Santa Rosa's Molly Hannis gets second chance to make Olympic team

OMAHA, Neb. - Molly Hannis has a second chance to win a spot on the U.S. Olympic swim team.

Hannis, a Santa Rosa High School and University of Tennessee graduate, was the third-fastest in the 200-meter breaststroke semifinals Thursday night at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials and will try Friday to get one of the two tickets to Rio up for grabs in the final. Hannis just missed qualifying in the 100 breaststroke, finishing third, less than six-tenths of a second behind the runner-up.

The top two times in the 200m semifinals were posted by Lilly King, who won the 100m final on Tuesday, and Micah Lawrence, who won the semi in which Hannis finished second. King clocked at 2 minutes, 24.03 seconds followed by Lawrence at 2:24.66 and Hannis at 2:24.91.

Meanwhile Thursday, Missy Franklin, the swimming star of the 2012 Olympics in London, struggled to an 11th-place finish in her 100 freestyle semifinal, failing to even make the final. That leaves Franklin with only one individual race - the 200 backstroke.

As a high schooler in London, Franklin swam seven events, winning four golds and a bronze. She has been unable to recapture that magic. Outside of a second in the 200 freestyle, she's shaping up as one of the biggest flops of the trials.

“That speed just doesn't feel like it's quite there this meet,” she said. “No idea why. It's super disappointing, but I really feel like my endurance is there, so it gives me a lot of hope for my 200 back.”

While Franklin is struggling, another Olympic gold medalist will get a chance to defend his title.

Nathan Adrian, the burly 27-year-old who won the 100 freestyle in London, used a powerful finishing kick to win in 47.72 seconds. Caeleb Dressel will also get to swim the down-and-back sprint in Rio, taking the second spot at 48.23.

On the fifth night of the meet, Josh Prenot became the latest Olympic rookie to make the team, knocking off Kevin Cordes in the 200 breaststroke. Cordes had already won the 100 breast. Also, Cammile Adams won the 200 butterfly after being briefly disqualified a day earlier during preliminaries.