7 p.m.Presley Bard, a 2006 Napa High graduate, will compete in Tuesday’s finals of the women’s 100-meter backstroke at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Neb., after capitalizing on a miraculous opportunity with a lifetime best swim in today’s semifinals.

Bard, who just completed her sophomore season at Indiana University, qualified sixth for the finals with a time of 1 minute, .92 seconds.

Bard was seeded fifth going into the competition with a time of 1:01.32. After clocking a 1:02.35 during her preliminary heat, she was tied with one other swimmer for 17th place — one short of the top-16 finish needed to make the semifinals.

Then came the miracle, according to Bard’s mother, Shelley, who was in attendance with her father, Troy.

“I don’t know what happened, but someone scratched in the top 16,” Shelley Bard said via telephone from the meet. “So they had to do a swimoff, and at 2:30 this afternoon, my daughter and another girl duked it out to make the top 16. She beat the other girl by a touch, 1:02.04 to 1:02.15, which put Presley in 16th place and in the semifinals. She was in the B final and she swam a lifetime best to put her in the finals with two world-record holders.

“Is that a second chance at something amazing or what? I was bawling my head off. I was just hysterical. We’ve all been praying all day. It’s just been an amazing day.”

Bard, who represents the Concord Terrapins of Contra Costa County, is one of three swimmers among the eight finalists who have trained under Terrapins coach Ray Mitchell. The others are 2004 UC Berkeley alumna Natalie Coughlin and UC Berkeley junior Lauren Rogers, who qualified second and fourth, respectively.

Hayley McGregory (59.48) qualified first, followed by Coughlin (59.71), Margaret Hoelzer (59.79), Rogers (1:00.76), Elizabeth Beisel (1:00.87), Bard, Katie Riefenstahl (1:01.12) and Leila Vaziri (1:01.40).

In the preliminaries, McGregory finished first in a then-world-record 59.15, bettering Coughlin’s mark of 59.21 set Feb. 17. But Coughlin regained the world record by winning her heat in 59.03.

Bard is seeded 12th going into the 200 back competition, which will be contested on Friday.