June 29, 2012
OMAHA, Neb. — Three South Carolina swimmers competed in the preliminaries on Friday at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials at the CenturyLink Center.
Despite not advancing to tonight’s semifinals, all three Gamecocks had stellar swims. Rising juniors Rachael Schaffer and Matt Navata and former Carolina All-American Kyle Cormier all finished much higher than they were seeded heading into their events.
“We had another very, very solid morning with Rachael and Matt putting in really good performances,” South Carolina head coach McGee Moody said. “They raced hard and their times reflected that. They were right on their lifetime bests. As for Kyle, if this was the end of his career, then it was a very fitting end going out with his lifetime best. We are starting to wind everything down now, but people are still racing hard and have the same intensity they had on the first day.”
Schaffer opened the day for the Gamecocks with a solid swim in the 200 breaststroke as she finished second in her heat and 48th overall with a time of 2:35.03. She entered the event seeded 81st.
Navata and Cormier both competed in the men’s 200 IM and were seeded 118th and 80th, respectively. Navata narrowly missed a personal record by .02 of a second, finishing second in his heat and 78th overall with a time of 2:06.42. Cormier had his best performance in his last event of the week as he swam a personal best by more than a second with a time of 2:04.76 to touch third in his heat and finish 36th overall.
The Gamecocks have three swimmers slated to compete in Saturday’s preliminaries, as junior Michael Flach, rising junior Jay Warner and former Carolina All-American Nick Walkotten will swim in the 100 butterfly. Preliminaries will get underway at 10 a.m. CT. Live results for each event and live video of all but the fastest preliminary heats will be available by clicking here. NBC and the NBC Sports Network will also provide live and same-day video of the heats and finals.
Friday, June 29
2012 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials
Omaha, Neb. – CenturyLink Center
Day 5 Preliminary Results
Men’s 200 IM
36. Kyle Cormier 2:04.76
78. Matt Navata 2:06.42
Women’s 200 Breaststroke
48. Rachael Schaffer 2:35.03
