June 26, 2009
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Five members of the Notre Dame swimming team have qualified for the World Championship Trials in Indianapolis, Ind., July 7-11. They will join Amy Prestinario, who made the cut two weeks ago in the 200 Individual Medley.
Kellyn Kuhlke (100 Fly), Katie Casey (200 Fly), Gwen Blythe (200 Breast), Maggie Behrens (100 Back) and Amywren Miller (50 Free) will each swim in the upcoming event, which is similar to the Olympic Trials during non-Olympic years. The five swimmers also swam in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
“We have a wonderful group of young women headed down to Indianapolis for the most elite meet in the United States this summer,” Irish head coach Brian Barnes said. “Notre Dame is very proud of these swimmers and we are excited to watch them perform at the World Championship Trials.”
It was also recently announced that Irish diving coach Caiming Xie will coach the 12 United States divers at the World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia, from July 4-10.
Boasting a wealth of international experience on his résumé, Caiming served as the 1980 Chinese Olympic diving coach. He was a technical consultant for United States Diving since 1994 and has held clinics and presentations for the United States Diving national team. As the Chinese national team coach from 1977-90, Caiming coached Sun Shu-Wei, a gold medalist in the men’s platform competition at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, and Zhu Jin-Hong, who finished fourth in the women’s platform in Barcelona. Caiming’s divers also have earned medals at the Asian Games, World Cup, World University Games, and World Championships.
–ND–