by Dan Froehlich, Auburn Media Relations
Heat 10, lane 7. The final prelims heat.
“You’re in that heat because of the time you’ve gone before.”
Those words, spoken by Rachel Apple, were an attempt to calm down her older brother, Zach, as he was preparing to race the men’s 100m freestyle prelims at this summer’s USA Swimming Olympic Team Trials.
It didn’t matter that in lane 6 directly next to him was Conor Dwyer, a 2012 Olympic medalist, or that Ryan Lochte, an 11-time Olympic medalist at that point, was just a few lanes further down the pool.