Phelps Earns Third Olympic Berth at USA Swim Trials
7/2/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
OMAHA, Neb. C The United States Trials for swimming continued on Wednesday (July 2) with University of Michigan men's swimming and diving volunteer coach Michael Phelps securing another Olympic berth with a victory in the 200-meter butterfly.
Phelps was in good company in the 200-meter butterfly, battling U-M alumnus Davis Tarwater (2003-06) to the finish. Tarwater placed third in the race followed by the Wolverine contingent of junior Matt Patton(Matthews, N.C./Butler HS), incoming freshman Dan Madwed(Stamford, Conn./Towson HS) and senior Alex Vanderkaay(Rochester, Mich./Adams HS) to round out the top six.
Tarwater started strong off the blocks and created a small lead over Phelps through the first turn. The two came into the final 50-meters within half-a-second of each other before Phelps and Gil Stovall exploded out of the final turn to push Tarwater back to third place. Phelps took the race handedly, touching the wall just 11 tenths of a second off the American-record pace at 1:52.20. Tarwater's 1:54.46 cemented a 2.5-second pad for the top three over the rest of the field that included Patton, Madwed and Vanderkaay.
Phelps was scheduled to swim in the 100-meter freestyle final after finishing second in the morning heats, but with a spot on the 400-meter freestyle relay already secured, he opted to scratch himself from the race to focus on the 200-meter butterfly. Five other Wolverines swam the 100-meter freestyle during the morning session with Peter Vanderkaay (2003-06) earning the best finish at 18th with a 49.59 performance. Sophomore Chris Brady(Wilmington, Del./Mount Pleasant), junior Bobby Savulich(Edison, N.J./Saint Joseph) and junior Evan Ryser(Katy, Texas/James E. Taylor) finished 28th, 33rd and 58th, respectively.
In other competition, former Wolverine Scott Spann(Austin, Texas/Westlake) slotted in third place in the 200-meter breaststroke semifinals. Senior Grant Burtch(Holland, Mich./Holland) touched the wall in 2:18.21 during the morning session to finish 33rd.
The Trials continue through Sunday, July 6 with preliminaries beginning daily at 11 a.m. CDT and finals at 6:45 p.m. CDT. Television coverage from 8-9 p.m. Eastern time continues on USA Network through tomorrow (July 3) and returns to NBC for the final three days (July 4-6).
RESULTS
Men's 100-meter Freestyle Semifinals DNS Michael Phelps, CW -- (47.92p) 18. Peter Vanderkaay, CW/U-M 49.59 28. Chris Brady, U-M 50.01 33. Bobby Savulich, U-M 50.10 58. Evan Ryser, U-M 50.73 DNS Dan Madwed, NBAC/U-M -- Men's 200-meter Butterfly Finals 1. Michael Phelps, CW 1:52.20#& 3. Davis Tarwater, CW/U-M 1:54.46 4. Matt Patton, CW/U-M 1:56.98 5. Dan Madwed, NBAC/U-M 1:57.10 6. Alex Vanderkaay, CW/U-M 1:57.25 Men's 200-meter Breaststroke Semifinals 1. Brendan Hansen, TXLAST 2:09.60 3. Scott Spann, TXLAST 2:10.38 33. Grant Burtch, U-M 2:18.21 # U.S. Olympic team qualifier ^ American record & US Trials record p Preliminary time
Players Mentioned
