Hersey reaches second final of Olympic Trials
June 28, 2012
OMAHA, Neb. -- Former UT swimmer Kathleen Hersey advanced to her second final of the Olympic Trials after finishing in with the second best time Thursday night in the 200 butterfly. "It was actually really good," said Hersey. "It felt smooth and was a solid race." Hersey was in the mix in her heat, the second of two in the semifinals, as she came off the final wall. She was able to flip a switch and surged ahead of the leader, Kim Vandenberg, who was swimming in the lane next to her. Hersey went so fast in the final 50 meters that she ended up winning the race by over one second, finishing in 2:08.61 while Vandenberg clocked a 2:09.79. "At a meet like this it is easy to get caught up in the pressure of everything," said Hersey. "It is owning those nerves and trusting your training. It is going to be a really fun race tomorrow regardless of the outcome. The time for Hersey was 1.64 seconds faster than the time she put on the boards in the prelims to garner fifth place. Even though she made a vast improvement, Hersey still said she had room to grow going into the finals as her personal best is 2:06.44. "I can't wait to hear Eddie yell at me about my turns," said Hersey. "Every single wall I did it again, I glided in again. I definitely have room for improvement in some minor areas. It is just some little tweaks but the atmosphere is going to be really good." After finishing third in the 100 butterfly and just missing out on a spot on the Olympics team, Hersey is geared up to put together a good finals performance in what she considers her best race. She will swim tomorrow night to try and qualify for her second Olympic games. Also tomorrow will be 100 freestyle and 200 breaststroke prelims in the morning at 10 a.m. The semifinals of those two events will take place in the evening at 6:45. Longhorns in 2012 Olympics Thursday, June 28 Semifinals Results 200 Butterfly Prelims Results 200 Butterfly (130 swimmers)
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