The U.S. Olympic teams in swimming and track and field, two of the summer games’ marquee sports, are decided in the most fair manner possible: head-to-head competition.
Only the top few finishers advance to the Paris games.
The weeklong swimming trials, held in Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts, concluded June 23. The track and field trials followed at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field in Eugene and ended Sunday.
Delaware was represented at both events. Here is how the athletes with First State ties fared.
The Paris Games will begin July 26 and end Aug. 11. Pool events are scheduled to take place from July 27 to Aug. 4. Track and field events are scheduled for Aug. 1-Aug. 11.
Swimming
Tommy Janton
Two years removed from being named Delaware’s high school boy Swimmer of the Year as a Salesianum senior, Janton placed fourth in the 200-meter backstroke in 1:57.12 at the U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials. Swimming in his second Olympic trials, the rising junior at Notre Dame set a 200 back personal best of 1:56.87 in a preliminary round. Janton also finished eighth in the 100-meter backstroke in 53.87. He did not qualify for the Olympics.
Lainey Mullins
Mullins finished 36th in the 200-meter butterfly and 43rd in the 400-meter freestyle at her first Olympic trials. At Tower Hill from 2019-2023, Mullins won a Delaware record 20 state meet gold medals. She is a member of the state record 200- and 400-yard free relays. Mullins is entering her sophomore year at Virginia.
Rachel Bockrath
About two weeks after she graduated from Brandywine, Bockrath finished 33rd in the 100-meter freestyle at the Olympic trials. The Delaware state record holder in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyle, Bockrath is heading to Ohio State in the fall.
Gavin Currie
The Frederick, Maryland native is entering his senior year at the University of Delaware. At the Olympic Trials, Currie finished 49th in the 200-meter backstroke.
Track and field
Marquis Dendy
The Middletown graduate did not make the U.S. Olympic team, finishing 11th in the event at the trials Monday.
It was the second time in four trips to the trials that Dendy failed to earn a spot on the Olympic roster. In 2016, Dendy made the team, but did not compete in Rio after suffering a torn Achilles at the trials. He made his Olympic debut five years later at the 2021 Tokyo Games. Dendy also competed at the trials in 2012 weeks after wrapping his freshman year at the University of Florida.
Dendy won his second U.S. title last year in the long jump at age 30, leaping 8.14 meters (26 feet, 8½ inches) on his first of six attempts.
He was a seven-time NCAA champion in the long and triple jumps at Florida and the 2015 winner of The Bowerman as the NCAA’s top track and field athlete. In high school, he set state records outdoors in both the long jump (24-6.25) and triple jump (50-10.75), and indoors in the triple jump (52-1.5). Thirteen years after he graduated from Middletown, the records still stand.
Brahmir Vick
With a personal best of 13.54 in the prelims, Vick advanced to Thursday’s semifinal in the 110-meter hurdles. There, the Middletown High and Naval Academy graduate placed 21st, failing to reach the final.
Vick, who graduated from Middletown in 2020, set Delaware state records in the indoor 55-meter hurdles (7.28) and the outdoor 110-meter hurdles (14.00). His 110 hurdles mark was broken in May by Smyrna’s Elijah Williams at the Meet of Champions.
Vick holds the Navy records for the 110 hurdles and the indoor 60-meter hurdles.
Lydia Olivere
The Padua alum, now competing for the Under Armour Mission Run Baltimore Distance team, placed 25th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:00.71. It was Olivere’s second time competing at the trials since graduating from Padua in 2018 and Villanova in 2023. At Padua, Olivere earned state MVP honors six times across the three running seasons and won 11 of 12 possible outdoor titles in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters.
Michaela Meyer
The former Blue Hen failed to advance past the opening round of the 800 at this year’s Olympic trials. It was Meyer’s second time competing for a spot on the team. In 2021, Meyer won the NCAA championship with a time of 2:00.28 as a graduate student at Virginia and went on to place fourth at the trials in 1:58.55, 16 hundredths of a second out of third. The Southbury, Connecticut native now competes for Nike.
Brandon Holveck reports on high school sports for The News Journal. Contact him at bholveck@delawareonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: How Delaware athletes fared in the swimming and track and field trials
