Olympic Trials | Women's swimming: Jendrick, Hoelzer earn trip to Beijing

OMAHA, Neb. — Megan Jendrick looked at the scoreboard above her head in disbelief.

Was it the lack of oxygen to her brain from having just swum 100 meters against one of the fastest breaststroke fields ever assembled in the United States, or did she really just make her second Olympic team?

Once the Puyallup swimmer caught her breath and looked again, she realized she had indeed qualified for the 2008 U.S. Olympic team headed to Beijing — and then she allowed herself to believe.

"It's just so exciting," said Jendrick, who won gold in this event at the 2000 Olympics but missed returning to Athens with a third-place finish. "I was pretty slow at the 50, but I just kept telling myself to go faster, go faster. I think that was the most strokes I've ever taken on the last half of a 50 in my life."

Jendrick was one of two swimmers with local connections who is Beijing-bound. Margaret Hoelzer, like Jendrick from King Aquatic, finished second behind favorite Natalie Coughlin in the 100 backstroke to also earn an Olympic berth.

Jendrick beat another local swimmer Tuesday. At the 2004 trials, Bremerton native Tara Kirk edged Jendrick 1:07.69 to 1:07.80 to make her first Olympic team. This time around, Jendrick returned the favor but by a much smaller margin — edging her rival 1:07.50 to 1:07.51.

The finish was so close that Jendrick wasn't the only one who originally thought Kirk had out-touched her at the wall.

"I was sure Tara had hit the wall first, that's how close a race it was," said Lea Mauer, Kirk's coach at Stanford. "That's a race we'll all want to see again, and I'm sure it's a race Tara will replay over and over again in her head. But all you can do is go in, do your best and see what happens. It's just so tough when the margin is so small."

Coming into Tuesday's finals, Jendrick had predicted that she would swim in the 1:06 to 1:05 range, but the overall race was much slower than Monday's semifinals. American-record-holder Jessica Hardy won in 1:06.87 — more than 1.5 seconds faster than her semifinal time — but the rest of the top qualifiers, including top seed Rebecca Soni, who finished fourth, was nearly a half-second slower.

"That was not the race we planned for Megan, but you don't care about time. You care about place at this meet," said King Aquatic coach Sean Hutchison.

Hoelzer made the Olympic team in the 100 backstroke in 59.21 seconds. The 2007 world champion and American record-holder in the 200 backstroke trailed only Coughlin, who lowered her world mark during Monday's prelims (59.03) and again in Tuesday's final (58.97).

"I'm definitely more of a 200 girl, but there's something really exciting about sprinting, and I couldn't be happier to make the team in the 100," said Hoelzer, whose previous best time of 59.79 happened in last night's semifinals. "Any time you see a world record broken, it definitely inspires you. Natalie pushed me to do my best time tonight, and now I think I'll feel more relaxed for the 200 [back] later this week."

Known for her endurance and finish, Hoelzer swam the first 50 very fast but found herself behind at the turn — until she hit the power button. By the 25-meter mark, she had established herself in second and didn't let up. She held off Hayley McGregory, who came in with the highest seed time (59.48) but finished third in 59.42.

Hoelzer has credited her success this week to working with Hutchison at King Aquatic. Hutchison said her improvement was the result of a change in technique and outlook.

"Margaret's race tonight was almost perfect," said Hutchison, who has worked with Hoelzer since spring. "For her to go 28.9 on the first 50 is a lot of speed for her, and then her close is about as good as it gets. When she went out that fast, I knew she had a strong chance down the stretch. We've been working on making her stroke a little longer so she can pull the water faster, and it showed tonight that it's working."

Auburn's Ariana Kukors chose a good time to swim her personal best in the 200 individual medley semifinals. Her time of 2:10.85 — more than a second faster than her previous best — established her as one of the favorites in today's final.

As expected, Katie Hoff swam the fastest time of the night in 2:09.94 and broke Amanda Beard's 2004 trials record to set up a three-way showdown with her, Kukors and Coughlin, who finished third in 2:11.72 a few events after winning the 100 backstroke.

Kukors said while her time was definitely fast, she knows she has an even faster one left.

"My whole swim felt really good, and I still had a lot left at the end," said Kukors, who moved from fourth to second behind Hoff in her heat with a very fast breaststroke split (37.30).

"I'm not going to say how fast I feel I can go, but it's going to be faster."

This story, published July 2, 2008 was corrected on July 16, 2008. In a previous version of the story, the names of Margaret Hoelzer and Hayley McGregory were reversed in a photo caption after their 100-meter backstroke race at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials.