Prenot Advances in 200 IM

Santa Maria Swim Club swimmers Joshua Prenot qualified for the semifinals in the 200-meter individual medley at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Omaha, Neb.

Prenot’s time of 2 minutes, 2.58 seconds earned him 13th place after prelims. The top 16 swimmers advance to semifinals, which will be held tonight and aired on NBC at 8 pm PDT. Prenot will be in heat two, lane one.

Prenot moved up a couple of spots, as he was seeded 18th before prelims.

Prenot Swims Semifinal

Santa Maria Swim Club swimmer Joshua Prenot competed in the semifinal of the 200-meter breaststroke Thursday night at that U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Omaha, Neb.

Prenot finished in a lifetime best time of 2 minutes, 12.21 seconds. The mark set a National Age Group record for 17-18 boy’s.

The 18-year-old UC Berkeley freshman-to-be missed making finals by 21 one-hundredths of a second. He finished 10th, but only the top eight advance to the finals.

The top time of the semifinals was posted by Clark Burckle. He finished the race in 2:10.01.

Prenot will next swim the 200-meter individual medley on Friday, the fifth and final event he will compete in at the Trials. He is seeded 18th with a time of 2:02.24.

For results from the Trials, click here.

Prenot and Stevens Hit the Water Again

Santa Maria Swim Club swimmer Joshua Prenot and Puma Aquatics swimmer Zachary Stevens competed in the 200-meter breaststroke today at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Omaha, Neb.

Prenot finished in a lifetime best 2 minutes, 13.00 seconds. He placed ninth in the preliminary session, which means he will advance to the semifinal round for the event (the top 16 advance). The 18-year-old UC Berkeley freshman-to-be will be in the second semifinal heat tonight and will be in lane two.

In the lane next to Prenot (three) will be Brendan Hansen, who won the bronze medal in the 20-meter breaststroke at the 2004 Athens Games. Hansen punched his ticket to London on Tuesday night by winning the 100-meter breaststroke.

Prenot will also swim the 200-meter individual medley on Friday. He is seeded 18th with a time of 2:02.24.

Stevens, 16, also had a personal best time in the event. He finished in 2:19.52, which was 46 one-hundredths of a second faster than his entry time. Stevens finished 63rd after being ranked 104th going into the event.

Olympic Trials Broadcast Information

Below is the broadcast schedule for Olympic Trials as posted by USA Swimming.

Click here to view the USA Swimming Olympic Trials home page.

Olympic Trials Broadcasts All but the fastest heats of preliminaries will be webcast live at http://usaswimming.org The fastest three heats of preliminaries will be broadcast each day on NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus). They will be taped and air as follows: June 25 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. (all times are ET) June 26 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. June 27 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. June 28 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. June 29 4:30 – 6:00 p.m. June 30 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. July 1 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. The NBC shows (finals) will air: 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. – Eastern 7:00 – 8:00 pm. – Central 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Mountain (delayed one hour) 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. – Pacific (delayed three hours) This is for June 25 – July 1.  On July 2, the show is only 30 minutes from 8:00 – 8:30 p.m. (ET).

Local Swimmers to Compete at U.S. Swimming Trials

Puma swimmer Zachary Stevens prepares for a race at the 2011 Junior Nationals, where he qualified for Olympic Trials.

Three swimmers from the San Luis Obispo area will compete in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Omaha, Neb. The Trials begin on Monday, June 25, and will run through Monday July 2.

Puma Aquatics swimmer Zachary Stevens is slated to compete in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststrokes. Stevens, 16, is ranked 98th in the 100 breaststroke and 103 in the 200. Stevens just completed his sophomore year at Arroyo Grande High School, and placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke at the CIF SS Division II finals.

Stevens qualified for the Trials meet last August at the 2011 Junior Nationals in Palo Alto, Calif.

The Santa Maria Swim Club will be represented by two athletes in Omaha. Joshua Prenot is entered in five events. He will compete in both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, in which he is ranked 35th and 18th, respectively. He is also seeded 18th in the 200 individual medley, and he is seeded 27th in the 200 butterfly.

Prenot, 18, is positioned best in the 400 individual medley, in which he is ranked 10th with a time of 4 minutes, 18.44 seconds. The top eight in each event advance to finals.

Prenot is set to attend UC Berkeley next fall.

The other Santa Maria swimmer is Meghan Zimmer. Zimmer, 22, will swim the 200 freestyle. She is seeded 114th in the event.

For complete psych sheets for the Trials, click here.

For the broadcast schedule of the trials, click here.

Stevens Selected to Camp

Puma Aquatics swimmer Zachary Stevens has been selected to be a member of the USA Swimming  National Select Camp, which is taking place October 27-30 at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

The camp has 30 male roster spots and 30 female roster spots. The swimmers selected are the top two swimmers for their age group in each respective event.

Stevens qualified for the camp by posting one of the top two times in the nation for his age group (15-16) in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes.

Stevens’s performance at the 2011 Junior Nationals, held this past August in Palo Alto, made him eligible for the camp. The 16-year-old placed 12th in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2 minutes, 19.98 seconds. His time of 1:04.28 in the 100 breaststroke earned him a fourth place finish.

Stevens has qualified for the 2012 Olympic Trials in both of the breaststroke events. He is preparing to compete in the trials, which will take place in Omaha, Nebraska, next June.

Puma Coach Rich Firman is accompanying Stevens on the trip to Colorado Springs.