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Zane Grothe swims laps during Boulder City-Henderson Heatwave swim practice at the Henderson Multigenerational Center on Wednesday. Grothe is one of three Nevadans selected to attend USA Swimming’s National Select Camp.

By Brent Hinckley (contact)

Mon, Jan 12, 2009 (11:44 a.m.)

Boulder City High junior Zane Grothe and Green Valley High sophomore Robert Hommel were chosen to attend USA Swimming's National Select Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., Jan. 22 to 25.

Two swimmers in 13 events from a nationwide pool qualified for the camp based on times from meets last summer.

"This was my goal for the last year, so I'm excited to be going and I'm really looking forward to it," Hommel said.

Cody Miller from Palo Verde was also selected from the camp, making Nevada and California the lone state's with three entries.

"When you have a strong group of swimmers in an area, the national people are going to take a longer look at you, and we're starting to get that attention," said Mike Polk, who coaches Grothe and Hommel with the Boulder City-Henderson Heatwave club team.

Grothe, 16, posted a time of 15 minutes, 45.55 seconds in the 1,500 meter freestyle at junior nationals to qualify.

"I was excited to find out I made it. You have to be the top two in your age group, so it's quite an honor," he said.

Hommel, 16, was one of four male swimmers to earn a berth based on points system. The points were earned in several events during the summer long course season. Hommel, whose main event is the 100 individual medley, was ranked fourth nationally with 4,868 points.

"This was something we had targeted all year for Robert. We hit all the right events and we knew he had a good shot at making it," Polk said. "These two are our hardest workers and earned their way to the camp."

Brent Hinckley can be reached at 948-2074 or brent.hinckley@hbcpub.com.