The Omaha 17: Swimmers Who Competed at All Four Omaha Trials Meets

The 2024 US Olympic Trials will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium, primarily a football stadium, which means that the four-quad run in Omaha is over.

Double Olympic gold medalist Tom Shields mused on Twitter that he was there for the entirety of the “Omaha era” of the U.S. Olympic Trials, meaning that he competed in all four meets held at the Qwest Center/CenturyLink Center/CHI Health Center.

Luckily, we have swimming’s greatest statistician, Barry Revzin, to answer just these kinds of questions.

According to Barry’s research, there were 17 swimmers who competed at all four Omaha meets. Most of the names are recognizable. Of the 17, 12 swimmers are Olympians.

Of those who are not, Grothe is an American Record breaker, Stewart is a former World Record holder, and Madison Kennedy is a three-time short course World Record holder.

The less recognizable names include Brandon Fischer, who has become a fixture on the US National Team in his 30s while splitting training with his work at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California; and Austin Surhoff, is a three-time NCAA Champion who semi-finaled at the 2008 Trials and is currently training while coaching at Johns Hopkins.

Maybe the least-known of this group, especially among younger swim fans, is Michael Arnold. He was a good swimmer at Georgia from 2008-2012, qualifying for the NCAA Championships three times. As a senior, he finished 10th in the 100 fly and 15th in the 50 free at NCAAs. In 2012, he finished 17th in the 50 free in 22.70 – his best finish at four Olympic Trials. In 2021, he swam at the Wave 1 meet, finishing 43rd in 23.24.

The Omaha 18

Amanda Weir is especially notable, as she has competed at six straight Olympic Trials meets, having raced in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2021.

This was surprisingly-long initially: to swim at all four meets, athletes of the right age would have had to have been good enough at a young age to qualify, and then 13 years later still good enough to stretch their careers into their late 20s or early 30s and still be competing. Upon further consideration, though, it became maybe less surprising: swimmers who are good enough in their late 20s to still be competing were often already very good in their teens.

There were 73 swimmers who competed at the 2012, 2016, and 2021 Olympic Trials:

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SECBias
1 year ago

Josh prenot not getting marked tough

SwimmerNotSwammer
1 year ago

Are you guys sure about kendyl Stewart? I don’t see her anywhere on the results for 2021.

austin surhoff
Reply to  Braden Keith
1 year ago

And then there were 17

Michael Arnold
1 year ago

I don’t know what I ever did to Braden Keith to deserve the “least-known” moniker, but I guess any publicity is good publicity…

Connor McBegger
Reply to  Michael Arnold
1 year ago

Can’t tell if this is tongue-in-cheek or not.

Bruh, I read this article and I’ve still never heard of you…

Michael Arnold
Reply to  Connor McBegger
1 year ago

Bahaha very much tongue-in-cheek! No doubt I’m an afterthought on this list!

Anival Rdz
Reply to  Michael Arnold
1 year ago

Dude, it was surprisingly cool to see your name on the list haha. Cheers dude!

austin surhoff
1 year ago

i’m here for a long time not a good time…wait crap

Oets
Reply to  austin surhoff
1 year ago

come back uncle austin!

AThomas
1 year ago

Of course no one is actually swimming’s greatest statistician. It is like saying “she is the worlds greatest doctor.” There are too many specialties to really make that claim. Some people are great at efficiently compiling data and coming up with a list. Some people can tell you the splits of the 2004 4 x 200 relay off the top of their head. And some people can tell you Spitz first WR (400 free), where Durden swam summer league (Jersey Village) or why Carly Piper swam finals in the 4 x 200 over Komisarz even though Komirsarz had the faster prelims split (coaches used raw time meaning they subtracted out reaction time).

swammer
Reply to  AThomas
1 year ago

you sound fun

BearlyBreathing
Reply to  AThomas
1 year ago

I bet you would even have a problem with my “Worlds Greatest Dad” mug.

swimswamswum
Reply to  AThomas
1 year ago

Drew Modrov went on to set 4 finswimming American Records

mds
Reply to  AThomas
1 year ago

Why the heck would anyone down vote this AThomas note?

PK Doesn't Like His Long Name
1 year ago

Low key my favorite part of this is that a 2000 Olympic gold medalist makes the second list but not the first.

anonymous
1 year ago

Beisel?

Rotarycoach
1 year ago

You are missing another big one (olympian)- Micah Sumrall (Lawrence)- All 4 Trials for her as well.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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