Updates from 2008 U

What great racing today! No, I don't mean in Omaha, I mean at this morning's B Relay Carnival in Damascus! No World Records were broken, but there were several medal-winning performances. And it felt real good to be home watching my favorite kind of swimming and even getting the opportunity to have a stopwatch in my hand.

I promised just one more entry regarding the Aqua Zone, along with some pictures from the event. Hopefully I can get the pictures uploaded in an efficient way. If I had figured out how to use my new camera before I left for Omaha, some of them may have turned out a bit better.

So what was the Aqua Zone exactly? Well adjoining the Qwest Center Arena was the Convention Center, which was where the warm-up/warm-down pool, athlete's dining hall, athlete registration, processing, anti-doping testing, Parent Training Camp, etc. was held. There was a third huge convention room, which held the Aqua Zone. This was where various sponsors of U.S. Swimming and the Olympic Trials demonstrated their wares and gave away samples. This included Toyota -- with about 15 automobile models for people to look at, as well as an opportunity to shoot your own Toyota commercial;
Myrtha Pools -- with a video of how the Trials pool was constructed, as well as sample materials; and a main stage where some of the athletes from Mark Spitz and Gary Hall, Sr. to Larsen Jensen and Brendan Hansen would give autographs. Only retired athletes, or those who were finished competing, would be scheduled for an autograph session. There was a section on "swimwear through the ages," which showed samples of previous U.S. Olympic team suits as far back as the 1920s; an area where you could write a thank you note to your coach, or a good luck letter to any of the athletes heading to the Olympics; and a pretty large swim shop by Kiefer. There was also an area where you could test your own starting reaction time, using the same kind of equipment that is on the starting blocks, and displays by AT&T, Hilton hotels, Mutual of Omaha, and the Omaha Sports Commission. As I said earlier, camp groups and preschools would come to the Aqua Zone on a field trip and participate in the various activities throughout the day. Immediately before and after each session, the place was packed with hundreds of people milling about and picking up whatever free items were offered.

So this is it, my absolute last post. Again, thanks for the chance to record my thoughts, observations and random attempts at humor. If someone wants to sponsor my trip to Beijing, let me know.

My head is swirling with closing thoughts as I wait to board my flight home. What great fun this has been to watch swimming at its highest point. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to watch so many competitors who I have had the chance to meet, be it through MCSL, RMSC, PVS or Brady's Junior National Team experience. There was also the opportunity to see perhaps the final swims for some of the sport's great competitors, such as Kaitlin Sandeno, Tara Kirk and Neal Walker. And of course there were a few record-breaking swims, too.

I owe the city of Omaha a huge apology. Since learning of the location for this year's trials, I've mumbled on numerous occasions, "Why Omaha? What's there to do there?" Perhaps that's just it. There's not much to do there, which made the U.S. Trials the major destination point for the entire city. The proximity of the Qwest Center to the airport, great restaurants, hotels, etc. made it an incredibly convenient venue designed for an event like this. The people were genuinely friendly and happy to have us all there. Folks who knew nothing about swimming came out to watch and are now fans for life. I spoke with one woman who signed up to volunteer in 2005 so that she could be a part of the action. This meet broke the all-time meet attendance record on Thursday -- and they still had 3 days left of competition! Preschools & camps brought large groups of kids to the Aqua Zone for field trips. Everywhere you went people were wearing swim t-shirts and talking about the day's events. It's hard to say whether Olympic Trials could ever captivate a city like D.C. in the way that it captivated the people of Omaha. Frankly, I believe the sport of swimming deserves to be the only game in town and garner this kind of attention. So to Omahians everywhere -- I'm sorry. You guys know how to host an event.

There is a good chance that the Trials will return to Omaha in four years. The other two cities to bid for this year's events were Minneapolis & San Antonio. However, the folks at U.S. Swimming are so blown away with the job that Omaha has done in putting on the trials, that I imagine they're a front runner for 2012. This city certainly raised the bar for this event.

