INDIANAPOLIS — The U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials are nearing an end in Indianapolis as swimmers compete for a spot on Team USA in the Paris Olympics.
Two swimmers coached by Matt Kredich had a swim-off to earn the last spot in the 100-meter relay. Erika Connolly and Catie DeLoof tied for 6th place in the 100-meter finals.
They had to swim head-to-head for a spot on the relay team. Connolly won by less than a second.
University of Tennessee swim coach Matt Kredich said this was a situation he had never been in before with his athletes.
"I don't even remember if I've had swim-offs between two swimmers that I've coached, much less for something with high stakes in our sport to make an Olympic team, which is the hardest Olympic team to make," Kredich said.
Even when the stakes were high, Kredich was still proud of them both.
"I enjoyed the fact that both of them put themselves in that situation," he said. "Just so proud of each of them for what they did to get there. I felt like the best thing that I could do was coach each of them as well as I could, and then help each of them meet the moment in a way that honored their friendship and they took care of that on their own. They're just incredible people, and it was an incredibly close race."
Kredich said the emotions were high with both swimmers, while each attempted to remain compassionate for the other.
"Catie was happy for Erika and devasted for herself," Kredich said. "Erika was devasted for Catie and really happy for herself and the two of them will remain friends, I think, for a long time."
According to Kredich, each time that Erika competed, she performed better and better.
"So Erika qualified 16th for the semifinals. That's the last semifinal spot. And then she tied for eighth, which is the last semifinal spot," he said. " And she had to do a swim-off for that. She won that swim-off. And then, they tied for sixth, which is the number of people they take for the relay, so they swam off for the last relay spot."
Kredich said Connolly competed in five 100-meter freestyles, noting the difficulty of doing those races so many times in a 48-hour period.
"It's a lot of swimming. The other amazing fact is that each time she swam, she got faster," Kredich said. "Erika, she bleeds orange. She's a Lady Vol through and through. And I think she is just as excited to represent Tennessee as she is to represent the United States."
Both DeLoof and Connelly will compete in the 50-meter freestyle on Sunday.
You can watch the full interview below: