University of Tennessee Athletics
#SwimTrials16: Hannis, Lehane Reach Finals
June 27, 2016 | Swimming & Diving
OMAHA, Neb. -- Tennessee graduates Molly Hannis and Sean Lehane took another step toward their bid for the Rio Games, advancing to the finals of their events Monday night at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials at CenturyLink Center.
Hannis won her semifinal heat of the 100-meter breaststroke in 1 minute, 6.24 seconds to reach Tuesday's 100 breaststroke finals where she will compete with seven other swimmers for two available spots on Team USA. She is seeded second behind other semifinal winner Lilly King of Indiana (1:05.94).
Lehane will be seeded sixth overall in the 100 backstroke final after a career-best day in the event. He cut a half second off his previous best in the morning preliminaries (54.49) and then dropped his time again to take third in his semifinal race (54.08).
Hannis, who has raced professionally since graduating from UT in 2015, was seeded sixth in the semifinals after finishing the preliminary race in 1:07.21.
In both the swims Monday, Hannis surged to the finish. She passed SwimMAC Carolina's Katie Meili over the final 15 meters to reach the wall first in the evening semifinal, cutting nearly a second off her morning time.
IMPROVING OVER 2012: This week marks the third Olympic trials for Hannis and the second for Lehane. In 2012, Hannis was 27th overall in the 100 breaststroke (1:10.22). Lehane, who was only 17 years old during the 2012 trials, was 77th in the 100 backstroke (57.58).
Prelim Roundup
Joey Reilman, who will be a sophomore next season, recorded a career-best time of 55.89 to take second in the 15th heat of the 100 backstroke. He finished 27th. Incoming freshman Matthew Garcia was 127th in 57.47, and recent graduate Jimmy Dagley was 151st in 58.02.
Rising senior Colleen Callahan competed in the 100 breaststroke preliminaries, swimming a career-best 1:10.67 to win the third heat from the outside lane. She was 53rd overall.
In the women's 100 backstroke, rising junior Micah Bohon dropped half a second off her seed time to win the second heat of the day in 1:02.67. She finished 55th overall.
Tuesday's Events
The third day of preliminary races opens Tuesday at 11 a.m. Eastern (10 a.m. Central) with the women's 200 freestyle, men's 200 butterfly and the women's 200 IM.
The final session starts at 8 p.m. and will feature women's 200 freestyle semifinals, men's 200 freestyle finals, women's 100 backstroke finals, men's 100 backstroke finals, women's 100 breaststroke finals, men's 200 butterfly semifinals and women's 200 IM semifinals.
