Posted on: Monday, July 12, 2004

Sun earns berth in backstroke final

Advertiser Staff

Hongzhe Sun of 'Ewa Beach will swim in his first U.S. Olympic Trials finals today after finishing fifth in the 200-meter backstroke semifinals yesterday at Long Beach Calif.

Sun, a 2003 Iolani School graduate, finished the semifinals in 1 minute, 59.67 seconds. Aaron Peirsol, who has qualified for the Olympics in the 100 backstroke, won in a meet-record 1:55.33 and Michael Phelps, also a member of the Olympic team, was second in 1:57.30.

Earlier yesterday, Sun was fourth in the preliminaries in 2:00.41. The top 16 advanced to the semifinals and the top eight in the semifinals advance to the finals. The top two finishers in the finals earn Olympic team berths.

Sun, a Stanford sophomore, finished 10th in the 100-meter backstroke semifinals on Thursday.

Also yesterday, Keiko Price, a 1996 Mililani graduate, finished 35th in the 100 freestyle preliminaries in 57.49 seconds.