Peirsol is top seed in 200 back

Aaron Peirsol, the former Newport Harbor High swim phenom, advanced

to the 200-meter backstroke final as the top seed in a meet-record

time, 1 minute, 55.33 seconds, while Corona del Mar High

sophomore-to-be Stephanie Gabert finished 29th in the 200

breaststroke at the U.S. Olympic swim trials at the Charter

All-Digital Aquatic Center in Long Beach Sunday.

Peirsol qualifying as the top seed came as little surprise, but

his time in the semifinals was stunning, considering his world-record

time is 1:55.15.

“I was real excited about [my time],” Peirsol said in a telephone

interview. “I didn’t think I was going to go that fast. It felt

pretty nice. It was a good surprise.”

While Michael Phelps, who qualified second (1:57.30), will be in

today’s final, Peirsol seems to be more excited about finishing

faster than he did Sunday.

“I really do feel like I can go under that time,” Peirsol, 20,

said. “I have a lot left. I really didn’t take it all out [Sunday

night]. It will just matter how I feel. But I feel pretty confident

going into [tonight].”

Today’s 200 back final is the third event of the evening session

that starts at 5 p.m. The winner will be guaranteed a spot on the

U.S. Olympic team, while the second-place finisher most likely will

go to Athens next month, as well.

Phelps, who is attempting to match Mark Spitz’s feat of winning

seven gold medals, entered the 200 back as the No. 2 seed with a time

of 1:55.30.

Phelps will be Peirsol’s greatest competition since 2000, when

Perisol finished second to Lenny Krazyelburg at the Olympics. Peirsol

is excited to swim against Phelps, as well as the other six swimmers,

in today’s final.

“I think I’ll go pretty fast,” Peirsol said. “If he can beat me

with what I can do [tonight] then he deserves to beat me. It should

be pretty interesting.”

Earlier in the day, Peirsol won his heat and was the top qualifier

in the preliminaries, finishing in 1:58.89. Phelps also won his heat

and qualified second, just as in the semifinals, touching the wall at

1:59.94.

Meanwhile, Gabert did not come in under her personal best and

finished in 2:36.21 in the preliminaries of the 200 breaststroke. She

was satisfied with her experience, but was initially disappointed

with performance after her race.

“But then I realized it’s just hard to be here in such a huge

meet,” Gabert said. “I did a pretty good job. I have a better

understanding of what the Olympic trials are like.”

Gabert, a 14-year-old, entered the 200 breaststroke as the 43rd

seed in a time of 2:35.30, which she completed at the Meet of

Champions in Mission Viejo two months ago. She was pleased she moved

up 14 spots with her finish Sunday.

Her coach, Brian Pajer of the Irvine Aquazots, appreciated

Gabert’s reaction to her finish.

“Any time you finish under what you know you can do, you feel a

little disappointed,” said Pajer, also the coach of the swim teams at

UC Irvine. “But when she looks back at this, she will be satisfied

and maybe more hungrier for what she can do in the future. Maybe this

can be a motivator.”

Gabert said she plans to take in the rest of the Olympic trials,

then she will prepare for the Summer National championships, next

month at Stanford.

-- Steve Virgen