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'Hawk swimmers head to Olympic Trials

Brian Gallagher, Sports Editor

In less than three months, the best swimmers in the United States will converge upon Omaha, Neb. for the fastest swim meet in the world. Fans will surround the two 50-meter pools set up inside the Qwest Center and watch as over 1,500 athletes attempt to realize their Olympic dreams.

Among those swimmers will be a contingent of Miami University athelets, including junior Bekka Westrick, junior Maegan O'Connor, junior Leah Thornton and freshman diver Lacey Houser, as well as Megan Brunn, a 2011 Miami graduate.

After leading Miami to a third-place finish at the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championships in February, the end of the season was still in the distance for these RedHawks and there was little time for rest as their sights honed in on the week of June 25-July 2.

"After MACs it just happened so fast, we were back in the water after just three days off, we didn't have time to lose focus," Thornton said. "But we all knew this was the goal going in, so we didn't have to adjust that much."

However, only Westrick had a trials standard at the time after qualifying this past summer in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 1:01.87, which was under the qualifier of 1:01.99. She then added a second qualification to her resume with a swim of 26.26 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle at the Central Zone Speedo Sectional Championships March 22 just sneaking under the standard of 26.39.

"The public thinks if you go to the trials you go to the Olympics, and while that's not the case it's still exciting to qualify," Westrick said. "It's a natural progression though; you go from nationals to the trials, and it's often something that happens only once in your swimming career."

The sectionals proved to be a harbinger of success for the 'Hawks as Thornton and O'Connor also grabbed qualification times at the meet. Thornton punched her ticket with a swim of 1:03.17 in the 100-meter backstroke, passing under the standard of 1:03.99, and then came back three days later to qualify in the 200-meter backstroke in 2:17.93 to squeak under the qualifying time of 2:17.99. Not to be outdone, O'Connor swam 1:01.31 to qualify in the 100-meter butterfly and will join Westrick in that event in Omaha.

"Four years ago I had this in my vision and really put work into it and tried to go after it, and now that I've made it to the trials it's really exciting," O'Connor said. "I'm going to have fun and enjoy the experience."

Like O'Connor, many kids dream of making the Olympics, whether it be in swimming or another sport. However, though many get to dream, few get the chance to realize those dreams and even fewer get to enjoy that experience with swimmers from the same team. Having four swimmers from one school marks the exception to the rule.

"In all the years I've been here we've never been in the situation where we have a handful of girls in a major meet like this, so I'm very excited and very proud of them and what they have accomplished," Head Coach Dave Jennings said. "Some of them have had a lifelong goal of swimming at that meet so for them to have the perseverance and ability to be there is really special."

But at a school with 16 MAC Championships, success is as much a part of the program as chlorinated water and that culture has been an integral part of the swimmers' achievements.

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"I didn't come [to Miami] thinking that I would use this to go to the Olympic Trials," Westrick said. "But I think this atmosphere, the competition that we have in the pool and just being pushed everyday in the water by your teammates has been a huge help in taking that next step."

Once every four years the Olympics come around and thrust a sport like swimming into the national spotlight. But the U.S. Olympic Trials for swimming are unlike those for other sports in that it often takes a record-setting performance just to qualify for the Olympics. For instance, there were nine world records and 21 American records set at the most recent Olympic Trial, which means those swimmers had to swim the fastest times of their lives just to advance to the Olympics.

The goal of swimming faster than they have before is also shared by each Miami swimmer and echoed by Jennings. And do not expect the RedHawks to rest on their laurels having made it this far.

"It might be a long shot but you have to dream a little and we would love to see someone sneak into a semifinal and swim at night," Jennings said. "I think we've got some very talented women and you never know what's going to happen on any given day. And the focus now is to get them ready for that."

The Olympic Trials start June 25 and run through July 2 and will be televised live on NBC.