July 13, 2004 | Women's Swimming & Diving
With her fifth-place performance in the final round of the 200-meter freestyle Saturday night at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, University of Wisconsin swimmer Carly Piper (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) received a spot on the team and will compete this summer in Athens, Greece, USA Swimming announced Monday night.
'I'm happy for Carly that it has finally become official,' UW head coach Eric Hansen said. 'Our focus now is on the Olympics and continuing to improve.'
Only the top four finishers in the 200 freestyle were guaranteed to make the Olympic roster, which is why the addition of Piper did not happen immediately. The senior-to-be, who is the first female Badger swimmer to earn an Olympic berth and will be formally introduced in a ceremony tonight, will compete in the 800-meter freestyle relay.
Piper will join Dana Vollmer and Lindsay Benko'the top two finishers, respectively, in the 200 freestyle'as well as Kaitlin Sandeno (3rd), Rhi Jeffrey (4th) and Rachel Komisarz (6th).
Piper, Sandeno, Jeffrey and Komisarz will likely swim together in the preliminary round of the Olympics Aug. 18 in Athens. Two will be chosen to join Vollmer and Benko in further rounds, while the other two would be considered alternates.
All six would earn a medal should the relay team place.
'What Carly has accomplished in the past three years and this past week is phenomenal,' Hansen said. 'Having someone from both our men's and women's programs is very special.'
Adam Mania (Hickman, Neb.), who has citizenship in both the United States and Poland, qualified in the 100-meter backstroke for the Polish Olympic Team in June.
In Tuesday's action, Sarah Hernandez (Chico, Calif.), the final Badger to compete in the Trials, took 26th in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 26.43. As only the top 16 advanced to the semifinal round, Hernandez did not qualify for the next heat and thus wrapped up competition for UW swimmers.
