(Photo by Sina McCarthy)
Swimmers advance to Sunday finalsby Sarah Segal on September 12, 2009 Most of the U.S. Swim Team swimmers tasted the sweetness of satisfaction after seeing improvements in their times during Saturday's meet at Hsinchu County Swimming Plaza. None left with medals, but many advanced to Sunday's finals. Although still medal-less, swimmers Jessica Weeden and Carlisle Robinson were satisfied with significantly improved times in the 200m butterfly event Saturday evening. Weeden cut .65 seconds off her heat time of 2:35.75 to swim a final time of 2:31.10, and Robinson slashed a whopping 11.72 seconds off her original heat time of 2:42.61. Men's swimming coach Bob Laughna said endurance was the key to the women's success. "They just need to work on their technique," he said. American swimmer Samantha Elam, who swam a 29.25 in the women's 50m freestyle final, had a clean start in the event but couldn't justify her decrease in speed. In the morning heat, Elam swam a 28.98, .27 seconds less than her final time. "I'm not a sprinter; I'm long distance," she explained. "I don't know why I did worse" in the finals." Like Elam, a few others saw slackened times in the evening finals. Peggy Liang, who qualified for the 50m freestyle final A group after her performance in the finals yesterday evening, left without a medal and finished last in the women's 50m freestyle event. Her time of 28.35 in the women's 50m freestyle event was five seconds slower than her heat time at 28.30, which put her seventh. Some of the men also left with the sweet taste of personal achievement. Americans Dudley Baker, Jake Hammack, Brian Bennett, and William Landgren, who finished seventh in their 4x100m freestyle relay heat at 3:46.16, lopped 2.19 seconds off their original time and placed fifth, ahead of Belarus, Japan and Great Britain. Baker also improved his score in the 100m backstroke final, bringing his time down from 1:06.54 to 1:06.40 and placing fifth. Regardless of their times, everyone gave their all, Laughna said. "Overall, it was a good night," Laughna said. "They're really happy with the outcome. I'm happy too." |
 (Photo by Sina McCarthy)
 (Photo by Sina McCarthy)
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