2024 U.S. Olympic Selection
Day two of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials is over. We saw a lot of storylines converge: Carson Foster's comeback, Gretchen Walsh's coronation, and some nail-biting swimming showdowns. But let's take a moment to sit back and look at some of the swims that went under the radar.
Owen MacDonaldMcDonald, who announced his transfer to Indiana after the NCAAs, shaved nearly two seconds off his time in the 200 freestyle to win the preliminaries (1:48.05), and the crowd of 17,697 who gathered this morning gave him a warm welcome. In his second season at Arizona State, McDonald finished with the third-highest score for the Sun Devils, which is something to look forward to heading into the 200 individual medley later in the meet, where he was last year's NCAA runner-up.
University of California Freshman Keaton Jones He also had a strong swim in the 200m freestyle, breaking 1:50 for the first time (1:48.23), which bodes well for his return to the 200m, where he has been riding high momentum this season.
Josh Parent was another freshman to break the time barrier. He improved his personal best in the 400m individual medley by nearly a second, going under 4:20 for the first time (4:19.98).
Levi Sandidge Although he narrowly missed out on a spot in the 400 individual medley finals, his ninth-place finish shaved 2.85 seconds off his 2022 personal best (4:17.35). The Kentucky sophomore is best known for the NCAA-style mile.
Jenna FaidleyFaidley, the 2022 and 2023 D3 NCAA 100m breaststroke champion, ran a personal best time (1:09.10) in the preliminaries and placed 19th overall. Faidley will spend another year at perennial D3 powerhouse Kenyon College.
