Oakland Catholic grad Leah Smith qualifies for finals of 200 freestyle at U.S. Olympic Swim Trials
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Oakland Catholic and Virginia grad Leah Smith finished eighth in the semifinals of the women’s 200-meter freestyle Tuesday evening at the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials in Omaha.
Her time of 1 minute, 58.22 seconds helped clinch a spot in Wednesday evening’s finals with a pair of Olympic berths on the line.
The 200 free is one of five events for which the decorated Olympian has qualified this week.
Smith finished third overall in the 400 free Monday.
The 1,500 free also was Tuesday, but Smith scratched out of that event.
She is seeded second in the 800 free, which begins Friday with the preliminaries and the semifinals. The finals in the 800 is Saturday evening.
Fox Chapel rising senior Zoe Skirboll and Highlands graduate and Kentucky product Bailey Bonnett continued their swims in Omaha in the 200 individual medley.
Skriboll placed 27th with a time of 2:16.75, while Bonnett finished 36th in 2:17.63.
Both return to the pool Thursday. Skirboll will compete in the 100 free, while Bonnett wraps up her quartet of swims with the the 200 breaststroke.
Upper St. Clair grad Josh Matheny will begin contention for a top spot Wednesday in the 200 breaststroke. He is seeded seventh (2:09.40). The semifinal heats are Wednesday evening with the finals Thursday.
Matheny, an Indiana University commit, placed fifth in the 100 breaststroke Monday with a finals time of 1:00.22.
NBC continues coverage of the U.S. Olympic Trials at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on NBCSN (tape-delay) and at 8 on NBC (live).