Olympic Trials: Jock finalist in 800 meters

Former UC Irvine All-American Charles Jock finished third in his heat Saturday and qualified for Monday’s 800-meter final at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials at the University of Oregon.

Jock’s time was 1 minute, 47.35 seconds to earn one of the heat’s three guaranteed finals berths.

The top three finishers in the 5:51 p.m. final make the Olympic team.

Jock was the NCAA champion in the event in 2012.

•At the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials:

Newport Beach resident Eva Merrell finished 34th in the women’s 50-meter freestyle preliminaries Saturday, concluding her week-long run in Omaha, Neb.

Merrell, 16, swam in five events in seven days in Omaha. She clocked a time of 25.88 seconds in the 50 free.

Merrell, who swam for Corona del Mar High as a freshman, before studying online as a sophomore, had her best result in the 200 backstroke on Friday. She finished ninth in the event semifinals in a personal-best 2 minutes, 10.21 seconds, just missing the top-eight finish to move on to the final by 0.15 seconds.

Merrell, who swims for Irvine-based AquaZot, was 26th in the 100 free prelims on Thursday (55.92), 11th in the 100 butterfly, and 50th in the 100 back.

Merrill has said that she plans to return to high school swimming as a junior.

— From staff reports

— From staff reports