Newport Harbor High (Newport High, Calif.) junior-to-be Aaron Peirsol will join the U.S. Olympic team in the men's 200-meter backstroke after the 17-year-old broke a U.S. Olympic Trials record in the semifinals Sunday and took second in the finals yesterday (Aug. 14) behind world record-holder Lenny Krayzeburg.

	Aaron Peirsol will be a junior this fall at Newport Harbor High, but this summer he will be an olympian.

Peirsol, SchoolSports.com's national Player of the Year in boys' swimming, is the third-fastest male ever in the 200 backstroke behind Krayzeburg and Spain's Martin Zubero, the 1992 Olympic gold medallist. Amazingly, Peirsol's Olympic-qualifying, second-place time of 1:57.98 was almost a minute off of his personal-best time of 1:57.03. Krayzelburg, 24, finished at 1:57.31, a time that beat the short-lived Olympic Trials record of 1:57.93 Peirsol set the day before.

Peirsol became the first 15-year-old to break two minutes in this event at the 1999 Spring Nationals. He earned a silver medal in the 200 backstroke at the 1999 Pan American Games, then won the event at the 2000 Spring Nationals, where he swam 1:57.03.

As a sophomore last season at Newport High, Peirsol set a new record in the 200-yard individual medley, nearly broke a national record in the 100-yeard backstroke and anchored the Sailors' winning 200 freestyle relay team.

Amanda Beard, a 1999 graduate of Irvine High (Calif.), earned her spot on the Olympic team with a second-place finish in the 200-meter breaststroke. Beard finished at 2:26.79, two seconds behind Kristy Kowal, who set an Olympic and U.S. record with her time of 2:24.75.

Beard won a gold medal and two silver medals in the 1996 Olympics at age 14.

Megan Quann, 16, of Rogers High (Wash.), took third in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:27.60. She already earned a ticket to Sydney with a first-place effort in the 100-meter breaststroke on Friday. Kristen Caverly, 15, of California, finished fourth in the 200 breaststroke with a personal-best time of 2:29.11.

Other teens that did well at yesterday's trials include Christina Swindle, 15, of Florida, who finished seventh in the 100-meter freestyle (55.77) - one spot away from qualifying for the relay team - and Dan Trupin, 17, of Illinois, who took seventh in the 200-meter IM with a time of 2:05.38.