Richmond, Tom Fail to Advance in US Olympic Trials

Renny Richmond of Seabury Hall. File photo by Rodney S. Yap.

By Rodney S. Yap

Maui’s Renny Richmond was eliminated from the men’s 100-meter butterfly at the US Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Neb., finishing 9^th out of 10 swimmers in heat 11.

The Seabury Hall senior-to-be was timed in 54.66 seconds, which ranked him 58^th of the 122 swimmers who qualified and swam the event on Saturday.

The 17-year-old was the youngest competitor in his heat, which was won by Tim Phillips in 52.14 seconds, fourth overall and. 34 seconds behind Michael Phelps, who won his heat with the top first-round time of 51.80.

The top three finishers from Richmond’s heat advanced to the next round. Second-place finisher Tom Shields also advanced in 52.18 as did third-place finisher Eugene Godsoe in 52.58.

Richmond, who has five state medals to his credit, was seeded 30^th coming into the trials with a qualifying time of 53.88.

Former Seabury Hall swimmer Randall Tom placed fourth in heat 10 with a time of 54.24.  Jacob Jarzen won heat 10 in 53.12 and was the lone swimmer to advance. After today’s preliminary heats, Tom was ranked 32^nd. He entered the trials seeded 40^th.

After semifinal results, Phelps remains the top swimmer at 51.35. Shields (51.89), Phillips (52.17) and Godsoe (52.47) — all from Richmond’s heat in the morning — advanced to tonight’s finals.

Jarzen, the winner of Tom’s heat, finished sixth in his semifinal in 53.05, behind Tyler McGill (51.88), second overall, and finalist Phillips and Ryan Lochte (52.47).