Swimmers

Alec John Cosgarea, a champion McDonogh School swimmer who also competed for the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, died Monday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center after being injured in an automobile accident. The McDonogh senior and Owings Mills resident was 17. Mr. Cosgarea was on his way home Monday evening after participating in a NBAC competition at the club's Meadowbrook facility in Mount Washington when he lost control of his 2006 Ford Fusion on Greenspring Avenue and hit a tree.

Jessica Long has had to overcome obstacles all of her life. The field she had to beat out to win an ESPY on Wednesday night for the Best Female Athlete with a Disability was a tough one, filled with some remarkable athletes. Long, who had to have her legs amputated when she was just 18 months old in Russia where she was born, triumphed once again, winning the award for the second time. The swimmer is the second repeat winner in the award's history. Long grew up in Middle River after emigrating from Russia.

Having swum in Michael Phelps shadow for most of his career, Tyler Clary finally made his first Olympics - and promptly dissed the guy who is headed to his fourth. Clary, 23, of Riverside, Calif., shocked the swimming world Tuesday, when a columnist for a California newspaper quoted him as saying the Baltimore swimmer with a record 14 gold medals to his name doesn't work as hard as he does. “I think the things he could have done if he'd worked as hard as I do would have been even more incredible than what he has pulled off,” Clary said to Jim Alexander of The Press-Enterprise . The remarks caused an instant ruckus online and at University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where Phelps, Clary and the rest of the recently picked U.S. Olympic swim team is training for the Games that begin in 2 1/2 weeks.

Members of the Baltimore region's close-knit swimming community were reeling Tuesday from the death late Monday of Alec John Cosgarea, 17, a varsity swimmer at the McDonogh School in Owings Mills and a competitor for the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. According to police, the rising senior was driving north on Greenspring Avenue about 10:20 p.m., approaching Highview Drive, when he lost control of his car and it left the roadway and struck a tree. He was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma, where he died, police said.

Fairly or not, elite U.S. swimmers seem to spring from largely white, suburban pools of the country, which makes Lia Neal stand out. Hailing from Brooklyn's Flatbush neighborhood, the 17-year-old Neal made the Olympic team Saturday night after coming in fourth in the 100-meter freestyle, winning a spot on the relay team that will compete in London. Neal, whose father is African-American and mother is Chinese, has been mentored by the likes of Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt, who have traveled with rising young swimmers as they gain experience competing in Moscow, Berlin and Stockholm.

Missy Franklin and Elizabeth Beisel were the top two finishers in the 200-meter backstroke Sunday, earning spots on the Olympic team. Former North Baltimore Aquatic Club swimmer Elizabeth Pelton came in third. "You don't really swim to get to third," a dejected Pelton said. Her family, who moved from Connecticut to the Baltimore area for her to swim at NBAC, were in the stands. She has been training in Naples with her former NBAC coach, Paul Yetter, and is headed to Cal-Berkeley in the fall.

Saturday marked the end of the road to London for Katie Hoff, the former Towson-based swimmer who failed to match her dominating performance in the 2008 U.S. Olympic trials. After failing to qualify in the 200- and 400-meter freestyle races earlier in the week, she entered the 800-free knowing she likely would not advance, which she didn't. "I'm proud of myself for doing it," said Hoff, who said her coach Paul Yetter left it up to her whether to swim the event. "Obviously I wanted to be better.

Brendan Hansen may have won a ticket to London on Tuesday night with a victory in the 100-meter breaststroke race, but he's found time as well to watch the rivalry that's riveted everyone: Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. "I think Ryan's really eager and I think Michael's just trying to get to the Olympics," he said of the two events in which the duo have gone one-and-two so far. "The big lights for Michael aren't on yet. "Rightfully so, he's done the greatest on the biggest stage," the 30-year-old Texan swimmer said, referring to Phelps' eight-for-eight gold-medal performance in the last Olympics.

While the vaunted rivalry between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte will continue to play out as the Olympic qualifying trials continue in Omaha, on Monday night, it was Lochte's turn in the spotlight. He won the 400-meter individual medley, although Phelps as the second place finisher also goes to London in the event. And, in fact, Phelps got a first, which he said is one of his motivations as he tries for one more Olympics: He became the first American male swimmer to qualify for four Olympics.

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.