Printer Friendly Version - Gambardella Swims 200 Butterfly at Olympic Trials

Guilford resident and Soundview YMCA Stingrays swimmer Corey Gambardella finished in 47th place with a time of 2:01.96 for the 200-meter butterfly at United States Olympic Team Trials in Men’s Swimming in Omaha, Nebraska on June 28. Gambardella (right) is pictured with his Stingrays’ coach Wesley Crozier.Photo courtesy of Ashley Olson

Guilford resident Corey Gambardella competed in the preliminary heat of the 200-meter butterfly at the United States Olympic Team Trials in Men’s Swimming in Omaha, Nebraska on June 28. Gambardella didn’t qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics, but still finished 47th out of 81 athletes with a time of 2:01.96. Olympic legend Michael Phelps placed first at 1:56.68.

Gambardella, who recently finished his junior year at Guilford High School and also competes for the Soundview YMCA Stingrays from Branford, earned a spot in the trials after competing in the Arena Pro Swim Series at the University of Texas on Jan. 16. At that meet, Gambardella swam the 100 and 200 butterfly events. In the 100, he nabbed a personal-best time of 54.97 seconds, which was just 0.18 seconds away from making the cut. Then in the 200 butterfly, Gambardella swam in the B final and completed the event in 2:01.52—recording his best time and securing his spot in the Olympic Trials by less than half a second.

On the high school circuit, Gambardella, who’s a member of the Branford-Guilford boys’ swimming and diving team, took first place in both the 200-yard individual medley and 500 freestyle at the SCC Championship on March 3 this past winter. Gambardella swam a time of 1:56.14 in the IM and also delivered a mark of 4:34.23 in the 500 free to defeat defending champion Karl Bishop of Cheshire. Then at the Class LL State Championship, Gambardella finished second in the 100 butterfly and was third for the 200 freestyle. Gambardella swam a personal-best mark of 49.78 seconds in the butterfly and came back to set another personal best with his third-place finish in the 200 free by going 1:41.99. At the State Open, Gambardella was again second in the butterfly with his 49.03 and he also placed fourth in the 200 free at 1:40.63. Gambardella additionally contributed to several strong postseason showings in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays during his junior season.

As a sophomore, Gambardella won the 100 butterfly at the SCC Championship with a time of 51.86. He has earned All-SCC, All-State, and New Haven Register All-Area honors in each of the past two seasons.