Olympic roundup: Swimming star Karlee Bispo ponders retirement

After all the laps, all the pain and all the sacrifice, Karlee Bispo seems upbeat with the outcome.

She’s 26, a competitive swimmer since she was 8, and the countless medals and awards could overflow a trophy case. If this is the end, she’s good with it.

“I know my excitement has shifted away from swimming,” she said after her third appearance at the USA Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb. “I’m taking my time thinking about the next step. I’m pretty content with where I’m at with my swimming career.”

Bispo, the Downey High School graduate and 18-time All-American at Texas, soon will pursue a career in medicine. New goals are set. The hard part, of course, is closing the chapter that defined her young life.

“For the past year or so, I thought this might be the end,” she said. “I’m not exactly sure.”

If it’s over, Bispo holds no regrets. The only thing she didn’t accomplish is a berth in the Olympics.

Bispo didn’t exactly leave Omaha without a fight. She elected to compete in both of her strongest races, the 200-meter freestyle and 200 individual medley, though both are conducted on the same day. She reached the semifinals in both, placing 15th in the IM and 16th in the free. She finished 19th in the 100 free and missed the semifinals.

Four years ago, she scratched from the IM and devoted herself to the 200 free, in which she placed 12th. She also placed ninth in the 100 free, one spot short of advancing to the final.

Fact is, Bispo would have been Olympics-bound more than once had she competed for anyone else other than the always deep and powerful USA team.

“(Six-time Olympic medalist) Allison Schmitt told Karlee, ‘You went out with a bang,’ ” said Bispo’s father, Frank Bispo, a former Downey football coach. “She gave everything she had since she was 8.”

One of Bispo’s greatest achievements was her gold medal at the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. Swimming the third leg of the 4x200 free relay, she joined teammates Katie Ledecky, Shannon Vreeland and Missy Franklin to win in a time of 7 minutes, 45.14 seconds.

“During the national anthem, I thought of all the crazy things and all the hard work I’ve gone through,” she said. “It was all worth it.”

Bispo also is proud of her Big 12 Conference Swimmer of the Year award in 2011. She also was named the Texas Women’s Athlete of the Year in 2011.

Her success wasn’t lost on the large Bispo family. Younger sisters Kassy and Kerra swam on scholarship at BYU, and 9-year-old Kayde shows promise.

“While I practiced last week, I thought of how weird it would be to not have swimming as part of my life,” Karlee said. “I know my swimming experience will help me with this next step.”

Alvarado 11th in 800 semis – Cal State Stanislaus’ Abraham Alvarado placed 11th in his heat of the 800 meters and did not advance to Sunday’s final at the USA Olympic Track and Field Trials.

Alvarado, an Atwater product and two-time NCAA Division II runner-up in the 800, was timed in 1:48.41. The top three from each of the two heats, plus the two fastest outside the top three, qualified for the final at Oregon’s historic Hayward Field.

The Stanislaus star was ranked 27th out of 32 as he entered the competition. He advanced to the semifinals Friday by running 1:47.17.

Alvarado was the first Warrior to qualify for the Trials as a Stanislaus student-athlete. The last to get there was 400 specialist Joel Stallworth, an assistant coach at Cal Poly Pomona in 2008 following his career at Stanislaus (2005-07).

The Warriors’ Channing Wilson, a Turlock graduate and three-time California Collegiate Athletic Association javelin champion who placed fifth at the D-II nationals, will compete Thursday.

Patterson grad qualifies for Paralympics – Danielle Hansen, a graduate of Patterson High and a senior at Washington, was one of seven athletes selected by USRowing for the Paralympic Games in September in Rio de Janeiro.

Hansen, beset by Erb’s Palsy – a nerve condition in her left arm – will row with teammates on the legs, trunk and arms four with coxswain crew. Hansen and teammates earned consecutive silver medals at the World Rowing Championships in 2014 and 2015.

This story was originally published July 2, 2016 at 6:27 PM with the headline "Olympic roundup: Swimming star Karlee Bispo ponders retirement."