Ballard High School freshman swimmer Annemarie Thayer has qualified for the 2008 Olympic Team Trials in the 100 and 200 backstroke.

Thayer swims for Salmon Bay Aquatics year round and will be in Omaha, Neb. to July 6. She has an opportunity to make the U.S. Olympic team and go to the Olympic Games in China this summer.

In the 100 back, Thayer has a time of 1:04.36 this year. She needed 1:04.56 to make the trials. A time of 2:17.09 was less than the 2:17.99 needed to go the Olympic Trials for the 200 back.

"She has been working real hard with her club program. Annemarie is very, very talented," said her Ballard Beaver coach Carlos Palacian.

Thayer attends Kings High School and is allowed to swim for Ballard because her school does not have a girls swimming program.

Freshman Amber McDermott of Jackson High will represent Salmon Bay in the 200 back and 400 IM. Lauren Hall, who graduated from Holy Names in 2007 and now attends UCLA, will go the trials in the 200 and 400 IM.

"They are the only swimmers from a Seattle based team who are qualified," said Salmon Bay Aquatics head coach Doug Rusk.

With three years left in school, Thayer will have more opportunities to make the Olympic team and represent her country in the future said Palacian.

"She is part of the Ballard High School family. We are excited for her and for her team. We hope she does well. We will be cheering for her all the way," said Palacian.

Salmon Bay trains at the Ballard Pool and is second to only King Aquatics in producing national caliber swimmers. The club has fewer than 100 swimmers, compared to 450 for King Aquatics.

Ranked 64th among the 2700 swim clubs in the non-profit U.S., Salmon Bay was given the Silver Medal Club in the 2007 USA Swimming Club Excellence Program. The swimmers range in age from six to 18 years of age.

In 2000, the club sent five swimmers to the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Dean Wong may be reached at deanw@robinsonnews.com