It’s a fluid situation at trials

OMAHA -- One shock after another unfolded at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, almost a changing of the guard in one session Thursday night at the Qwest Center.

Brendan Hansen, who held the world record in the 200-meter breaststroke a month ago, won’t be swimming that event in Beijing. Nor will the silver medalist at the World Championships last year in the 200 butterfly (Kim Vandenberg) or the woman who finished fourth at the trials four years ago at that distance (Mary DeScenza).

And in the 100 freestyle, a relative newcomer, Garrett Weber-Gale, upset two-time Olympian Jason Lezak of Irvine, who had reclaimed his American record in this event in the semifinals. Weber-Gale won in 47.92 seconds to Lezak’s 48.05.

“I’ve been completely shocked by the events tonight,” said Amanda Beard, who had the second-fastest qualifying time for tonight’s 200 breaststroke final in 2:25.43. “Everything went crazy.”

Crazy time started with Hansen finishing fourth in the 200 breaststroke. Hansen hasn’t seemed the same since rival Kosuke Kitajima shattered his world record last month. Scott Spann and Eric Shanteau, two training partners of Hansen’s at Longhorn (Texas) Aquatics, finished first and second, respectively.

“I came to the pool tonight and didn’t have a very good feeling about warmup and just everything in general,” said Hansen, who was almost three seconds off his American record, going 2:11.37 and fading badly in the final 50. “These guys just brought it tonight.”

He may have been focusing too much on Kitajima. Now Hansen will have to watch from the sideline in the 200.

“It’s going to be hard,” Hansen said. “I’m going to show these guys what to do to beat him. If I can’t do it, I want to make sure they do. And you know what I mean by him.”

Lezak, for his part, admitted he has been nervous.

“I really haven’t slept in two weeks. I’ve been so anxious about this meet,” he said. “In Beijing, it’s going to take a lot faster than that to get a medal, that’s for sure. I’ve just got to be prepared three times to swim faster than that.”

The string of unusual results continued in the 200 butterfly with Elaine Breeden (2:06.75) and Kathleen Hersey (2:07.33) grabbing the top two spots. Vandenberg was third in 2:08.48, and DeScenza was fourth in 2:09.48.

Said DeScenza, of her disappointment: “Well, I’ve done it before. Once you’ve kind of gone through something like this, it’s a little easier the second time around.”

Vandenberg was not available for comment but her coach at UCLA, Cyndi Gallagher, thought that she may have been “too conservative” going out.

“She’s obviously upset and mad at herself,” Gallagher said. “She wishes she could do it again. Now.”

Beard was concerned about Vandenberg and wanted to make sure her roommate and teammate was going to be OK.

“They were telling Amanda that her race was about to start and she was still worrying about Kim,” Gallagher said. “Kim said, ‘I’m OK, go out, have fun, swim your race.’ She was really good to her and that’s all about being a great teammate. She’s a kid at heart and she’s like a big sister to all these kids, including Kim.”

Then there’s Dara Torres, who could be the mother of a lot of her competitors. The 41-year-old Torres had the second-fastest qualifying time in the 100 freestyle, 53.76.

Torres is trying to make her fifth Olympic team and this is her first trials after eight years. She is less than a minute away from achieving an astounding result and the final is tonight.

“We’ll see how this 41-year-old body holds up,” Torres said.

The fastest qualifying time (53.66) was registered by Natalie Coughlin, who is quite happy to have Torres back on the scene.

Said Torres: “[Coughlin] told me, before we swam, when we were in the locker room putting on our suits, ‘You know, Dara, I’m the oldest woman on the team, I need you to make it so I’m not the oldest anymore.’ ”

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lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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Duels in the pool

Highlights from Day 5 of the U.S. Olympic swim trials at Omaha:

* Finals: Dara Torres could be the compelling story tonight if she makes her unprecedented fifth Olympic team, competing in the 100-meter freestyle final against the likes of Natalie Coughlin. This is the kind of stuff that takes swimming from the “Today” show and lands it on “Oprah.” There also are finals in the women’s 200 breaststroke, men’s 200 backstroke (Aaron Peirsol vs. Ryan Lochte) and men’s 200 individual medley (Michael Phelps vs. Lochte). Also, there are semifinals in the men’s 50 freestyle, the women’s 200 backstroke and the men’s 100 butterfly.

* Old guard: Torres, Torres, Torres. Is there anyone else? Well, there is 26-year-old Amanda Beard in the 200 breaststroke final. Forget the days of the 14-year-olds ruling the trials. Oh, of course, Beard did that too, all those years ago, in 1996.

* Quotable: “I’m tired. You’ll see no tears,” said Beard, asserting that she was not getting emotional on the verge of making her fourth Olympic team.

-- Lisa Dillman