Caroline Burckle
Caroline Burckle
One goal Burckle recently reached was winning her first individual international title last summer at Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. Swimming a personal-best time, the 16-time All-American, who won gold as a member of the 800 freestyle relay team at 2005 World Championships, won gold in the 800 freestyle.
Burckle will try to keep the 200-meter freestyle record under the control of UF. The 16-year-old meet record of 1:58.65 set by gold medallist Nicole Haislett in the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials was broken in the semifinals round by first-place finisher Katie Hoff (1:57.10).
Burckle made headlines last year at the 2007 Pan American games, winning the gold in the 800 Freestyle. If she qualifies at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Omaha this June, she will make her first Olympic appearance in Beijing. Caroline comes from a family of competitive swimmers. Her father Chris swam for the University of Louisville and her brother Clark, also a swimmer at Florida, is scheduled to compete at this year’s Olympic trials in Omaha as well.
Burckle joins the likes of Rennee Laravie, Tracy Caulkins and Nicole Haislett as the only recipients of the award in Florida’s history. She is the 12th overall candidate and joined sophomore Gemma Spofforth on this year’s ballot, giving Florida two of the six nominees. Burckle’s win also represents the fourth straight time that a swimmer from the Southeastern Conference has been honored as Kara Lynn Joyce of Georgia, Mary DeScenza of Georgia and Kirsty Coventry of Auburn were all previous winners. Florida has only ever had one winner of the Honda-Broderick Cup, Tracy Caulkins won the award in 1982 and again in 84.
The gold medal at Pan Am’s seemed to set the stage for the remainder of the year for Burckle as she will now look ahead to the Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska. The senior has qualified herself for four events including the 100, 200, 400 and 800 freestyle swims. Burckle will be joined by nearly the entire women’s team from Florida at the June Trials and will look to be placed among some of the United States’ finest swimmers.
Now a 23-time All-American, Burckle will leave Florida as a 19-time All-SEC honoree, an NCAA and SEC record holder and an eight-time SEC Champion to go along with her two national championships. Her 23 All-American honors ties her for fifth most in school history with Jane Kerr, leaving her just five behind school leaders Haislett, Dara Torres and Kathy Treible who all finished their careers with 28 honors. The senior’s name appears on the UF record books a total of 29 times, holding school records in six different events. Burckle also moved herself into fifth on the all-time list in the 800-meter freestyle after winning the gold medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Lochte will still be in Beijing, however. He qualified for the 400-meter individual medley with a second-place finals finish. Though Lochte finished first in the semifinals and finished under the previous world record time at 4:06.08, he couldn?t keep up with 2004 U.S. Olympic teammate Michael Phelps, who shattered the record he previously held by clocking in at 4:05.25. Lochte and Phelps will fill the only two available spots on the U.S. Olympic team for the 400-meter individual medley.
For the 41st year The George Haines International Swim Center welcomes some of the top swimmers in the world for The Santa Clara International Invitational. A handful of International swimmers who have already punched their ticket to Beijing will battle against some of America’s Olympic hopefuls.
