SANTA CLARA — The Olympics are kind of a big deal, which is why Simone Manuel decided to take a year off from her studies at Stanford to train for the upcoming U.S. swimming trials, which will be held at the end of the month in Omaha, Neb.

“I wanted to put 100 percent of my effort into Olympic trials and not separating my, I guess, uh, … man, being out of school has, like, fried my brain,” said the 19-year-old, with a laugh. “I didn’t want to separate my priorities.”

With academics on hold, Manuel took the pool at the George F. Haines International Swim Center in Santa Clara over the weekend for the final stop of the 2016 Arena Pro Swim Series.

Saturday, she tied for fifth in the women’s 50-meter freestyle, her time of 25.20 matching that of Stanford teammate Lia Neal. Her other event was Sunday’s 100 free, in which she was the only swimmer to crack 54 seconds in the prelims. Manuel had to settle for third in the evening’s final with a time of 54.11.

“I think the time is a little bummer, but I’m not really focusing on times too much,” Manuel said. “I’m focusing on race strategy and the technical components of my race, and I think the times will come. I’ve been training hard, I’ve been doing everything I need to do at practice, and I think the big meet is (at the end of) June. And keeping things in perspective, I’m going to be fine.”

Australian Emma McKeon tied the meet record with a time of 53.30, her third victory of the weekend. Finishing fourth was veteran Dana Vollmer in 54.17.

“I put my head down and really charged to the wall, and Simone was still able to out-touch me — and, of course, I don’t like that,” Vollmer said. “And we’re going to work on that, but still feel good about it.”

The 28-year-old who swam at Cal took two years off from the sport and is raising a son, Arlen, who was about to turn 15 months old.

“Preparation-wise, I feel a lot less pressure than I did, even in 2012,” said Vollmer, who feels confident about her training in the 100 butterfly. “It’s one of those, I didn’t even know if I was going to make it this far. And it’s been my son and my family before the sport. This has been my ‘me’ time and kind of my hobby that I love and I get to go do every time. And taking that into trials, of course I want to make the team so badly. I love representing the U.S. and competing in the Olympics, but I also will have a family that will love me and carry on with life if I don’t make the team. It’s just a calmer place for me.”

The schedule surrounding this meet was anything but calm for Stanford sophomore Janet Hu, the school record holder in the women’s 200-yard backstroke.

On Sunday, she qualified third in the 200-meter back in 2:11.11 and shot out of cannon from the blocks during the evening’s final. At the midway point, Hu found herself ahead of the U.S. Open record pace set by Missy Franklin in 2013, with a time of 1:01.12.

Then, she shut it down and coasted over the final 100 meters to finish last. There was good reason, though. Because of a human biology exam Saturday morning, Hu was unable to partake in the 100 back the day before.

“I couldn’t come to the meet and I wanted to get a 100 back in before trials,” Hu said. “So I went all out this morning in the 2-back, went a best time, and then just focused on getting a good 100 time tonight.”

So, did she perform better in the pool or classroom?

“I’ll find out in two weeks, I guess,” said Hu, who must wait to find out her grade on the exam.

It’s the exact type of juggling that Manuel wanted to avoid in pursuit of a spot on the Olympic team.

“I definitely don’t feel guilty,” said Manuel, with another laugh, who is in full support of her teammates at Stanford. “I’m giving them all the encouragement that they need. Asking them, ‘How are finals?’ But that was another reason why I decided to redshirt and take the last quarter off academically. It’s stressful preparing for finals and trying to swim fast at this meet and at trials and move out of your dorm.”

Palo Alto High juniors Alex Liang and Grace Zhao were already done with their school year by the time the Arena Pro Swim Series rolled into Santa Clara.

“It’s a big relief, because end of junior year I was getting a little stressed with finals and everything,” Liang said. “So now it’s just good to brush it off and focus on swimming.”

Zhao swam in five events and qualified for the “A” final in Friday’s 100 breaststroke (8th, 1:11.88), Saturday’s 200 breast (7th, 2:36.30) and Sunday’s 200 individual medley (9th, 2:22.64).

“I think it’s just setting up for Olympic trials, which is three weeks away,” Zhao said. “I’m pretty happy with where I am right now.”

Liang, the runner-up in Saturday’s consolation final of the men’s 200 butterfly, was a surprise third-place finisher in the “A” final of Sunday’s 200 IM.

“It’s kind of exciting to get third at a meet like this,” Liang said. “I’m enjoying it, but I wasn’t really expecting it. I was just going into the race trying to get my Olympic trial cut.”

His time of 2:04.81 accomplished that, while Stanford junior Max Williamson took second in 2:02.38. The winner of the men’s 200 IM was Brazilian Thiago Pereira, who swam the third-fastest time in the world in 1:57.77. The time was one-hundredth of a second behind the presumed meet record set by Michael Phelps in 2006, but Pereira pointed out to officials the mark already belonged to him by showing them on his cell phone that in 2011 he posted a 1:57.63.

Pereira is excited to compete in his fourth Olympics on his native land.

“It’s an important moment for me, for my country, for the whole South America,” he said.

Stanford-bound Katie Ledecky, who wasn’t in attendance, secured the 2015-16 Arena Pro Swim Series women’s title. She is the current world-record holder in the women’s 400, 800 and 1,500 meters.

Can anyone catch her at Rio?

“I’m not sure,” said Australian Jessica Ashwood, who Sunday broke a 10-year-old meet record at Santa Clara in the 800 meters by over eight seconds in 8:14.14, improving on her second-fastest time in the world this year. “We’ll have to wait and see. Olympics is still a few months away, so it will be on the day to see who can do whatever they can, and I’m just going to work what I need to work on in training.”

Australian Mitchell Larkin, who holds the fastest times in the world in the men’s 100 and 200 back, avenged a loss to Cal junior Ryan Murphy the day before on the shorter distance by breaking a meet record set in 2008 in the 200 back with a time of 1:55.38.

“Obviously, we come here to win and I’m a pretty competitive person when it comes to my swimming,” Larkin said. “I was a little bit frustrated and a little bit hungry for tonight.”

Stanford-bound Benjamin Ho of St. Francis High in Mountain View took ninth in 2:05.54.

Finally, Cal product Caitlin Leverenz, a bronze medalist at the 2012 Olympics in the women’s 200 IM, pulled away during the third leg in the breaststroke to win the event at Santa Clara in 2:11.65.

“At this point, all the work has been put in,” Leverenz said. “At this point, it’s just tweaking things here and there and kind of getting the best out of everything that I have already put in.”

The 25-year-old has competed at this meet for over a decade, but she realized that pales in comparison to another female swimmer with a Cal pedigree in Natalie Coughlin, who is 33 years old.

“Natalie was saying she’s been at this meet for like 20-some years,” Leverenz said. “And I was like, ‘Man, I thought I had been in here quite a bit.’ She put me to shame. But, yeah, I really have enjoyed this meet. I enjoyed going to it growing up and enjoyed going to it as a student at Cal. I really look forward to it all year and it’s always nice to get in some good top-three finishes going into trials, or whatever is the end meet of the summer. A little confidence boost.”

Email Vytas Mazeika at vmazeika@dailynewsgroup.com; follow him at Twitter.com/dailynewsvytas.