BLACKSBURG, Va. - Three Hokie swimmers including Scott Beard, Jessica Botzum and Sara Smith qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in their respective events while diver Mikey McDonald barely missed his own qualifying standard this past week during the U.S. Swimming and Diving National Championships.

The 2007 ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships in Indianapolis, Ind., July 31-Aug. 4, was the last long course Nationals before the 2008 Olympic Team Trials to be held in Omaha, Neb., in June. Each event had a preliminary round followed by the top 16 swimmers advancing to the finals.

In the 100-meter backstroke, Scott Beard (Chesterfield, Va.) finished 33^rd out of 77 competitors in the preliminaries with a time of 57.71. Though the rising senior did not advance to the finals, he still bettered the 57.99 qualifying standard.

2007 All-American and ACC Swimmer of the Year Jessica Botzum (Raleigh, N.C.) was one of two Hokies to qualify for two separate events, the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke. A rising senior, Botzum first qualified in the 100-meter during the preliminaries when she finished 10^th out of 103 competitors at 1:10.16, more than two seconds ahead of the 1:12.59 standard. She went on to finish 15^th in the finals at 1:10.76 to earn two points.

Botzum attempted to qualify in the 200-meter breaststroke preliminaries but finished 46^th out of 102 swimmers at 2:36.79, missing the 2:35.99 mark. She would rebound though in a team trial event held during the competition and finish with a time of 2:30.63, giving her a second Trials berth.

Sara Smith (McGaheysville, Va.) also qualified in two separate events, the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle. During the prelims of the 50-meter, the rising junior finished ninth out of 112 competitors at 25.98, well ahead of the 26.39 standard. Advancing to the finals, Smith placed first in the B-final, ninth overall, with a quicker time of 25.71 to earn nine points.

During the prelims of the 100-meter, Smith took 10^th out of 102 swimmers at 56.17, more than a second faster than the 57.19 standard. In the finals for the second time of the week, she would place sixth in the B-final, 14^th overall, to earn three more points. Ending the week with a total of 12 points, Smith tied for 60^th in the women's individual rankings with a total of 114 women scoring at least one point.

Though not competing this past week, another Tech swimmer will be going to Omaha. Rising senior Pete Cancila (Broomall, Pa.) qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2006 Summer Nationals.

At the Kaiser Permanente National Diving Championships on the campus of Stanford University July 31-Aug. 5, Mikey McDonald (Annadale, Va.) had a strong, consistent performance against 34 of the top divers in the country but just missed a berth to the Trials. To qualify, a diver has to advance through the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds to reach the finals and then finish in the top eight to earn a berth in the 3-meter springboard.

The rising sophomore finished eighth in the first round with 343.80 points. In the semifinals, McDonald took 11^th out of 18 competitors with 332.85 points and would then finish 12^th overall in the finals at 335.80 points, just missing the Trials but still reaching the finals for the first time at the championships. McDonald will have two more opportunities in the coming year to land a spot at the Trials.

Final results for both events can be found at http://www.usaswimming.org and http://www.usadiving.org.