INDIANAPOLIS — The beat goes on for Indiana swimmers. They are beating a path – or at least a waterway – to the Paris Olympics.
On a night 5 at the U.S. Olympic Trials in which Alex Shackell supplied sizzle, Chris Guiliano and Josh Matheny deserve to celebrate with steak.
(NOTE: The video above is on a previous report about Indianapolis already pushing to host the 2028 U.S. Olympic Swim Trials.)
Guiliano, already the first Notre Dame male swimmer to make an Olympic team, won the marquee 100-meter freestyle Wednesday before a record indoor crowd of 22,209 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Guiliano’s time was 47.38 seconds. Jack Alexey was second in 47.47, leaving defending Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel in third, 47.53. Top two make the team for the individual 100 free.
Dressel is locked into a spot in the 4x100 freestyle relay, along with backstroker Hunter Armstrong, fourth in 47.78.
In the 200 breaststroke, Matt Fallon set an American record of 2:06.54, breaking the mark of 2:07.17 held by Josh Prenot since 2016.
Matheny, of Indiana University, was third through 150 meters before surging back for second in 2:08.86. He was third in the 100 breaststroke, one spot from Paris. Ananias Pouch was third in 2:09.05.
As for Shackell, a 17-year-old from Carmel, she spent the day chasing a woman who set a world record the previous night.
She won a semifinal of the 200 butterfly in 2:06.10 and will head into Thursday night’s final as the second seed behind Regan Smith.
Shackell did break the national 17-18 record of 2:06.39 set by Smith in 2020. Shackell’s time advanced her to No. 7 on the U.S all-time list. It would have been fast enough for a bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships and a gold at February’s worlds.
Smith, on pace for an American record through 100 meters, won the first semifinal in 2:04.91 to set a national championships record. She set an American record of 2:03.87 last year.
Kelly Pash, also of Carmel, was 11th overall in 2:09.96 and did not make top eight for finals.
Hours after Smith reclaimed the world record in the 100 backstroke, she was beaten in a heat of the 200 butterfly by Shackell, who clocked 2:06.71. Smith was second in 2:07.24.
Shackell had previously made the Olympic team in the 4x200 freestyle by finishing sixth in the 200 free.
Besides Guiliano, of Douglassville, Pa., and Matheny, of Pittsburgh, six swimmers out of Indiana high schools have made this Olympic team: Alex and Aaron Shackell and Drew Kibler, all of Carmel; Lilly King, Evansville; Blake Pieroni, Chesterton; Luke Whitlock, Noblesville.
Elsewhere, Katie Ledecky won her third freestyle event of the trials, taking the 1,500 in 15:37.35. She has the 19 fastest times ever in this event, and this one ranks No. 16.
Kate Douglass won the women’s 100 freestyle in 52.56. Torri Huske claimed the other spot in 52.93. Gretchen Walsh, first at 50 meters, finished third in 53.13. Simone Manuel, the 2016 Olympic champion, was fourth in 53.13
One night after Whitlock, 18, became the youngest to make the U.S. men's Olympic team since 2000, 17-year-old Thomas Heilman of Crozet, Va., won the 200 butterfly in 1:54.50. Coincidentally, Heilman finished second in this event to Carmel’s Aaron Shackell at the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships.
Heilman is youngest on the men’s team since Michael Phelps and Aaron Peirsol in 2000.
In the 200 breaststroke, King came from behind to win a semifinal in 2:22.45 over Alex Walsh’s 2:22.81. However, both were slower than Douglass, whose 2:21.23 semifinal followed a 2:19.66 heat that set a national championships record.
Contact WTHR correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.