U of L national champion swimmer and Olympic hopeful Kelsi Worrell set the NCAA American record in the 100 butterfly event with a time of 49.87 seconds in 2015. June 14, 2016
American record holder and four-time NCAA champion Kelsi Worrell will lead a contingent of 34 current and incoming University of Louisville swimmers – the most ever for the school – at the U.S. Olympic trials that begin Sunday in Omaha, Neb.
Worrell, who just finished her senior year at U of L as the American record holder in the 100-yard butterfly, will be among the favorites to make the U.S. Olympic team in the slightly longer 100-meter butterfly. She’ll have a shot at qualifying in three other events at the trials, which run through July 3.
The University of Kentucky will have 25 swimmers at the trials, comprising 37 individual race entries. Multiple other local swimmers – namely current and former members of the Lakeside, Cardinal Aquatics and Triton swim club – also have qualified for the trials, which is a sprawling, talent-rich meet of more than 1,800 competitors in which just advancing past the preliminary round is considered quite an achievement.
For U of L, this year’s total group of trials participants is bigger than it had in 2004 (zero), 2008 (five) and 2012 (23) combined.
“This is a group that is going in there to get a bunch of second swims (and advance past the prelims),” U of L coach Arthur Albiero said.
Of course, Worrell will be looking to do more. She’s vying to become the first University of Louisville swimmer of either gender to make the U.S. Olympic team. Women’s basketball player Angel McCoughtry is U of L’s only other American Olympian.
Worrell on ‘Mount Rushmore’ of U of L sports
In most events at the trials, the top two finishers will qualify for the U.S. team that will compete in Rio de Janeiro, and Worrell is considered one of the country’s two best in her strongest event – the 100-meter butterfly. The preliminaries and semifinals are on Sunday with the top eight making the final on Monday.
Worrell ranks behind only four-time Olympic gold medalist Dana Vollmer, who set the former world record and current American record in the 100-meter fly when she won Olympic gold in 2012 in London.
Vollmer, who returned last year from a two-year break in which she had a baby, defeated Worrell at the Pro Swim Series event in Mesa, Ariz., in April as they finished with the two fastest times by Americans this year (56.94 for Vollmer and 57.27 for Worrell). The best time from any other American this year is 1.2 seconds slower than Worrell’s mark from Mesa.
“Dana is the favorite clearly and has the experience,” Albiero said. “She’s swimming really well right now, and that’s OK. Our mindset is if you have a lane, you have a chance.”
UK product Christina Bechtel has the sixth-best American time in the 100 fly this year, and former Western Kentucky University swimmer Claire Donahue, who swam the 100 fly in London in 2012, has a time that’s tied for the seventh-fastest.
If Worrell, whose time from Mesa is tied for 10th best in the world this year, can make it to Rio, she could contend for a medal. Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, the world record holder, shapes up as this year’s gold-medal favorite in Rio, but after her, several swimmers will have a chance to make the podium.
Worrell finished 2015 as the top American in the 100-meter fly after swimming a career-best 57.24 seconds at the Pan-American Games, where she won gold. It was also the third-best time in the world last year. She is also positioned to make a run at the Olympics in the 200-meter fly, 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle.
Worrell, who’s also the two-time NCAA champ in the 200-yard fly, recently posted this year’s third-fastest American time (2 minutes, 9.25 seconds) in the 200-meter fly while winning a race in Indianapolis. She has the No. 5 time in the United States this year in the 50 free after recording a 24.98-second time in France. That’s less than three-tenths of a second off the second-best American time, also held by Vollmer.
In the 100 free, Worrell has the seventh-fastest time by an American this year, but in that event, six swimmers will travel to the Olympics because of relays, improving her chances.
Among U of L’s other swimmers, freshman All-American Zach Harting has this year’s 19th-fastest U.S. time in the men’s 200 fly, and freshman Mallory Comerford, who was the NCAA runner-up in the 200-yard freestyle and shaved five seconds off her time in that event in the past year, qualified for the trials in five events. She has top-30 U.S. times this year in the 100- and 200-meter freestyles. Junior Trevor Carroll is a potential contender in the freestyle events.
