Liberty freshman Alicia Finnigan has qualified to compete in the 200-meter butterfly at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, to be held June 26 through July 3 at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Neb.
Finnigan earned her spot in Omaha by swimming 2:14.05 for 200 fly at The Poseidon Last Chance Invitational in Richmond, Va., last weekend. She met the U.S. Olympic Trials standard of 2:14.99. She will be vying for one of 26 total spots on the U.S. women's swimming team for the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.
A native of Sugar Land, Texas, Finnigan is the second student-athlete in program history to compete in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials while enrolled at Liberty. Brye Ravettine competed at the 2012 Olympic Trials in the 50-meter freestyle, finishing in 72nd place.
Olympic Trials Schedule
Psych Sheet
Meet Information
TV Coverage Schedule
Live Webcast
How to Follow the Action
Fans can follow the meet through live results and live video streaming, both courtesy of USASwimming.org. Links to both are available on the swimming schedule page on LibertyFlames.com. Additionally, NBC will provide live TV coverage of the evening session each day, from 8-9 p.m. Eastern. Select preliminary heats will be aired on a taped-delay basis from 7-8 p.m. Eastern on the NBC Sports Network.
The trials return to Omaha, Neb., for the third time, after being held in the CenturyLink Center in both 2008 and 2012.
Preliminary heats for each event will be held beginning at 11 a.m. Eastern each day. The top 16 times from preliminaries in each event advance to that evening's semifinal round. The fastest eight finishers in semifinals qualify for the final. In order to make the U.S. Olympic team in an individual event, an athlete needs to finish in either first or second place in the final.
Finnigan will compete in the 200 fly, next Wednesday, June 29. If she records one of the 16 fastest times in morning prelims, she would qualify for Wednesday's evening semifinals. The final for the 200 fly will take place on Thursday evening.
During the collegiate season, Finnigan had a standout freshman year. She earned CSCAA Scholar All-America honorable mention and was a CCSA All-Academic Team honoree. The Texas native excelled at butterfly as a freshman, finishing second in the 200 fly at the 2016 CCSA Championships, swimming a lifetime-best and NCAA B cut 1:59.53. Finnigan also made the A Final in both the 100 fly (fifth place) and 500 free (seventh) at the conference meet. She is currently ranked second in program history in the 200 fly.
Finnigan's entry time of 2:14.05 is 67th-best among the 103 entrants in the 200 meter butterfly prelims. There will be 11 preliminary heats on Wednesday morning, with the first heat tentatively scheduled for 11:19 a.m. Eastern.
