Wisconsin's Piper Puts Move on Hold

When Carly Piper returns to Madison, Wis., this week, the first thing she says she'll do is finish packing, because she was in the process of moving to a new apartment before the U.S. Olympic swimming trials began.

Piper probably shouldn't procrastinate, because she will have only a few weeks to begin repacking for a more important destination.

The 20-year-old rising senior at the University of Wisconsin is on her way to Athens.

By finishing fifth Saturday in the women's 200-meter freestyle final, Piper was all but guaranteed a spot on the U.S. Olympic team as an alternate on the 800-meter relay team.

"This is probably the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me," said the 6-foot-2 Piper, who is from Grosse Point, Mich., but lives year-round in Madison. "This exceeded my expectations. It was always a dream, but I never really thought it would become a reality."

Wisconsin Aquatics, which sent an 11-member team to the trials, has been assured of two Olympians. Besides Piper, Adam Mania of Hickman, Neb., a rising senior at UW, will swim for the Polish National team because he holds dual citizenship in that country.

"This is better than we could have asked for," said Erik Hansen, the UW swimming coach who accompanied the Wisconsin Aquatics club to the trials. "I'm really excited for our program and I'm really excited for our university."

Piper, who qualified for the trials in the 200, 400 and 800 freestyles, said she surprised herself by reaching the 200 final. But Hansen said he was taken aback by neither Piper's advancement through the trials nor her performance.

"She's capable of that," he said. "We knew that. She can do better at the Games."

Dana Vollmer, 16, of Granbury, Texas, made her first Olympic team by winning the 200 freestyle final in 1 minute 59.20 seconds. She'll be joined by Lindsay Benko, 27, who won gold in the 800 freestyle four years ago in Sydney. Kaitlin Sandeno and Rhi Jeffrey also will be on the relay team.

Although Piper wasn't officially announced as a member of the Olympic team - that will come later in the week as the team fills it's final spots - Hansen said a fifth-place finisher has never been omitted and was already making plans to accompany Piper to Athens.

"Since I've been 8 years old I've been dreaming about this," Piper said. "It's just amazing. Everything that I hoped would happen happened."

A six-time All-American at Wisconsin, Piper was the 2003 Big Ten swimmer of the year and 2002 conference freshman of the year. She was also a member of the 800 freestyle relay gold-medal team at the 2003 Pan Am Games and recently finished seventh in the 200 freestyle at the NCAA championships.

Hansen said Piper's development with the Badgers has been gradual. "She wasn't necessarily fast coming out of high school, so it takes time," he said.