Mike Shoryer / SPPSQueen Harrison will represent Virginia Tech and the United States in Beijing.
While Virginia Tech had multiple athletes still vying for the precious final spots, Harrison will be the lone Hokie traveling to Beijing, as no other competitors were able to advance far enough to earn a spot on the USA team.
A few, however, came very close.
Departed senior swimmer Jessica Botzum, who was racing in the 200-meter breaststroke quarterfinals, was just 0.29 seconds away from making the semifinals, as she finished 18th in 2:31.63.
This was the second close call in a row for Botzum, who last week was just .02 seconds away from making the finals of the 100-meter breaststroke. She had tied for 8th place with another competitor, but she ultimately lost in a swim-off.
Also competing in the 200-meter breaststroke quarterfinals was senior Sarah Losinger, who also failed to make the cut, finishing 63rd in 2:37.62.
Another Tech swimmer close to earning a spot on the Olympic team was junior Sara Smith, who on Thursday finished 29th in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 55.91 seconds. A few days later she would come even closer.
Competing in the women's 50-meter freestyle semifinals, Smith came just .06 seconds shy of earning a spot in the finals with a time of 25.44 seconds. Overall she finished 11th in that event.
Although she didn't make the team, she set not one, but two personal bests in the 50-meter freestyle. She first recorded a personal best in the qualifying heats by recording a mark of 25.49 seconds, and then bested that in the semifinals.
Tech also had a participant in the men's 50-meter freestyle, as recently departed senior Pete Cancila finished 111th with a time of 23.98 seconds.
The final Hokie competing was incoming freshman Jace Howanitz, who finished 89th in the women's 200-meter individual medley in 2:21.77.
As for the track team, three women competed last weekend to try to join their teammate at the Beijing Games.
Rising senior Tasmin Fanning provided a valiant effort as she made the final of the women's 5,000-meter medley. She made a good effort, finishing in 9th place in 15:41.05.
Fanning's time was about 10 seconds better than her previous best, and director of track and field for Virginia Tech Dave Cianelli was very impressed by her performance.
"Making a final as a collegian is pretty unusual," said Cianelli. "There were very few collegians even in any final, so I think that was very impressive."
Hokie teammates Sherlenia Green and Kristi Castlin both competed in the quarterfinals of the women's 100-meter hurdles. Green did not advance, posting a time of 13.96 seconds, while Kristi Castlin went through to the semifinals by finishing 11th with a time of 12.93 seconds.
She was not able to advance beyond that, however, missing the finals by .24 seconds as she finished in 13th place with a time of 13.0 seconds.
Castlin, who reaggravated her leg strain while at the National Championship, wasn't able to train as much before the trials, which Cianelli thought could have been a factor.
"I think Kristi's injury was probably healed up," said Cianelli. "But she lost some training time, which I think hurt her a little bit, leading up to the trials. She wasn't able to train quite as much as she would have had."
Even though Harrison was the only track and field athlete who made the team, Cianelli didn't necessarily believe that was a bad thing because all the competitors gained the highest national level experience
"There's not too many collegians that even compete in the trials," said Cianelli, "so for the most part they're there to get experience, typically, for their next time around."
Harrison leaves for Beijing in late July, and the opening ceremony for the Beijing Games will be held Aug. 8.
You might be interested in...- Hokies represent in Beijing
- Column: Demonstrating pride in Tech by supporting Hokie sports
- Tech alumnus to swim for Turkey in Olympics
