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Smith Punches His Ticket For Beijing In Relay

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By PATRICK O'NEILL

Tribune correspondent

Published: July 5, 2008

EUGENE, Ore. - EUGENE, Ore. - Things were not looking good for Florida sophomore Calvin Smith as he came off the last curve in Thursday night's 400-meter final at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials.

The 20-year-old Freedom High graduate turned into the home stretch in last place looking as if he'd lost contact with the field.

Then something happened. While the Hayward Field crowd was watching to see if 2004 Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner would be able to run down eventual winner LeShawn Merritt, Smith dug deep and started to kick.

In a flash, Smith went from eighth to fifth, and Friday morning Gators coach Mike Holloway said he confirmed that Smith will be part of the 1,600-meter relay pool in Beijing, although that is no guarantee he will get to run a leg in the games.

"I was definitely worried, but I just kept saying in my head, 'This is on TV, can't get last, and I want to go to Beijing,' so I kept pumping," Smith said.

In Friday night's opening qualifying rounds of the men's 200, Brooksville's John Capel advanced to today's quarterfinals by finishing third in his heat at 20.73. Tyson Gay, winner of the 100 earlier this week, was first in 20.43. In the final heat, St. Petersburg's Demetrias McCloud was unable to advance when he finished fifth in 21.25.

Also advancing were Florida State's Walter Dix (20.66), Palm Bay's Xavier Carter (20.86) and Gainesville's Bernard Williams (20.65).

SWIMMING: Dara Torres, 41, made her fifth Olympic team - unprecedented for an American female swimmer - by winning the 100-meter freestyle finals in 53.78 at Omaha, Neb.
Amanda Beard is also heading back to the Olympics. She became a four-time member of the U.S. squad by taking second to runaway winner Rebecca Soni in the 200 breaststroke.

Also in the 100 free, St. Petersburg native Emily Silver made the Olympic team as part of the 4x100 free relay when she took fifth in the open 100 at 54.91.

In the men's 200 individual medley, Clearwater's Robert Margalis nearly equaled his lifetime best (2:00.77) in the 200-meter individual medley but it wasn't enough to crack the top two and make the Beijing squad.

Just like the 400 IM, it was Michael Phelps (1:54.80) and Ryan Lochte (1:55.22) taking the first two places, with Phelps once again eclipsing his own world record in the event.

In Friday morning's prelims, Cullen Jones set the American and meet records in the 50 free with a time of 21.59.

Tribune staff writer Bill Ward contributed to this report.

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