UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (July 14, 2004) - A pair of 2004-05 sophomores and one former Penn State swimmer finished with strong performances at the U.S. Olympic Trials, held July 7-14th in Long Beach, Calif.

Eleven current or former Penn State swimmers were trying to join Eugene Botes, who made the South African team for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Former Nittany Lion Matt Haupt missed qualifying for the semifinals of the 100-meter butterfly by .02 seconds, when he finished 17th with a time of 54.80 seconds. The top 16 swimmers in the event moved on to the semifinals. Earlier in the week, Haupt finished seventh in the preliminaries of the 200 butterfly in 2 minutes, 00.01 seconds. He took 11th in the semifinals (2:00.70) later that night. He also participated in the 200 IM, finishing 32nd in 2:07.25.

Sophomore Margy Keefe (Cincinnati, Ohio) continued her development in the pool with a 14th-place finish in the 800 freestyle with a time of 8:45.53. She paced teammate Claire Hawley (Barnstable, Mass.) in the same event. Hawley, a sophomore, took 23rd in 8:52.65. Keefe swam in the 400 freestyle earlier in the week, taking 18th in 4:17.50.

Junior Dan Velez (Germantown, Md.) had a strong showing in the 100 breaststroke. He finished in 20th with a time of 1:04.25. Former Nittany Lion Jaffrey Clark took 17th in the 400 IM (4:30.75) and 29th in the 200 IM (2:06.60).

Junior Amberle Biedermann (Colorado Springs, Colo.) took 69th in the 100 butterfly (1:04.28), junior Sarah Haupt (Carlisle, Pa.) was 36th in the 100 backstroke (1:05.12), sophomore Megan Palera (Santa Maria, Calif.) finished 23rd in the 400 IM (4:55.77), senior Courtney Stanchock (Bloomsburg, Pa.) was 34th in the 100 breaststroke (1:13.33) and senior Kristen Woodring (Sinking Spring, Pa.) was 29th in the 100 breaststroke (1:12.92).