Olympic Trials

Candie Johnson earned a place in Carroll swimming history last weekend when she qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials, slated for a year from now in Indianapolis.Competing in a meet at Towson State University in Baltimore County, Johnson swam the 50-meter freestyle in 23.25, good enough for a spot in the Olympic Trials.Johnson's time last weekend would have ranked her as the third-fastest time in that event for girls 18-under.The Westminster High sophomore also earned a spot in the Senior National Meet in April in Seattle in both the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle.

St. Paul's senior Jordan Surhoff has been swimming almost as long as she can remember. The daughter of Orioles Hall of Famer B.J. Surhoff and former internationally ranked swimmer Polly (Winde) Surhoff, she has three older swimming siblings - Austin, a senior at Texas; Kendall, a freshman at North Carolina; and 20-year-old Mason, who is autistic and swims in the Special Olympics. Surhoff, who turns 18 Saturday, put the perfect ending on her St. Paul's swimming career last weekend by winning two individual events in record time and anchoring two relays to victory as the Gators finished second in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland B Conference.

Keith Smith's inspiration for becoming an Olympic-caliber track official was born of disappointment at a much lower level.During his assistant coaching stint at Severna Park High from 1979-1984, he watched the Falcons' three-time shot put champion Steve Olekscyk get "cheated out of his second consecutive discus title.""That was at the 1983 state championships at Annapolis High," said Smith, 43, who recently was invited to New Orleans by the Olympic Track and Field Committee to work the 1992 Olympic Trials in June.

Terry Musika, an accountant and expert witness who worked in business fraud and patent damages claims, died of pancreatic cancer Dec. 18 at his Hunt Valley home. He was 64. The co-founder of Invotex, a Fells Point business, he was a legal economics expert in lawsuits involving corporate giants Apple, BlackBerry and Samsung. He also immersed himself in Baltimore legal affairs and testified in numerous local cases. "He was considered one of the top intellectual property damages experts in the country," said a colleague, Debbie Pavlik, his firm's marketing manager.

For 15 white-water slalom canoe-kayak competitors, the journey to the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, will begin in Western Maryland.Garrett County's Savage River was designated yesterday as the site of the U.S. white-water team trials, to be held May 16-17.More than 100 paddlers are expected to compete for the 15 Olympic slots in men's singles and doubles canoe, and men's and women's singles kayak."We think it's the best river in the country for having these white-water races," said Bill Endicott, U.S. Canoe and Kayak Team head coach.

Five local swimmers who are members of the UMBC Retriever Aquatics Club take off today for a week of competition at the U.S. Senior National Swim Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.They have some lofty, but obtainable, goals in mind."

SAN ANTONIO -- Beth Scott can't see from one end of a swimming pool to the other, but she can look almost a year into the future."The Olympic trials, I will make it there," said the 19-year-old swimmer from Rockville. "My dream is to be on the Olympic team. My goal is to participate in the Olympic trials."Scott, who is legally blind, has won two medals here in the U.S. Olympic Festival, including a gold for a world record in the blind 100-meter butterfly of 1 minute, 6.52 seconds set Monday afternoon.

PEOPLE ARE nervous. People should be nervous. It's 10 weeks and counting for the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials. The U.S. Olympic Committee wants issues resolved sooner rather than later, since it doesn't want to later have to strip athletes of medals they should never have been allowed to compete for in the first place. U.S. Track and Field officials wonder which athletes might actually make it to the starting line at its Olympic trials in Sacramento, Calif., July 9-18. Marion Jones wonders why she has joined the ranks of Barry Bonds when all those years she was heralded as the woman who would join Pele, Muhammed Ali and Michael Jordan as a transcendent world figure.

Baltimore could emerge as the launching pad for the 1992 United States Olympic gymnastics team.The city has emerged as one of three finalists to be host of the 1992 trials, a U.S. Gymnastics Federation official said yesterday. Columbus, Ohio, and Memphis, Tenn., are the other candidates for the event, which will bring together the nation's top men, women and rhythmic gymnasts."Baltimore put together a fabulous package," said Allison Melangton, the USGF's director of special events. "We have had many successful ventures in the area in the past.

