Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

BEIJING — Caroline Burckle (Louisville, Sacred Heart) led off the 4-by-200 freestyle relay Olympic semifinals for Team USA, turning in the second-fastest leg (1:57.86) en route to a heat victory (7:52.43) Wednesday night at the Water Cube.

The U.S. ranked second overall, behind first-heat winner France (Olympic-record 7:50.37).

Burckle was seventh at 50 meters, fifth at 100 and second at both 150 and 200. She was followed by Christine Marshall, Kim Vandenberg and Julia Smit.

Said Burckle: “It’s really important to secure the middle lane for tomorrow. Everyone on the relay did well, so I’m very excited. … It’s overwhelming, but a ‘good’ overwhelming.”

This entry was posted on August 13, 2008 at 9:45 am and is filed under Caroline Burckle, Louisville, Olympics, Swimming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.