July 1, 2012
OMAHA, Neb. — South Carolina wrapped up a stellar week at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials on Sunday with two swimmers competing on the final day of preliminaries at the CenturyLink Center.
Rising senior Brooks Ross swam in the 1,500 freestyle and finished 77th overall with a time of 16:09.41, while former Gamecock standout Bridget Halligan raced in the 50 freestyle, finishing tied for 72nd overall with a time of 26.33.
“Brooks and Bridgett were both in the same situation Jay Warner was in yesterday,” South Carolina head coach McGee Moody said. “They were in Omaha for over a week, and today was their first and only race of the whole meet. That’s always a difficult situation to put an athlete in when there is so much time between the excitement of arriving in Omaha and actually racing. I thought Brooks raced really hard and fought through it. He gave a great effort, and it was a pretty good morning swim for Bridget.”
Ross and Halligan were the final Carolina swimmers scheduled to swim at the Trials. With 10 current and three former swimmers competing throughout the week, the Gamecocks had a strong showing overall with most of their swimmers finishing much higher than they were seeded in their events, and several set personal records.
The highlight of the week for the Gamecocks was junior Michael Flach’s remarkable run to the finals of the 200 butterfly. Flach finished eighth overall as he was the first Carolina swimmer to make the finals at the U.S. Trials since Wade King, who finished fifth in the 100 butterfly at the 1988 Trials.
“All in all I thought it was a very successful meet,” Moody said. “It’s evident it was a big meet for our program. We did get a lot of attention and had a lot of good things happen while we were here.”
After Monday’s finals the Trials will come to a close with the focus turning to the 2012 Summer Olympics, which will be held July 27 through August 12 in London.
Sunday, July 1
2012 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials
Omaha, Neb. – CenturyLink Center
Day 7 Preliminary Results
Women’s 50 Freestyle
T72. Bridget Halligan 26.33
Men’s 1,500 Freestyle
77. Brooks Ross 16:09.41