Former UK All-American Rachel Komisarz punched her ticket to the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece with a come-from-behind first-place effort in the 100-meter butterfly Thursday evening at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials ? Swimming in Long Beach, Calif.

Komisarz, a three-time SEC Champion and six-time All-American from 1996-99 under Coach Gary Conelly, trailed former Olympian Jenny Thompson, Dana Vollmer and Demerae Christianson after 50 meters. A mere .48 seconds separated Thompson and Komisarz halfway through the event before Komisarz seized control, defeating her nearest competitor, fourth-place finisher Tara Kirk of Stanford, by .11 seconds in the second leg to claim an Olympic berth, the first for a University of Kentucky swimmer. The 27-year-old Komisarz won the event in 58.77 seconds, while Thompson took second in 58.99 seconds.

?Rachel came through at the right time to win this race,? Conelly said. ?Though she wasn?t swimming for us at the time, we?re really proud to call her a Wildcat and we?re excited about her chances in Athens.?

Komisarz, a Warren, Mich., native, swims for the Lakeside Swim Team in Louisville under Coach Mike DeBoor. She becomes the first athlete with UK ties to qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, former UK Rifle Cat Nancy Napolski won the gold medal in the air rifle event and former UK track standout Passion Richardson claimed a bronze medal.

The U.S. Olympic Women?s Swimming team is coached by , a 1971 UK graduate and three-year letter winner for the Wildcats. Schubert coaches the men?s and women?s swimming squads at the University of Southern California.

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