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.