June 26, 2012

Omaha, Neb. - Emily McClellan of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee swimming team qualified for Wednesday's final in the 100m breaststroke at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials Tuesday with a chance to earn at trip to this summer's Olympics on the line.

In the morning prelims, McClellan finished an outstanding fourth in the nation out of 162 swimmers, breaking the Wisconsin state record with an incredible time of 1:07.45. That time was later broken in semifinals.

McClellan, who owns every breaststroke record for both the Panthers and the Horizon League, then finished fourth in her heat and eighth overall in semifinals with a time of 1:07.70 to advance to Wednesday's finals.

"We're so incredibly excited and proud for Emily," Milwaukee swimming & diving head coach Kyle Clements said. "For her to finish eighth in the United States is so amazing. She's swimming against some of the best competition in the world right now and putting up outstanding numbers. She has only had about three weeks off in the last calendar year, so she's definitely put in the hard work and it's showing with these results."

Wednesday's evening events, which will be broadcast on NBC, are scheduled to start at 7 p.m. with the 100 breaststroke listed as the fifth event. The top two finishers in Wednesday's final will earn a trip to London to represent the USA at this summer's Olympic Games.

Milwaukee sophomore Becky Yokosh also swam on Tuesday, just missing a personal record in the 100m backstroke with a time of 1:04.38 for 99th out of 162 total swimmers.

"Becky swam well and just missed her PR," Clements said. "She'll do better in the 200 backstroke on Saturday and we're looking forward to what the rest of this week holds for Milwaukee swimming."