Ryan fourth at U.S. Olympic swim trials

Kutztown High School student Gillian Ryan came oh so close to achieving an Olympic dream last week when she competed at the U.S. Olympic Swim Team Trial;s in Omaha, Nebraska. The 16-year-old finished in fourth place in the 400 meter freestyle event on June 26. Unfortunately only the top two spots qualified for the Olympic team.

She saved her best performance for the big event as she finished the race in a time of 4:07.27, topping her career best time of 4:09.51 by more than two seconds.

Swimming in eighth place at the halfway point of the race, Ryan kicked it up a notch to improve four spots before the end of the race.

Ryan was seeded just 11th in the event, but qualified for the finals with the sixth fastest time in the qualifing races.

On June 27, Ryan finished 28th in her preliminary heat of the 200 freestyle, which meant she did not qualify for the semifinals.

She finished the event with a time of 2:01.11. She was seeded 38th in the event.