

Vavra’s relay teammates were not done either, as Strumbel, Armstrong and Schaefer teamed with sophomore Lindsay Vrooman to take ninth in the 800-meter freestyle relay.

In the men’s edition of the race, IU finished fifth with the team of Shedron, senior Andrew Taylor, junior Eric Ress and Jim Barbiere.

Junior Ashley Sprecht took 21st and qualified in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke Friday while junior Daniel Kanoor also qualified with a 36th place finish in the 50-meter
freestyle.

Saturday’s highlights included a pair of seventh place qualifying finishes by former Hoosiers, one by Patrick in the men’s 200-meter individual medley and the other by Ashley Jones in the women’s 200-meter backstroke.

Junior Sam Trahin took 31st in the men’s 200-meter individual medley to qualify for the Olympic Trials as well, as did Ress in the men’s 10-meter freestyle with a 55th place finish.