OMAHA, Neb. — Auburn rising junior Ava Ohlgren clocked a 2:12.99 in the 200m individual medley Wednesday night, posting a sixth-place finish in the final — her best finish so far at the 2008 Olympic Swimming Team Trials at the Qwest Center.
Ohlgren blazed out of the start and was in third after a 28.40 in the butterfly leg, the strongest of her strokes. She fell back to fifth place following the backstroke and fell into her final place at sixth after the breaststroke leg. Katie Hoff won the 200m IM with an American-record time of 2:09.71, breaking Natalie Coughlin’s record time of 2:09.77. Couglin followed in second with a 2:10.32.
The Northville, Mich., native had also qualified for Wednesday night’s 200m butterfly semifinal, but opted not to compete in the event in order to focus on the 200m IM.
Emily Kukors, however, did swim the 200m fly semifinal, where she finished 14th with a 2:12.36. It was the first semifinal of the meet for Kukors, who just completed her senior year at Auburn.
The top performance of the night came from former Tiger Eric Shanteau as he finished second in the 200m breaststroke semifinal, clocking a 2:10.24. For his effort, Shanteau will suit up in lane five in today’s 200m breast final next to his training partner and top seed Brendan Hansen.
Two other former Tigers also competed in the 200m breast semifinal. Jon Roberts clocked a 2:14.19 to finish 12th in the race while Mark Gangloff, who secured his place on the Olympic team Monday night, followed in 15th with a 2:15.97.
Action in the 2008 Olympic Swimming Team Trials continues at 11 a.m. today with preliminaries in the women’s 100m freestyle, men’s 200m backstroke, women’s 200m breaststroke and the men’s 200m individual medley.
Fans can watch all the action live with a video Webcast at www.NBCOlympics.com or with live timing at www.OmegaTiming.com.
For more information on the 2008 Olympic Trials, visit www.USASwimming.org.
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