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Blue Tide Swimmers Qualify for Olympic Trials
One current Blue Tide Aquatics swimmer and five alumni have earned the chance to compete for a slot on their country’s 2008 Summer Olympics team. Matt Barber, 16, qualified for the US Olympic Trials in both the 200 and 400 meter freestyle at the Junior Nationals meet in Orlando on March 18-23. The Kingwood High School sophomore will compete at the Olympic Trials at the end of June in Omaha. Blue Tide alumnus Melissa Hain, who now swims for Texas A & M University, has also made two US Olympic Trials cuts. Her qualifying events are the 400 IM and the 200IM. Scott Sorge, currently a swimmer for University of California- Berkeley, obtained his Olympic Trials cuts in both the 50 and Barber had a similar close race at Junior Nationals. He placed second in the 200 freestyle in a race which “came down to the touch.” He clocked a 1:52.43 – just .02 off the winning time. Barber was not to be denied gold in the 400 freestyle. He took the lead from the start and never gave it up finishing with a time of 3:56.39 – four seconds better than the closest challenger and nearly four seconds under the US Olympic Trials cut. The swim was the fastest in the country for all 18 and under swimmers this season earning Barber the Men’s Performance Award for the meet. What’s remarkable about Barber’s success is that the Junior National finals were held in a 50 meter pool. He has been training in a 25 yard short course pool all season. A feat that did not go unnoticed by his coach. “Matt had a great meet,” said Blue Tide Head Coach Kevin Milak. “It really took him to the next level. Since August, we've geared all of Matt's training toward his 400 free, and everything came together at the right time.” When asked about going to the Olympic Trials with the likes of Michael Phelps (who also swims the 200 free), Barber said: “I’m pretty excited. Hopefully, it’ll give me another spark (in my training).” Five other Blue Tide swimmers attended the elite Junior Nationals meet consisting of the top 1,500 junior swimmers in the country. Representing Blue Tide at the meet were: Austin Wilson, Jillian Vitarius, Ashley Vance, Sydney Conroy and Michelle Gean – who was a finalist in the 100 meter backstroke. As the president of the National Club Swimming Association which runs the Junior Nationals, Milak is a big proponent of the championships. “Junior Nationals is the most important developmental meet for 18 and under athletes in the country, giving these swimmers a chance to compete against their peers on a national level.” He is proud of the Blue Tide swimmers attending the meet: “We are trying to use Junior Nationals to build our program at Blue Tide. With one swimmer competing last year to six this spring, we are moving in the right direction.” All of the Tide’s Junior National swimmers, except Conroy, also attended the Speedo Southern Zone Sectional Championships in early March at Texas A & M. They were joined by Ben Decker,17, who has signed to swim at Louisiana State University in the fall. At Sectionals, Decker was a finalist in the 50 and 100 meter freestyle and came in second in the 100 meter breaststroke - just off an Olympic Trials cut but qualifying for the US Open Championships. Other Sectionals finalists were Barber in the 200 free and Vance in the 200 breaststroke. As the short course swim season comes to an end, Milak takes time to evaluate the results of seven months of training. “Overall we had a great season,” he said. “We had new qualifiers at every level from local meets to Olympic Trials, swimmers moving from high school JV to varsity, and rookies ready to return to summer league as better swimmers than they were last year. It’s really rewarding to see many of the swimmers develop from kids to young adults, enjoy what they're doing, and being excited to move onto the next level." |
