Springfield's Koehler swims to finals

Recent Springfield Catholic Central graduate John Kevin Koehler did his best in the preliminaries of the men's 1,500-meter freestyle Tuesday at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team Trials in Long Beach, Calif. Then, just when it appeared that his best wouldn't quite be good enough, fate did the rest.

Koehler, who swims for the Dayton Raiders, had the best race of his life, turning in a personal-best time of 15:39.18, easily eclipsing the 15:45.26 at last year's nationals in Baltimore that earned him a trip to the Trials.

Still, Koehler's time was ninth-fastest among Tuesday's competitors, and only the top eight qualify for the finals. But when Ryan Lochte of Daytona Beach, Fla., had to scratch for today's finals, that moved Koehler into the top eight — and a state of ecstasy.

"I was so excited, I couldn't believe it," said Koehler via cell phone while watching Tuesday night's races. "There was a good 15 minutes before I went and checked to see if there was a scratch. Then someone said, 'Go ahead and check it, you never know.' When I saw that there was a scratch, I couldn't believe it. I asked the guy about 10 times, 'Are you sure? Are you sure?' And he said, 'Yes, I'm sure. Congratulations, you made it.' "

"I still can't believe it."

Koehler's performance set an Ohio open record. So this evening, the up-and-coming 18-year-old will swim with the sharks — as one of this country's eight best milers — in the 1,500-meter finals for a place on the U.S. Olympic team. The top two finishers will make the team that will compete in Greece next month.

"I'm ready to swim it again," said a confident, yet anxious Koehler. "I think I can swim some more time off it. In my mind I can swim faster, and I'm going to have some good guys pushing me."

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