Black Dog Swimming

University of Minnesota junior swimmer Mike Holmes (Black Dog Alumni.) finished third in the finals of the 1500-meter freestyle at the Canadian Olympic Trials in Montreal, Québec this afternoon.

Holmes, who carries dual citizenship in Canada and the United States, posted a career-best time of 15:37.55 to finish third to Ryan Cochrane and Kieran Maitland. Holmes improved on his time of 15:44.54 in the preliminaries. He also owns an Olympic Trials time standard in the United States and expects to compete in July.

To qualify for the Canadian Olympic Swimming Team, a swimmer must finish in the top two of an event and achieve a FINA A time standard. If a FINA A standard is not achieved, the winner of the event will qualify for the team if the swimmer reaches the FINA B standard.

Holmes was the 2008 Big Ten runner-up in the 1650-yard freestyle and took seventh in the 500 free. He earned All-America honors at the 2008 NCAA Championships with an 11th place showing in the 1650 free.