OMAHA, Neb. -- The look on Dana Vollmer's face said it all as she stared at the ground and shook her head no in declining to talk. All she needed was to finish in the top six in the 100 freestyle to be a part of the 400 free relay.
She was seventh.Vollmer had posted the fastest time in the preliminaries Friday morning at 54.35, and she returned to the pool Friday night for a 54.43 in the semifinal. Either of those times would have put the Granbury product in the top six. But she finished the final in 54.61 Saturday.Instead, Natalie Coughlin made her third Olympic team, having finished sixth in 54.44. That gives Coughlin a chance for a 12th Olympic medal, which would tie her with Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson as the most decorated female swimmers of all time."Yes, it's a relief to make my third Olympic team, but going into this race, I just wanted to be proud of myself afterward," Coughlin, 29, said. "I went for it, and I gave the best effort that I could today. This isn't the meet that I visualized or anticipated. ...But right now, I couldn't be happier."Locals swim 50 freeThree locals swam in the 50 freestyle, and Brett Ringgold led the way.Ringgold, a junior who is home-schooled in Keller, swam a 23.45 to place 89th among 167 finishers. It was his second-best time of the season."It was pretty fun," Ringgold said. "I had a pretty bad breakout, but besides that, it felt wonderful."Devin Ross was 108th (23.56), and Brad Eichenseer was 119th (23.64). Ross is from North Crowley and swims for the Fort Worth Area Swim Team. Eichenseer attended Northwest High School and recently graduated from West Virginia.Eichenseer said Saturday's race was his last."I'm done," said Eichenseer, who hopes to go into broadcast journalism. "This is retirement, my swan song right here."McClure to transferMelanie McClure, a Mansfield graduate who swims for Mansfield Aquatics, said she is transferring from Texas to Texas A&M. Her brother, John, just finished his junior season at A&M."My entire family went to A&M, and my two years at Texas really didn't go as well as I hoped," Melanie said. "I just figured out it's not the right place for me."McClure finished 152nd in the 200 backstroke Saturday, touching in 2:21.27. It was far off her personal best of 2:15.69."I don't think I did as well as I wanted to, but I came to have a good time and for the experience, and it was great," McClure said.Charean Williams817-390-7760
Felix makes statement with personal-best 200 meters
Two gymnasts make U.S. team, but 3 spots remain to be filled
Phelps edges Lochte in closest-ever 200 IM at Olympic trials
Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
