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Mount Holly's Kelsi Worrell advances at swimming trials

OMAHA, Neb. - Kelsi Worrell arrived at the 2016 U.S. Olympic swimming trials with almost no international experience. That will change in Rio.

OMAHA, Neb. - Kelsi Worrell arrived at the 2016 U.S. Olympic swimming trials with almost no international experience.

That will change in Rio.

The Mount Holly swimmer, a 22-year-old Louisville student, earned an Olympic spot by winning the 100-meter butterfly earlier this week in her initial trials appearance. On Wednesday night she qualified for the 200 final, though her time of 2 minutes, 8.94 seconds was just fourth best in the two semifinals.

"That last 50 was really hard," she said, referring to a stretch battle with winner Hali Flickinger. "But my goal was to get a little better in this event and my time tonight was better than in the heat."

So far, Worrell's only international competition came at last year's Pan American Games. Her most notable pre-trials experience was winning both butterfly events at each of the last two NCAA championships.

"It's nice to have some success here," she said. "This is what I've been training for all year."