I also owe a huge thank you to all those folks who have been a part of our swimming experience for the past 13 years. It's been an incredible amount of fun that never would have been possible without a number of people's commitment to the sport. First to all of the team reps who have worked tirelessly to keep the team going & growing -- Dave & Vickie Krehbiel, Brian & Patty Baker, Angie Suthard, & Janice Flamand. If there's no Hallowell, there's no trip to Omaha, so thank you. To the coaches who have been a part of Brady's life, especially Jessica Prorok, Dave Kraft, Sue Chen & Maneth Gravell, thanks for your expertise, enthusiasm and patience. And lastly a huge thanks to the countless teammates, training partners, competitors, officials, and parents, of whom there are entirely too many to mention. We're a part of swimming because of the wonderful community of people involved. This trip to Omaha is just one tiny flower on the corner of a beautifully decorated cake.

I hope to be unpacked and ready for the action at 8pm Eastern time -- Phelps vs. Crocker in the 100 fly, Ziegler vs. Hoff in the 800 free and Gary Hall going for it in the 50 free. You don't want to miss any of it!

I do owe one more posting on the Aqua Zone complete with pictures, but have a few household things to attend to first, i.e. LAUNDRY. To anyone who sees this, thanks for reading my ramblings. It gave me a wonderful excuse to keep a diary of our experience, which I will always be able to look back on. And to the Hurricanes -- way to go today! Thanks to Paige & Mallory for the poolside updates. Missing this morning's meet was even tougher than I thought it would be.

Lots of fireworks here in Omaha tonight -- and that was inside the Qwest Center. Watching one last night of racing made me wish for a minute that I'd be here tomorrow to witness the finals in the Men's 50 free and Women's 800 free. But it was a fleeting moment.

We enjoyed our root beers while meeting a number of the Junior National Team parents and swimmers prior to the session. Among the group is the swimmer from San Antonio who broke the High school swimming records in the 50 & 100 free this year, and will be joining Eric at Texas in the fall. A couple of them will be heading to Mexico on Monday for the World Youth Championships. We talked with folks from South Dakota, Southern California, Atlanta and Baltimore. The kids enjoyed pool & darts and really seemed to enjoy being with one another again. Brady has made some tremendous friendships through this sport both near and far from home.

When we arrived in the arena, each section was decorated with red, white or blue t-shirts and we were handed small American flags upon entry. Everyone was encouraged to put on the shirts for the beginning of the TV coverage. Tonight was the largest crowd -- over 13,000 -- and seemed a bit more energized with chants of "U S A" interspersed with "the wave."

The racing was incredible, once again. Not much I can add there. Ryan Lochte and Dara Torres are certainly inspirational -- so inspirational that I hear Trish Murray is starting up a Hallowell Masters group so that she can begin her training for the 2012 Olympic games. You go girl!

After the medal presentations to the 4 x 100 women's freestyle candidates -- Torres (with her two year old daughter), Coughlin (wearing her tall UGG boots), Nymyer & Hardy -- our event host, John Nabor, began his ceremonial walk down the poolside as he interviewed the winners. Now several of his questions have been annoying this week to say the least, but tonight's took the cake. The first question he posed to Natalie Coughlin went something like this, "so Natalie, how does it feel to be beat by a 41 year old?" Natalie appeared visibly annoyed but gave a very composed answer along the lines of "I don't think of it as winning or losing, but rather as earning a spot on the Olympic team." When Nabor turned to question Torres, Coughlin walked off the pool deck. I don't blame her.

I do have one more post to make about the Aqua Zone and other pool trivia, but it will have to be from home, as I have a 5am wake up call to catch my plane home and I do need my beauty sleep. I will close out tonight with one more story. After finals, we went across the street from the Qwest Center to the Hilton to enjoy one final Omaha root beer. Lots of names were in & out as we sat there -- Dara Torres, Katie Hoff, Neal Walker, Jessica Hardy, etc. -- and it was fun to watch the young swim fans run from spot to spot snapping pictures and asking for autographs. As we were paying the check, an adorable 3 year old girl and her mother walked up to our table to tell us that she had just seen Michael Phelps upstairs. The mother then turned to Greg and asked "Are you Mark Spitz?"

