By
John Harvey
 |
| Ben Colley |
IRVINE,
Cali. – Last summer, Ben Colley went to the USA Swimming National championships
to learn how to compete in high-profile meets.
The
former Lafayette High standout showed he’s ready to compete with the best in
the country Wednesday night at the Phillips 66 National Championships at
William Woollett Jr. Aquatic Center in California.
Colley
finished ninth in the preliminary rounds with a time of 1 minute 57.81seconds,
missing the A heat finals by just one-one hundredth of a second.
“Prelims
were a little disappointing because I was so close to getting my goal for the
whole summer,” he said. “I was visibly upset, so after my race, my coaches
pulled me aside and let me know that I had another chance.”
Colley
competed in the B finals and didn’t disappoint. The University of North Carolina
product ran away from the field with a winning time of 1:56.54. The mark was
the fourth best time posted in the United States this season and ranked 16th
best in the world.
“The
time at the finals was great for me,” he said. “My coaches told me to swim more
aggressive at night. I ended up with a new personal best and Top 20 in the
World, still I’m a little disappointed I couldn’t sneak in the “A” final.”
Colley
said that he really dedicated himself to swimming this summer. He stayed in
Chapel Hill and worked out with his coaches a lot. “I wanted to see what I
could do training full-time in the summer,” he said. “I think the biggest
difference was my strength training and I stayed on the schedule that we do all
year, as opposed to swimming less during the summer.”
Colley’s
work at Nationals isn’t done. He’s scheduled to participate in the 50 butterfly
on Thursday and compete in the 100 butterfly on Friday.
Contact
me at HarveySports757@yahoo.com
or @HarveySports757 via Twitter.
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