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.

Prenot and Zimmer Swim at Trials

Santa Maria Swim Club swimmers Joshua Prenot and Meghan Zimmer both competed in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials today in Omaha, Neb.

Zimmer, who swims for San Diego State University, hit the water in the first heat of Wednesday’s preliminary session. She finished the 200-meter freestyle in 2 minutes, 6.36 seconds. Although she was nearly three seconds slower than her seed-time, the 22-year-old moved up from 114th place going into the event to 92nd.

Prenot, who is competing in a total of five events over the course of the eight-day meet, swam in the 200-meter butterfly. His time of 2:01.64 earned him 37th place.

Prenot, 18, will next swim in the 200 breaststroke on Thursday. Puma Aquatics swimmer Zachary Stevens will also compete in the event.

 

Stevens, Prenot, Kick of Olympic Trials

Puma Aquatics swimmer Zachary Stevens and Santa Maria Swim Club swimmer Joshua Prenot both competed on the first day of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Omaha, Neb.

Prenot, 18, hit the water first in the 400-meter individual medley. Prenot finished in 4 minutes, 22.53 seconds. He finished in 13th place.

The top eight finishers in the preliminaries of the 400 individual medley will compete again in finals tonight. The top two finishers in finals make the U.S. Olympic team. Defending Olympic champion and world record holder Michael Phelps is set to race Ryan Lochte, who is the defending World Champion. Also considered a serious contender in the event is Tyler Clary of Fullerton.

Prenot, who will attend UC Berkeley this fall, also swam the 100 breaststroke. His time of 1:02.89 earned him a 34th place finish in prelims.

Stevens, 16, competed in the 100 breaststroke as well. He finished in 1:04.26, two one-hundredths of a second faster than his entry time. The Arroyo Grande high school junior-to-be placed 72nd in prelims.

The top 16 finishers of the 100 breaststroke will compete in a semifinal tonight. The top eight in semifinals will advance to final, which will be held Tuesday night.

The other events that will be contested tonight are the women’s 100 butterfly semifinal, the men’s 400 freestyle final, and the women’s 400 individual medley final. Tonight’s events will be aired on NBC.

For complete results, click here.

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.

Local Swimmers Sign Letters of Intent

Arroyo Grande High School swimmers Mia Schachter and Sonny Fierro made their future plans offical during Wednesday’s National Signing Day.

Schachter accepted a full scholarship to attend Tulane University in New Orleans, while Fierro committed to swim for the Cal Poly Mustangs.

Schachter is a four-time CIF Division II finalist in individual events. She has also been a member of three relay teams that made CIF finals. She holds multiple Arroyo Grande school records, and was recognized as an All-American after last season in the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard breaststroke.

Schachter has represented the local Puma Aquatic Club at both Junior Nationals and Senior Nationals. Most recently, she competed in the 100-meter breaststroke at the 2011 Winter Nationals Championships in Atlants, Ga.

Tulane University has a Division I swimming and diving team that competes in Conference USA. Schachter had offers from other Division I schools including UCLA, but chose to accept the full scholarship offered by the Green Wave.

Fierro is living on the Central Coast for the first time, having moved here from the Sacramento area at the beginning of this school year. Before he moved he swam for the Arden Hills swim team, but now trains with the Santa Maria Swim Club. He specializes in the mid to long distance freestyle events, and has swam at both Junior and Senior Nationals.  He recently swam the 400-meter freestyle at the 2011 Winter Nationals.

Fierro will join a Mustang team that is currently in its second season of competing as a member of the Pac-12 Conference.

Columbus Day Meet to be Held This Weekend

The first USA Swimming meet of the 2011-2012 season held on the Central Coast will take place this weekend when the Santa Maria Swim Club hosts the annual Nike Columbus Day Invitational.

The meet will begin at 10:00 AM at the Paul Nelson Aquatics Center this Saturday. Sunday’s events will also begin at 10:00 am. There will only be one session per day. The pool will be available for warm up at 8:30 am on both days.

Numerous swimmers of many different ages from San Luis Obispo County will be competing in the meet.

The Puma Aquatics swim team, the San Luis Obispo Swim Club, and North County Aquatics will all be in attendance.

The age divisions will be as follows: 6-8 (25-yard events only), 6-12, 11-12, and 13 and up. The 400 individual medley and 500 freestyle will be open, or 11 and up events.

There will also be a 200-yard freestyle relay and 200 medley relay that fall in the 60 and under division. For those relays, the cumulative ages of the four relay members can be as old as 60.

Saturday, there are expected to be 267 swimmers in the pool for warm up, while Sunday the expected count is 279. According to the current timeline, the meet will be over at approximately 2:59 and 3:25 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Click here to view the official meet sheet.