San Anselmo Native Places 20th at U.S. Olympic Swim Trials

San Anselmo native and Drake graduate Matt Herman placed 20th overall in the preliminaries of the 1500-meter freestyle Sunday at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

Herman, who graduated from UC San Diego just two weeks ago, clocked a 15:35.36, more than 16 seconds faster than his trials qualifying time of 15:51.50. Swimming in the second of 10 heats, Herman posted the 20th-best time of 91 competitors.

"It was a huge swim for him," said UCSD co-head coach Matt Macedo. "For a Division II, non-scholarship program, it's incredible. It is such a credit to him and he deserves it as much as anybody. We are very excited for him."

Andrew Gemmell from the University of Georgia won the prelims with a time of 14:57.29. The University of Michigan's Connor Jaeger was second (14:59.97) and incoming University of Florida Gator Arthur Frayler placed third (15:08.08). The top eight finishers in the prelims will swim in Monday night's finals.

Herman was one of the four members of the Marin Pirates who qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, according to the Marin IJ.

After competing at UC Davis for two seasons, Herman transferred to UC San Diego when David cut its program. As a junior in 2010-11, he won NCAA Division II national titles in the 1000 and 1650 freestyle events, both in school record times that remain the institution's top marks today. 

For complete trials information and results, visit USA Swimming's site at http://bit.ly/LNmMqe.