Hokie ClubOMAHA, Neb. - Women's swimmer Jessica Botzum (Raleigh, N.C.) turned in the eighth-best 100-meter breaststroke time at the U.S. Swimming Olympic Team Trials on Monday morning at the Qwest Center and has advanced to Monday evening's semifinal field of 16.
Botzum shattered her personal best and qualifying time by over a full second, finishing the prelim in 1:09.07. Her qualifying time was 1:10.16.
The four-time Virginia Tech All-American will now compete in the semifinal heats on Monday evening, which can be viewed on the USA Network between 8 and 9 p.m. EST. Should she finish in the top eight again, she will compete in the final on Tuesday evening for a chance to make the trip to Beijing as a member of the U.S. Olympic Team.
Two other Hokies competed in the trials before Botzum, as Scott Beard placed 41st in the men's 100-meter backstroke (57.08 seconds) on Monday morning, and Megan Newell finished 110th in the women's 100-meter butterfly (1:02.54) on Sunday morning.
The U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials are still going on as well, and Hokie Tasmin Fanning is set to run the 5,000 meters on Monday night at 11:50 p.m. EST. The track and field trials will also air on USA Network from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. EST.
Results for the track trials are available here ( http://www.usatf.org/events/2008/OlympicTrials-TF/schedule.asp).
Results for the swimming trials are available here ( http://www.omegatiming.com/calendar/index.html).