Baylor Swimmers Trey Freeman and Sam McHugh Headed to U.S. Olympic Trials

Chattanooga-(WDEF) Five Baylor swimmers have qualified for the U.S. Olympic trials this weekend, including 16-year-old Trey Freeman and 20-year-old Sam McHugh, who now swims at Tennessee.
Both guys got in one final practice session Thursday morning at Baylor before leaving for Omaha, Nebraska.
Baylor swim coach Dan Flack is not surprised Trey Freeman and Sam McHugh are headed to the U.S. Olympic Trials, given their record setting performances in high school.
Said Flack-“Sam has set two junior national records. He swam the third fastest 500-yard freestyle ever by a high schooler. And Trey has been ranked as the top swimmer for his age several times.”
But McHugh and Freeman are realistic about their chances of qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team.
Said McHugh-“To make the Olympic team. That’s kind of a shot in the dark, so I don’t really see that happening. That takes a lot of the nerves off.”
Added Freeman-“I’m a long shot to make the team at this point. I’m just so young. I’m seeded way far behind. It’ll be good to get that first experience.”
While this will mark Freeman’s first trip to the Olympic trials, McHugh qualified before in 2012
Said McHugh-“I definitely have a lot more confidence just because I have more experience racing in big meets like this.”
Added Freeman-“It’s going to be so completely different from anything I’ve ever done before. They build a pool in a basketball arena.”
Said Flack-“You’re average swim meet doesn’t have 26,000 fans sold-out every session. There’s usually not pyrotechnics going off at the end of races.”
McHugh may experience his own kind of fireworks.
He might race Michael Phelps, who has only won 18 Olympic gold medals.
Said McHugh-“Might be able to get in a heat for him, but I guess we’ll see. Be awesome to compete with him.”
Said Freeman-“Knowing that historically people from Baylor have gone to this meet and have done well at this meet. You look at those people’s names, and you’re like oh, I’m one of them now. That’s really cool.”