Rising senior Margo McCawley and former Tiger and Olympian Margaret Hoelzer both earned wins Saturday at USA Swimming Toyota Grand Prix Series events in Omaha, Neb. and Charlotte, N.C.

In all, 14 current and former Auburn swimmers advanced to championship finals in Saturday’s events at the Mutual of Omaha Swimvitational and Charlotte Ultraswim. The two events are the final opportunities for swimmers to qualify for USA Swimming Olympic Trials, June 29–July 6 in
Omaha.

McCawley, competing at the Charlotte Ultraswim, clocked a 27.48 in the 50m butterfly to earn her victory. The win came after she finished fourth in the 100m backstroke with a Trials-qualifying time of 1:02.79.

Hoelzer, an Olympian for the United States in 2004, earned her win in the 100m back at the Omaha Swimvitational. She touched in with a Trials-qualifying time of 1:00.38 to take top honors in the event.

Also posting a top finish in Omaha was former Tiger Eric Shanteau as he finished second in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:02.13. Former Auburn swimmer and Olympian Mark Gangloff competed in the 100m breast preliminary, posting the fastest time of 1:00.64, but chose not to swim in the finals.

Former Tiger Doug Van Wie also competed in the preliminaries while opting not to swim the finals. Van Wie qualified for the finals in the 200 free by finishing seventh in the preliminary with a time of 1:50.57. He also came in fifth in the 100m backstroke, touching in at 55.88.

James Wike, however, did chose to swim the 100m back finals and finished eighth with a time of 57.14.

Across the country in Charlotte, former Tiger and Bahamas Olympian Jeremy Knowles had a pair of top finishes as he finished second in the 50m and 200m butterfly. In the 50m fly, Knowles came in runner-up with a time of 24.76 and was followed by Luke Weniger, a senior in 2008, in fifth with his time of 24.87.

Knowles also came in second in the 200m fly, touching in at 2:01.79. Rising junior Tyler McGill followed him in fourth place with a Trials-qualifying time of 2:02.36.

In the women’s 200m butterfly, it was Emily Kukors, one of the seniors of the 2008 class, as she clocked a Trials-qualifying 2:11.49 to finish second in the race.

Kara Denby, one of the other seniors in the 2008 class, followed by finishing fourth in the 50m freestyle with a Trials-qualifying time of 25.81. Former Tiger and Olympian Jana Kolukanova (Estonia) followed in sixth place with a time of 26.02.

In the final event of the night, rising junior Chelsea Haser posted a third-place finish in the 400m freestyle with a Trials-qualifying 4:18.83. In the men’s 400m free, rising junior Will Dove came in with a sixth-place time of 4:00.12.

Action in both meets concludes with preliminary sessions Sunday morning and finals in the evening. For more information, go to http://www.USASwimming.org.