Friday, August 11, 2000
Swim Trials Notebook
Thompson tops Torres in 100 butterfly
By Jeff Carlton
The Cincinnati Enquirer
INDIANAPOLIS — A funny thing happened Thursday during the finals of the women's 100 butterfly. Even the swimmers warming up and cooling down in the practice pool paused from their laps to watch Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson duel for a spot on the Olympic team.
The race was worthy of its hype, as the two women — former training partners — matched each other stroke for stroke in adjacent lanes until Thompson edged Torres at the wall to win by .08 seconds in 57.78.
No one else was within a second of the two veterans.
“This is a pretty sweet victory,” Thompson said. “There's a lot of pressure. People think this just comes to me, but it's not as easy as one might think.”
Torres had broken Thompson's record in the butterfly Wednesday, swimming a 57.58 in the preliminary round. Thompson nearly reclaimed the record in the semifinal Wednesday, finishing in 57.59.
Torres, 33, made the Olympics in 1984, 1988 and 1992, then retired from swimming for seven years. She became the first swimmer to make four Olympics.
Thompson, 27, a five-time relay gold medalist who lacks an individual gold, failed to qualify in any of her individual events at the 1996 trials. Her only individual medal is a silver from '92.
LOCAL RESULTS: Oxford's Whitney Myers, 15, had one of the better showings among locals, finishing 29th in the 400 freestyle. She shaved about two seconds off her personal best.
In her trials debut Wednesday, Myers, of Ursuline, had the bad luck of being paired in the same 400 individual medley preliminary heat as eventual champion Kaitlin Sandeno.
“I wasn't trying to keep up with her, but more with everyone else in the heat,” Myers said. “A lot of pople get spazzed out in the first half of the race, which isn't the smartest thing to do.”
Myers wore herself out in that heat Wednesday but swam a smarter race Thursday. She swims in the 200 IM today.
Mandy Commons, a Clemson sophomore out of Sycamore, swam close to her personal best in the 100 breaststroke, finishing 40th.
Emily Bresser, a Notre Dame graduate and Ohio University senior, said she was disappointed with her 76th-place finish in the 100 backstroke.
A St.Xavier senior and a St.X graduate swam in the 100 backstroke. Jayme Cramer, a Bombers senior, finished 29th. Ryan Earhart, a sophomore at Michigan, finished 61st. Both will try to stay fresh for their next event: the 100 butterfly, which doesn't take place until Monday.
RECORDS FALL: Ed Moses set an American record in the men's 100 breaststroke finals, finishing in 1:00.44. He also broke his Olympic trials record, which he set Wednesday. Moses made the Olympic team, along with Auburn's Pat Calhoun.
“First things first — I just wanted to make the team,” Moses said. “My work is not done yet. I have four weeks to prepare for the Games. This is just a step ahead. Hopefully, I'll bring home the gold.”
His family held up signs saying “11th Commandment, Go Fast” and “12th Commandment, Go For Gold.”
Another record fell in the morning preliminaries. Megan Quann shaved nearly half a second from her 4-month-old American record in the 100 breaststroke. She finished in 1:07.12. The finals in that event are tonight.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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