The United States Gymnastics Federation has chosen Baltimore as site of the 1992 Olympics Gymnastics Trials.Winners of the competition here will go on to represent the U.S. in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. Of the 60 gymnasts who qualify for the trials, 14 will be chosen for the Olympic teams: six men, six women and two rhythmic.The announcement was made today by the Maryland Office of Sports Promotion, which said the city was chosen over two other finalists -- Memphis, Tenn.

First it was the drug testing, now it's the swim caps. Michael Phelps isn't being shy this year with his Olympic criticisms. On Twitter Thursday the Olympian expressed his displeasure with the new look of team USA's swim caps. His main gripe was their flaglessness. "Front and back of our caps...," he wrote on Twitter. "We used to be able to have front and back side with flags but for some reason there are rules that tell us we cant do that anymore? Smh gotta love an organizing committee telling us we can't do that anymore...

Michael Phelps , who turns 27 on Saturday, said his mother and sisters always say how hard it is to find a birthday present for him. And indeed, what he wants to open they can't exactly wrap. Phelps will spend his birthday battling Ryan Lochte for the 200-meter individual medley win at the Olympic qualifying trials after finishing second to his rival in Friday night's semifinals. Saturday is "my birthday so hopefully I get a birthday present," Phelps said Friday night.

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She's still the giggler who charmed as the sweetheart of the 1988 Seoul Games. But now, what has the 40-year-old Janet Evans laughing is her age -- or rather, that of her competition. "There was a 16-year-old," the three-time gold medalist said, her eyes widening at the youth of a swimmer two lanes over from her. She's "closer in age to Syd," she said, referring to her 5-year-old daughter. Evans, attempting an unlikely comeback after about 15 years away from competition, is not the only swimmer watching time pass before her eyes at the qualifying trials for the team that will go to the London Games.

Katie Hoff may be out of contention for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team after failing to qualify in the 200-meter freestyle preliminaries this morning. North Baltimore Aquatic Club swimmer Allison Schmitt won the prelims, besting the likes of Dana Vollmer and Missy Franklin. But Hoff, a former NBAC swimmer, came in 20th, still ailing from a stomach virus. She said she may not even attempt the remaining event on her schedule, the 800 free, which means she would sit out the London Games.

Omaha, Neb. -- Ryan Lochte again bested Michael Phelps on Tuesday night, this time in by a mere .02 seconds, in their semifinal heat in the 200-meter freestyle event of the Olympic qualifying trials. Both go on to the finals Wednesday night to see if one or both swims the event at the London Games. "I was a little sore this morning but I'm fine with that," said Phelps, who was stretching his neck from side to side as he entered for the race at the CenturyLink Center here.

OMAHA, Neb. -- Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff don't swim in every event at the U.S. Olympic trials. It just seems that way. It seems that way because the two Baltimore swimmers are in the finals of some event virtually every night, and sometimes more than one. Last night at Qwest Center, it was the first time all week that neither Phelps nor Hoff was racing for a spot on the Olympic team. No one would dispute that Hoff and Phelps are, for the most part, in a league of their own in terms of talent.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - When the men in the second semifinal of the 400-meter intermediate hurdles at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials were introduced last night, the newcomer in Lane 6 was described as being unattached. If James Carter can post another personal best and finish among the top three in today's nationally televised final, he'll have representatives of shoe companies knocking on his hotel door and a precious membership on the U.S. Olympic team that will go to Sydney, Australia, in September.

Round two of the Michael Phelps-Ryan Lochte prize fight, also known as the Olympic qualifying trials, got underway this morning with the men's 200-meter freestyle preliminaries. Phelps qualified for tonight's semifinals as third seed with -- who else -- Lochte as the top seed. "The morning felt pretty comfortable, so hopefully we can just keep everything going," Phelps said after swimming a 1:48.31. Lochte swam in the next heat, finishing at 1:48.14. The duo are coming off of their Monday night battle in the 400-meter individual medley, a race that Phelps has owned but that Lochte won this time around.