Jun 28, 2008

9th-grader headed to Olympic swimming trials

St. Francis' Schaefer among large local contingent

FROM DAILY NEWS DISPATCHES

Swimmers with local ties will take part in the U.S. Olympic Team's swimming trials, which begin Sunday in Omaha, Neb. The most surprising name on the list might be Los Altos' Maddy Schaefer because of her age. She just finished her freshman year at St. Francis High in Mountain View.

Schaefer, who is nationally ranked as the fastest swimmer in ninth grade, qualified for the trials in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 26.32 seconds. She broke West Catholic Athletic League records in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events this season, and placed second in both events at the Central Coast Section meet, where she led Lancers teams to first place in the 200-yard relay and third place in the 400-yard relay.

Schaefer will represent her club team, De Anza Cupertino Aquatics.

Only about 100 swimmers across the country met the Olympic trials time standards in the past three-plus years. They represent the top one half of one percent of all the people registered by USA Swimming. Most impressively, the Palo Alto/Stanford Aquatics Team is sending at least nine swimmers to the event, including:

Lauren Bailey (400 free, 800 free)

Stanford University's Brooke Bishop (50 free, 100 free, 100 butterfly, 100 backstroke)

Los Altos High School coach Peter Davis (100 fly, 100 back)

Megan Fischer-Colbrie (100 fly, 200 fly)

Palo Alto High School's Colleen Fotsch (100 fly)

Ben Hinshaw (200 individual medley, 400 IM, 1,500 free)

Palo Alto High School's Liv Jensen (50 free, 100 free)

Stanford University's Dana Kirk (100 fly, 200 fly)