Twenty Nittany Lion Swimmers to Compete at U.S. Olympic Trials

Trials run from June 29-July 6 in Omaha, Neb.

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Karie Haglund will swim in five different events at U.S. Olympic Trials.

June 27, 2008

University Park, Pa. - A total of 20 swimmers from Penn State will be swimming at U.S. Olympic Trials next week, which begin this Sunday, June 29 and run for a full week all the way through the following Sunday, July 6. The meet will be held at the Quest Center Omaha in Omaha, Neb.

A total of 11 women and nine men will be making the trip from Happy Valley to the nation's heartland in Omaha to compete in the week-long swimming meet. The women's team will be represented by Clare Clemens, Kaitlyn Ferguson, Karie Haglund, Abby Hoisington, Caitlin Meehan, Kailey Morris, Michelle Myers, Kelly Nelson, Kaitlin O'Brien, Daphne Skelos and Lyndsey Smith. Nine of those individuals will be representing Penn State while two others, Skelos and Morris, will be swimming as a part of their respective club teams. Representing the Nittany Lion men will be Dito Calderon, Ryan DeWeese, Dan Fimbianti, David Kraft, Kyle Miranda, Ben Ryan, Pat Schirk, Chris Sullivan and Tim Williams. The 20 swimmers from Penn State are part of an athlete contingent of 1,212 swimmers that will be competing in the meet.

A complete psych sheet for the meet can be viewed on USA Swimming's website at www.usaswimming.org or by clicking on the link here (pdf). Pat Schirk is the highest-seeded Penn State swimmer as the reigning NCAA champion in the 200 backstroke in seeded sixth in the 200-meter backstroke. Two-time Big Ten champion and All-American Kaitlin O'Brien is seeded 15th in the women's 400-meter IM. Penn State already has had one swimmer already qualify for the Olympics as men's swimmer Basil Kaaki will swim for his native Lebanon in August's games in Beijing.

One hour of the Trials, which will encompass the finals of each event, will air on either NBC or USA Network each night from 8:00-9:00 p.m. (ET) for all eight nights of the Trials. A complete television schedule can be viewed here.