Oakland Catholic grad Leah Smith earns 10th in 800 freestyle at U.S. Olympic Swim Trials
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Jun. 18—Leah Smith was busy this week with three swims at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb.
Her finale came in the 800-meter freestyle Friday morning, and the Oakland Catholic graduate placed 10th overall in a time of 8 minutes, 36.10 seconds.
Smith is the second reserve for Saturday's final and would swim if two from the top eight after the prelims are unable to compete.
Olympian Katie Ledecky, 24, a Stanford grad, led all 800 freestyle swimmers with a prelim swim of 8:16.61. The owner of five Olympic gold medals, Ledecky won the 800 at both the London Games in 2012 and the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016.
Smith kicked off the week with a fourth-place finish in the 400 individual medley (4:34.55) and took eighth in the 200 free (1:58.13).
The top two in each event earn an automatic berth to Team USA for the Toyko Games next month.
North Allegheny graduate Rick Mihm swam twice this week, and he was in the semifinal mix for the 200 IM Thursday evening.
Fifteenth after the prelims earlier in the day, Mihm, a rising sophomore at Stanford, ticked up one spot in the semifinals for 14th in a time of 2:00.96.
The time was faster than the 2:01.24 he recorded in the prelims.
Fox Chapel product and Aspinwall resident Zoe Skirboll swims one final time Saturday in the prelims of the 50 free. It is the fourth swim of her week in Omaha after taking her shot in the 100 breast, 200 IM and 100 free.
The 50 free semifinals are Saturday evening with the finals slated for Sunday. Skirboll, seeded 65th (25.94), hopes to make a run in the sprint event where anything can happen and most often does.
Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Michael at 412-856-7400 x8632, mlove@triblive.com or via Twitter .
