Kelsey Conci to contest in US Olympic Trials for the 2012 London Olympics
Kelsey Conci, who is currently in her junior year in University of Wyoming, is now eligible for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCA) meet and has also qualified for the 2012 London Olympic Games trials.
In February, Conci swam the 100m backstroke in 1 minute and 03.15 seconds, to qualify for the US swimming trials for the 2012 London Olympics. The trials will be held in June, 2012.
Her effort was just under the time qualification bar, as international sports governing body, Federation International de Natations (FINA), has set the time standard to appear in the Olympic trials at 1 minute and 03.99 seconds.
Conci had already qualified to appear in 50 metre freestyle at the US Olympic trials. Similar to the 100m back-stroke, she qualified for the event with a very small margin, by posting a time of 26.37 seconds against the maximum limit of 26.39 seconds.
She graduated from Moffat County High School (MCHS) in 2008, where she was known as the most remarkable swimmer. The young athlete gave a noteworthy performance in the Mountain West Conference (MWC) swimming championships, which were held from February 23-26, 2011. At these championships, she swam the 50 yard freestyle and 100 yard back-stroke, for which she secured the MWC title and contested in the 200 yard freestyle, 200 yard freestyle relay and medley relay, 400 yard freestyle and medley relay, respectively.
In all these events, she finished her swim in top seven positions. In the 400 yard medley relay, Conci completed her hundred yard back-stroke in 52.54 seconds, which is a record at MWC.
Her hard work and perseverance secured her a spot in the all-conference team. She won the 100 yard back-stroke in 53.27 seconds and the 200 yard medley relay in 1 minute and 39.62 seconds. She finished third in the 100 yard freestyle and the 200 yard freestyle relay, clocking a time of 50.00 seconds and 1:31.37 minutes, respectively. She also finished seventh in the 50 yard freestyle, posting a time of 22.94 seconds.
As Conci won her events in a 25 yard pool instead of the 50m standard, she failed to meet the criteria of a long course pool and thus these performances were not counted towards the Olympic trial times.
Despite the issue, Conci expressed that she was extremely delighted over all her swims. She said, “I’m not hanging my head at all after that weekend because I am really happy about all my swims. I feel I did super well as my goal going in to the championship meet was to place in the top three in my individual events and I did that in two out of the three.”
The young swimmer added, “I never expected to be that high in any event. This will be the biggest event I have ever been to and I think it is a huge accomplishment.”
She has stunned the swimming world by qualifying for the Olympic trials. Conci said that she is very happy to have qualified for the trials, as she will have the chance to compete with top female superstars of USA Swimming. Conci added that she will prepare hard for the trials and try to make the best use of this great opportunity.
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