PULLMAN – WSU swimmer Rugile Mileisyte’s successful summer will culminate with a trip to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
A native of Alytus, Lithuania, Mileisyte will compete for her home country at the Olympics in the 50 freestyle, Aug. 15. She earned a qualifying time of 26.32 seconds in a time trial at the Seven Hill Trophy meet in Rome, Italy, June 7. A day earlier, she finished seventh in the B final with a swim of 26.54.
At the Lithuania Open Championships, June 12-14, Mileisyte captured five gold medals and one silver medal while competing for the Kaunas Swim School. During day one, she broke her own national record in the 50 backstroke with a time of 30.36 and swam leadoff on the gold medal-winning 4 x 200 free relay team.
She won gold in the 100 back (1:05.21), led off for the 4 x 100 free relay team that won gold and took home a silver medal in the 50 free after finishing in 27.04, three one hundredths of a second off the winning time, during day two of the competition. She completed the meet with a gold medal in the 100 free (58.26) during the final day of the championships.
Mileisyte will train in Vilnius, Lithuania until the end of the month before traveling to Slovenia with the Lithuania national team for training camp. She will compete once more (July 11-13) prior to the Olympic Games.