Locals in U.S. Olympic swimming trials
UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE
David Boland 100-meter butterfly; Rachael Bradford-Feldman 200 Individual medley, 400 IM, 200 breaststroke; Avery Braunecke 50 freestyle; Addison Bray 100 breast, 200 breast; MacKenzie Buss 100 backstroke; Trevor Carroll 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 400 free; Kameron Chastain 100 breast, 200 breast; Abigail Chin 400 IM; Mallory Comerford 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 400 free, 100 butterfly; Andrea Cottrell 100 breast, 200 IM, 200 breast; Jacob DeMercurio 100 back; Casey Fanz 50 free, 100 free; Keegan Foulke 400 IM; Christian Garkani 100 back; Aaron Greene 100 back, 200 back; Zach Harting 100 fly, 200 fly, 200 IM; Nick Hasemann 100 back; Lauren James 200 breast; Jarrett Jones 400 IM; Ashley LeClair 100 back, 200 back; Hannah Magnuson 100 fly; Ryan Massey 400 IM; Grace Oglesby 100 fly, 200 fly; Todd Owens 100 breast, 200 breast; Marah Pugh 400 IM, 200 fly; Josh Quallen 100 back, 100 fly, 200 IM; Sam Steele 200 free, 400 free; Nolan Tesone 100 back, 200 back, 200 IM, 400 IM; Sofie Underdahl 200 breast; Lainey Visscher 100 back; Hannah Whiteley 100 back, 200 back; Kelsi Worrell 100 fly, 200 fly, 50 free, 100 free; Aaron Young 100 back, 100 fly; Jonathan Zoucha 200 IM.
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
Bridgette Alexander 100 back, 200 back; Andrew Aviotti 1500 free; Matthew Beach 200 fly; Kelly Berger 400 free, 800 free; Kendal Casey 200 free, 400 free; Kayla Churman 200 back; Kendra Crew 100 breast, 200 breast; Ann Davies 200 breast; David Dingess 100 fly; Geena Freriks 100 free, 400 free; Danielle Galyer 100 back, 200 back, 200 IM; Cobe Garcia 50 free; Kyle Higgins 100 fly, 200 fly; Kristen Keifer 200 back; Haley McInerny 100 fly, 200 fly; Kathryn Painter 400 IM; Jacob Smith 200 fly; Josh Swart 100 back; Walker Thaning 100 back; Meredith Whisenhunt 200 fly; Christina Bechtel 100 fly, 200 fly; Eric Bruck 50 free; Scott Crosthwaite 200 free, 400 free; Abby Myers 100 fly, 200 fly; Kristen Wilson 200 free.
INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Delaney Barnard 50 free; Stephanie Marchuk 200 free, 400 free, 800 free; *Lindsay Vrooman 200 free, 400 free, 800 free; Marie Chamberlain 100 back; Lilly King 100 breast, 200 breast; Olivia Barker 100 fly, 200 fly; Gia Dalesandro 100 fly, 200 fly; Bailey Pressey 200 fly, 200 IM, 400 IM; Rachel Matsumura 200 back; Shelly Drozda 200 back; Sam Lisy 400 IM; Blake Pieroni 50 free, 100 free, 200 free; Sam Lorentz 50 free; Oliuver Patrouch 50 free; *Daniel Kanoor 100 free; Jackson Miller 200 free, 400 free; Max Irwin 200 free, 400 free, 200 fly; Ethan Curl 400 free, 1500 free; Adam Destrampe 400 free, 1500 free; Matthew Anderson 400 free; Trey Hubbuch 1500 free; Wilson Beckman 100 back, 200 back; Bob Glover 100 back, 200 back; Ian Finnerty 100 breast; Tanner Kurz 100 breast, 200 breast; Levi Brock 100 breast; Sam Apa 100 breast; Cody Taylor 100 breast, 200 breast; Cody Miller 100 breast, 200 breast.
WESTERN KENTUCKY
Claire Donahue 100 fly.
OTHERS FROM LOUISVILLE
Current high school – Brooke Bauer, Sacred Heart/Lakeside, 50 free; Brooke Forde, Sacred Heart/Lakeside, 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 fly, 200 breast; Clayton Forde, St. Xavier/Lakeside, 400 IM; Kennedy Lohman, Sacred Heart/Lakeside, 100 breast, 200 breast; Asia Seidt, Sacred Heart/Lakeside, 200 free, 100 back, 200 back, 100 fly, 200 fly, 200 IM; Tonner DeBeer, Sacred Heart/Triton, 100 back; Nicolas Albiero, Christian Acad./Cardinal Aquatics, 100 back, 200 back, 100 fly. Other colleges – Peyton Greenberg, Northwestern, Manual/Lakeside, 200 breast; Heyward Harrison, North Carolina, St. X/Lakeside, 200 back; Sydney Sell, Florida, Western Hills/Lakeside, 100 back, 200 back; Leah Stevens, Stanford, Sacred Heart/Lakeside, 400 free, 800 free, 200 breast, 200 IM, 400 IM.