Michael Chadwick was behind as soon as he entered the water in the 100-meter freestyle. As the rising senior dove in on June 29 at U.S. Olympic Team Trials, his arms separated. His streamline was broken, putting him a body length behind every other swimmer in his heat.

Chadwick estimated that the rough start added a second to his race. He finished the preliminary event in 49.61 seconds, just .03 off of the time it took to make semifinals.

Had he advanced past preliminaries, Chadwick feels he could have made the U.S. team.

“I think if I was put in the final … I would’ve rosen to the occasion,” he said.

But instead of getting a chance at Olympic glory, the disappointing preliminary race left the Missouri captain confused.

“It was tough to understand why,” Chadwick said. “Why now? Why that race?”

The Charlotte, North Carolina, native called the bad start a fluke. He talked to his coaches after the event and decided he was not going to let the race ruin the rest of his meet.

“It’s something you can’t really control,” he said. “The thing I could control was how it was going to affect me. I chose to not let it affect me until after the meet.”

Two days after competing in the 100-meter race, Chadwick dove in again for the 50-meter freestyle. He advanced to finals, ultimately placing sixth with a time of 21.96 seconds.

While only the top two finishers in the race qualified for the Rio Olympics, Chadwick’s time was a personal best. His resilience did not go unnoticed.

“I think it just shows how great of a leader he is,” Missouri teammate Hannah Stevens said. “…He bounced back.”

Stevens had quite a successful meet. The rising junior placed fifth in the 100-meter backstroke, finishing ahead of Olympic gold medalists Missy Franklin and Natalie Coughlin.

Despite her high finish, Stevens did not set a best time at the meet. Her seed time of 59.67 seconds would have finished fourth, still two places shy of an Olympic berth.

After touching the wall in the 100-meter backstroke final, Stevens looked up and saw her teammates cheering in the stands. She remembers experiencing a wide range of feelings.

“It was so much emotion,” she said. “Just the pride of being there, the disappointment of wanting to do better … it was a really emotional experience.”

Stevens viewed the meet as a learning experience. Despite not finishing as highly as she wanted, she said that she is walking away from the meet, “with a smile on my face.”

“I think it taught me a lot about myself, a lot about how much I love the sport and how much I can’t wait to get back into training and pour my heart and soul into it again,” she said. “I really learned how much support I have from everyone I know and everyone who knows me from back home.”

Aside from Stevens and Chadwick, four other Tigers made it past preliminary races.

Graduate Sam Tierney qualified for semifinals in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke. He finished 15th in the 100-meter race, but his best time would have placed sixth. The Tiger great also added time in the 200, finishing 12th.

Rising senior Carter Griffin also qualified for two semifinal races. He took ninth in the 200-meter backstroke and 16th in the 100. In the 200, Griffin only missed making it to finals by .15 seconds.

Andrew Sansoucie and Katharine Ross, both rising seniors, each made it to semifinals with best times. Sansoucie took 11th in the 100-meter butterfly, and Ross finished 16th in the 100-meter breaststroke.

Chadwick was thrilled by the team’s performance; he is looking forward to seeing what the future holds for the Tigers.

“There’s a lot of things we can work on, but that was the best Olympic Trials that (Mizzou) has ever had by a long shot,” he said. “I’m excited to see what will happen this year at NCAAs.”

_Edited by George Roberson | groberson@themaneater.com_