INDIANAPOLIS – Wednesday evening at Lucas Oil Field saw two more members of the California swimming & diving team punch their ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Rising senior Jack Alexy and Hunter Armstrong finished second and fourth respectively in the finals of the 100-meter freestyle at the United States Olympic Trials.
Alexy, a rising senior from Mendham, NJ, finished second with a time of 47.47. The US Open Record holder finished nine-hundredths of a second behind winner Chris Guiliano who out-touched Alexy with a time of 47.38. Hunter Armstrong, a former member of Cal's postgrad training group, finished fourth with a time of 47.78, securing a bid to his second Olympic Games. Destin Lasco finished in seventh with 48.14.
Two Bears will swim in the final of the 200 backstroke tomorrow night. Rising sophomore Keaton Jones had a tremendous swim to open the semis. He won the first heat with a personal-best time of 1:55.49.
In the second heat, Ryan Murphy was clinical en route to a first-place finish in heat two. He coasted through the first 150 meters and was in fourth heading into the final turn. He jumped from fourth to first out of the wall and cruised to a first-place finish with a time of 1:55.69. Cal will have the top two seeds in the final on Thursday evening.
In the finals of the 200 butterfly, Trenton Julian attacked the field, going out fast. After the first 100 meters, he led by almost a full second, unfortunately over the final 50 he could not hold on, finishing in seventh with a time of 1:57.07. Dare Rose finished in fourth with a time of 1:55.70. Colby Mefford captured fifth with a time of 1:56.43.
On the women’s side, alumna Abbey Weitzeil placed fifth in the final of the 100 freestyle with a time of 53.70, putting her in strong position to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team as a relay swimmer. Weitzeil already owns four Olympic medals on relays. She also has another chance to make the Olympic team as an individual when she competes in the 50 free as the No. 2 seed later in the week.
Alumna Rachel Klinker placed 11 th in the preliminaries of the 200 butterfly (2:10.16) to advance to Wednesday evening’s semifinals, where she placed 13 th with a mark of 2:10.30. Klinker was fourth in the 200 butterfly at the World Championships in February.
Rising senior Abby Herscu opened some eyes by advancing to the semifinals of the 200 breaststroke after placing 16 th in prelims with a time of 2:30.52. Herscu ended up 15 th in the semis (2:30.35).
Rising fifth-year senior Isabelle Stadden returns to the pool Thursday to compete in the 200 backstroke, where she is the No. 6 seed. The prelims and semifinals take place Thursday with the final set for Friday.
Alexey and Armstrong will also return to the pool on Thursday when they compete in the prelims of the 50 free, along with Brooks Curry and Matthew Jensen. Gabriel Jett, Sean Grieshop, Tyler Kopp and Julian will swim in the prelims of the 200 IM.
