Rising Corona del Mar sophomore swimmer Eva Merrell, who challenged Katie McLaughlin in the 100-yard butterfly at the CIF-SS Division 1 finals in May and won the backstroke, has entered a home-schooling program to focus on next year’s U.S. Olympic Trials and won’t race for the Sea Kings this spring, her club coach confirmed.
“This is what she wanted to do,” Aquazot coach Todd Hickman said of Merrell.
Merrell, 15, continued her rise at last month’s winter nationals, where she clocked a time of 58.58 seconds in the 100-meter butterfly, which ranks her seventh in the nation this year.
The time also ranks second all-time in the 15-16 age-group to the lengendary Mary Meagher’s 57.93 from 1981.
Kelsi Worrell (57.24) and McLaughlin (57.87) own the top-two U.S. times for the women’s 100-meter butterfly for 2015, the buildup year for next summer’s Olympic Trials.
“She’s at that level,” Hickman said of Merrell, who has qualified for Trials in five events.
McLaughlin also ranks second nationally in the 200 butterfly and fifth in the 200 free for 2015 long course meters.
Please send swimming news to Dan Albano at dalbano@ocregister.com
