San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Ledecky and Dressel power past their rivals
OMAHA, Neb. — The stars shined brightly on the nexttolast night of the U.S. Olympic swimming trials.
Caeleb Dressel added another event to his Tokyo program, powering to a dominating victory in the 100meter butterfly Saturday.
Katie Ledecky blew away the field in the 800 freestyle, winning by more than five seconds in a race where the runnerup spot provided the only drama.
The former Stanford swimmer locked up her fourth individual race at the Olympics in 8 minutes, 14.62, adding to wins in the 200, 400 and 1,500 free.
Fifteenyearold Katie Grimes outraced Haley Anderson for the expected second spot at the Olympics, knocking more than 11 seconds off her personal best to touch second in 8:20.36.
Anderson, who already made the team in marathon swimming, just missed out on a race at the Olympic pool. She finished third, 15hundredths of a second behind Grimes.
No one was close to Dressel as he finished the fly in 49.87 — just off his world record of 49.50 set two years ago at the world championships.
Cal alum Tom Shields claimed the expected second spot on the U.S. team by touching next in 51.19. Shields was an Olympian in 2016, taking gold as part of the 4x100 medley relay.
Dressel, who already made the Olympic team with a victory in the 100 freestyle, made it 2for2 on the night when he returned a short time later to win his 50 free semifinal heat.
There was a surprise in the women’s 200 backstroke. Regan Smith, a Stanford commit who won the 100 back, faded to third in the longer race.
Rhyan White took the victory in 2:05.73, with Phoebe Bacon claiming the likely second spot in 2:06.46. Smith finished third in 2:06.79, more than 3 seconds off her personal best.