By John Lohn
OMAHA, Nebraska, July 2. THE exceptional week of Elaine Breeden keeps chugging along. The Olympic qualifier in the 100 butterfly earlier in the week, Breeden led the semifinal qualifying in the 200 butterfly, as she won the second heat of the evening with a career-best performance of 2:07.33. The time was slightly faster than the 2:07.72 she notched in the morning. It also bested the Olympic Trials record of 2:07.53, set by Mary T. Meagher in 1984.
Click here for original coverage of Meagher's record-setting swim in 1984 by Swimming World.
Breeden will lead a tightly bunched field into tomorrow's final, where the berths to Beijing figure to be wide open. Claiming the second seed for the championship heat was Kathleen Hersey, the reigning Pan American Games titlist. Hersey won the first semifinal in 2:08.03, dropping 1.49 seconds from her prelim effort.
"My strategy was to go long and strong on the way out, and make it as fast as possible," Hersey said. "[My goal] was not to kill myself, because it is a long race. Just finish, finish, finish."
Taking the third and fourth slots for the championship final were Mary DeScenza, a veteran of international competition, and Kim Vandenberg, the top 200 butterfly swimmer in the United States the past couple of years. DeScenza went 2:08.82 while Vandenberg, not long after qualifying for Beijing as an 800 free relay member, was timed in 2:08.86.
"I'm hoping for an even better swim tomorrow," DeScenza said. "I tend to swim faster when I practice more. I'm sure I'm in for a practice in the morning."
The rest of the field for the final will include Tanya Krisman, who was also under 2:09 with an outing of 2:08.97, Katie Carroll (2:10.40), Lyndsay DePaul (2:10.42) and Leah Gingrich (2:10.43).
Video Footage Removed Due to NBC Restrictions
Go to Swimming World's 2008 Olympics Landing Page for the most comprehensive coverage of the meet on the Internet.
