How area athletes fared in Team USA swimming trials

Caeleb Dressel reacts after winning the men's 50 freestyle during wave 2 of the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials on Sunday, June 20, 2021, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) (Jeff Roberson, Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The US swimming trials are in the books and the results are in.

Two area athletes, Caeleb Dressel of Clay High and Ryan Murphy of Bolles, qualified for next month’s Olympics in Tokyo. Ten other local swimmers gained the experience of competing at the highest level in the country over the past eight days.

Recommended Videos



Dressel qualified for the Olympics in three events, the 50 and 100 freestyle as well as the 100 fly. Murphy qualified for the 100 and 200 backstrokes. He’s the defending Olympic champion in those events. Those two will undoubtedly wind up on relay teams, too, although those lineups won’t be finalized until later.

Another local swimmer who starred in the trials was Mandarin graduate Kensey McMahon. She narrowly missed out on qualifying for the finals in both the 400 free with a 10th-place showing and the 800 free, taking ninth. McMahon reached the finals in the 1500 free and finished eighth.

A look at how all area swimmers fared in their events over the eight-day trials.

Sunday’s results

Kensey McMahon, Mandarin, 400 IM, finished 32nd in 4:52.55.

Sara Stotler, Clay High, 100 fly, finished 47th in 1:00.74.

Dillon Hillis, Jacksonville native, 100 breast, finished 26th in 1:01.90.

Tyler Watson, Paxon, 400 free, finished 29th in 3:55.37.

Monday’s results

Caeleb Dressel, Clay, 200 free, finished second in the heats in personal-best 1:46.63 but scratched out of semifinals to focus on the other five events that he’s qualified for.

Sherridon Dressel, Clay, 100 backstroke, finished 33rd in 1:01.86.

Kensey McMahon, Mandarin, 400 free, so close to advancing to 400 free finals with 10th-place finish in 4:11.03.

Ryan Murphy, Bolles, 100 back, finished third overall in heats qualifying (53.08) and moved on to Monday night’s semifinals, which he won in 52.22.

Tuesday’s results

Cole Crane, Episcopal, 200 fly, posted a 1:58.33 to win his heat and took 15th overall in heats. Advanced to semifinals where he swam a 2:00.33 and took 16th.

Jace Crawford, Episcopal, 200 fly, had a 1:58.20 to finish 14th and move on to semifinals; finished 13th in the semis in 1:58.33.

Micayla Cronk, Flagler Palm Coast, 200 free, finished tied for 30th in her event in 2:01.56.

Dillon Hillis, Jacksonville native, 200 fly, had a 2:06.09 to finish 48th in heats.

Kensey McMahon, Mandarin, 1500 free, continued her solid trials with an eighth-place finish in the 1500 free (16:16.09) to advance to Wednesday night’s final.

Ryan Murphy, Bolles, 100 back, won his event in 52.33 to punch his ticket to the Olympics.

Claire Rasmus, Bolles, 200 free, finished 23rd in heats with a 2:00.69.

Sara Stotler, Clay High, finished 42nd overall in the 200 free heats in 2:02.62; finished 32nd in 200 IM in 2:17.50.

Wednesday’s results

Caeleb Dressel, Clay High, 100 free, won his semifinal heat (47.77) and advanced to Thursday’s final.

Dillon Hillis, Jacksonville native, 200 breast, finished 49th in 2:22.64.

Kensey McMahon, Mandarin, 1500 free, finished eighth in 16:20.03.

Sara Stotler, Clay High, 200 fly, finished 26th in 2:13.93.

Tyler Watson, Paxon, 800 free, finished 17th in 8:03.24.

Thursday’s results

Micayla Cronk, Flagler Palm Coast, 100 free, finished 24th in 55.78.

Caeleb Dressel, Clay High, 100 free, won the event in 47.39 and earned Olympic berth.

Ryan Murphy, Bolles, 200 back, won his semifinal in 1:55.60 and advanced to Friday’s final.

Claire Rasmus, Bolles, 100 free, finished 25th in 55.79.

Friday’s results

Cole Crane, Episcopal, 100 fly, finished 32nd in 53.42.

Jace Crawford, Episcopal, 100 fly, finished 33rd in 53.44.

Will Davis, Bolles, 100 fly, finished 40th in 53.68.

Caeleb Dressel, Clay High, 100 fly, posted a 50.17 to advance to finals.

Sherridon Dressel, Clay, 200 back, finished 22nd in 2:12.89.

Dillon Hillis, Jacksonville native, 100 fly, finished 58th in 54.63.

Kensey McMahon, Mandarin, 800 free, finished ninth in 8:35.73.

Ryan Murphy, Bolles, scratched out of 100 fly, but won the 200 backstroke in 1:54.20 to qualify for Olympics.

Saturday’s results

Micayla Cronk, Flagler Palm Coast, 50 free, finished 60th in 26.37.

Caeleb Dressel, Clay High, won 100 fly in 49.87 to qualify for Olympics; swam a 21.51 in the 50 free semis to qualify for Sunday’s final.

Will Davis, Bolles, 50 free, finished 16th in 22.43 in the heats; tied for ninth in semis with a 22.08.

Tyler Watson, Paxon, 1500 free, finished 13th in 15:30.61.

Sunday’s results

Caeleb Dressel, Clay High, 50 free, won the event in 21.04, setting the American record in his final event of trials.


About the Author:

Justin Barney joined News4Jax in February 2019, but he’s been covering sports on the First Coast for more than 20 years.