Adrian rises in 50 freestyle

OMAHA -- It’s fair to say the ideal preparation for a hyper-competitive men’s 50-meter freestyle didn’t include huddling in a hotel basement in the wee morning hours Sunday.

But there were Nathan Adrian, of Bremerton, Wash., and George Bovell of Trinidad and Tobago, both of the Florida-based Race Club.

“They’re kind of rolling their eyes till they got down there and saw mothers embracing their crying children and everybody huddled around a candle watching on the TV,” said three-time Olympian Gary Hall Jr. Then the two thought, “ ‘Oh my God. This is for real,’ ” Hall added.

At least Hall got up, unlike a couple of reporters in the same hotel, who slept through the warning sirens and storm noise. This didn’t mean Hall joined his teammates to wait out the high-powered tornado, which touched down in nearby Millard and caused a significant amount of damage to homes and businesses.

“I went back to bed. I didn’t know what you’re supposed to do. This is like a new natural disaster for me. I’m used to hurricanes, which are tornadoes times a thousand,” said Hall, claiming that he surfed through every hurricane to come through Florida since he moved there in 2001.

Adrian was equally unsure of what to do at first. But no one had to yell, “Yo, Adrian,” to get him moving downstairs.

“What do you say? I’ve never been in a situation where there’s been a tornado warning,” he said. “I’m from Washington state. We get earthquakes, not tornados. So eventually after I heard the siren for long enough and the newscasters were telling you that you had to get down on the first floor, I went in the basement.”

The 2:30 a.m. wake-up call from nature didn’t prevent Adrian from winning the 50 freestyle at the Swimvitational on Sunday night at the Qwest Center, in a personal-best, 22.01 seconds. The 19-year-old, who will be returning to California for school later this year, dropped three-tenths of a second off his best time.

Hall, the two-time defending Olympic gold medalist in this event, was second in 22.20, a season best. Among the other results of significance were wins by Kim Vandenberg of Team Bruin in the 200 butterfly (2:08.55) and Kate Ziegler in the 800 freestyle (8:26.56). It was Ziegler’s third individual win of the four-day meet.

Still, the marquee event was the star-studded men’s 50 free.

If Adrian was already on the map, this result in a final walkthrough for the U.S. Olympic swim trials here later this month put his name in boldface and capital letters.

“He’s fantastic. He’s the kid. He’s the one to watch, and he’s going to continue to improve,” Hall said. “He’s the whole package.”

Adrian spoke about the distance between the legend of Hall and the truth.

“You know, it’s funny. You hear all these stories about Gary Hall,” he said. “That . . . he does his own thing totally. Sometimes you think, it’s like stories. But it’s completely true.

“Gary actually once told me that the secret to being successful is being able to get out of any workout at any time. He has mastered that unbelievably. If he wants to go spearfishing that day, he leaves.”

Hall was his usual iconoclastic self on the pool deck, leaving his usual shadow-boxing moves for a Wild West vibe.

“I’m a gunslinger,” Hall said. “I have to feel good about it. We just started resting and with a little more rest, I think you can continue to see a big drop at the next meet here.

“I need rest. . . . You know what, some people think I’m a good swimmer. My specialty is resting. I rest with the best of them.”

This, for Hall, was a step in the right direction. He was asked about being the “mature” swimmer in the field.

“The oldest guy in the group? Is that what you just told me?” he said, smiling. “I feel all right, especially after tonight. These are world-class swimmers you’re going to see in the finals of the Olympic Games, and I’m racing and beating a lot of them. It’s something to feel good about.”

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lisa.dillman@latimes.com