Hall Set for U.S. Olympic Team Trials
June 26, 2012
OMAHA, Neb. — After ending her career in Coral Gables as the program’s first All-American under Head Coach Christie Shefchunas, Kelsi Hall is at U.S. Olympic Team Trials looking to swim her way across the Atlantic into London’s Summer Olympics.
“I am so proud of Kelsi,” Coach Shefchunas said before departing for trials. “She has grown so much since she’s gotten here.”
Hall earned the school’s first All-American accolades since Manon van Rooijen in 2002 with a tenth-place finish in the 50 free at NCAA Championships in Auburn, Ala this past spring. She spent the first two years of her collegiate career at the University of Kentucky before transferring to Miami.
Hall quickly became one of Coach Shefchunas’ most decorated swimmers, qualifying for NCAA’s by earning a gold medal in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships. There, Hall was one of two USwimmers that finished with gold medals; Sofia Johansson broke the conference record in the 100-yard backstroke.
In Auburn, Hall was the only representative from the conference in the Finals of the 50 free, where she finished with one of the best times of her career at 22.13.
After conquering perhaps the two most difficult individual challenges as an undergraduate at the University of Miami, the Yorktown, Ind. native has her eyes set on representing Team U.S.A. in the 2012 Summer Olympics.
“She’s the kind of athlete that does everything right,” Coach Shefchunas said. “And because of that, she’s going into this very confident and believing she can be a top competitor. Aaron [Ciarla] and I are so excited and truly believe she can do something special at the trials.”
The preliminaries and semifinals of the 50 free will be held on Sunday, July 1 while the finals will be held Monday, July 2. For a full schedule of the Olympic trials, click HERE.
