Dale, Young compete in first event at trials

Published 8:30 pm Monday, June 27, 2016

Taylor Dale, a Dalton native and current University of Georgia swimmer, narrowly missed out on a spot in the finals of the 100 meter backstroke at the 2016 U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials on Monday. Dale finished sixth in the second of two semifinal heats and 10th overall in 54.75 seconds. The time for the eighth and final qualifying spot for today’s final was 54.63. The top two swimmers in finals make the U.S. Olympic team.

Dale advanced to the semifinals after finishing 11th in the morning’s preliminary heats in 54.95.

Ethan Young, a 2016 Dalton High School graduate who will swim at the University of California-Berkeley, also swam in preliminaries of the 100 meter backstroke. He finished ninth in his heat in 56.44, which was 57th overall out of 185 swimmers who swam in preliminaries.

Both will be back in action on Thursday at the trials competing in the 200 meter backstroke. Dale will also compete Thursday in the 200 meter individual medley and Friday in the 100 meter butterfly.