Oh yeah, it's time to leave Omaha, but I'm not sure Greg's head will fit in the plane.

Our meeting for root beer floats isn't until 3:30, so I'm still a bit clear headed this afternoon. It was a fast morning at the pool, despite several heats of the 800 freestyle. The showdown between Hoff & Ziegler will be incredible. Hoff scratched her 200 back prelim this morning, so you know she's focusing on this race. PVS-pride -- Go Kate!!

On the MCSL side, we had Chris Pool & Chris Gibson swimming in Lane 2 in back to back heats of the Men's 100 Fly. When I was cheering "Go Chris" in two straight heats, I think the people around me thought I was a bit confused. Chris Pool finished with a best time. Word from Mom is that he will now be focusing on preparing for his MCAT exams, as he will complete his undergraduate degree from Yale next year. I can still remember the first time I ever saw Chris swim. It was at our first MCSL Long Course meet at Rockville pool when Brady was 7. We were standing with Hallowell Dad Brian Baker as his son Matt was about to race Chris in some event or another, when Brian said "Watch this kid Chris Pool -- he will be in the Olympics one day." Well Chris got closer than the great majority of swimmers ever get to that mark and it's been a pleasure to watch him race all these years.

Also swimming the 100 fly today was Matt Harris from RMSC/Kenyon college. Ian Crocker managed to get off to a clean start in his race -- he's false started the last two events I've seen him swim, starting with last year's 100 fly race at Senior National's in Indianapolis. He looked nailed to the blocks this morning. Crocker is the top seed above that Phelps guy.

Of course, the morning kicked off with the "Splash & Dash" -- the Men's 50 free. What fun! Kudos to Cullen Jones for a great swim, breaking the meet & American record -- his sponsor Nike is much relieved, seeing as to how they sunk a lot of money into that guy. We had the Hall gang beside us again as they first watched Cullen break those records, which were previously held by Gary, and then watched Gary swim to a third-seed in tonight's semis. We also got some insight to more Hall family trivia, compliments of our new best friend Robert, who flew in from Taiwan to watch the Trials. (This guy puts even Lionel to shame.) The person I was calling Grandpa Hall is actually Grandpa-in-law Hall, a.k.a. Chuck Keating (yes father to Charles Keating, who is famous in his own right). Chuck swam for the Navy and was a Navy Fighter Pilot. Robert also gave us a recount of Gary Hall, Sr.'s Olympic Record, but I didn't take good notes on that. Suffice it to say, he also appeared in multiple Olympics. They truly are the ultimate swim family.

A: Yes, at the 800 race this morning, counter cards were used, but this job is performed by the officials and not some helpful teammate.

A: The official full-color program with info on all of the favorites is $10, with heat sheets for each session costing $3. You can print off the next day's heat sheet off of USA Swimming's website, but I forgot to pack the printer. Of course, if you do what Greg did today and meet (and are very nice to) an event volunteer, then you can get your heat sheets for free. Had Greg only met her earlier, we could have saved a hefty chunk of change. Of course, the hidden cost was that Greg had to pretty much explain swimming to this lady. She's now a swim fan for life.

Q: Do the male swimmers realize that many of them are wearing their suits "TV repairman style"?

A: To crack this case (pun intended), I had to turn to the local paper, the Omaha World Herald, which actually had an article in it about this very subject in today's edition. (So there's at least one other person here who is a bit burned out on watching the competition and looking for something else to entertain himself with.) According to the swimmers this reporter interviewed, they are aware of how low their suit is and wear it that way intentionally because they believe it's "sexy." One of the swimmers interviewed was Michael Arnold, another one of Brady's Junior National Teammates. When the reporter interviewed the female swimmers about this, the majority stated that they are "grossed out" by the low-riding look.

I'll close out today with the gems shared at this morning's Parent Academy, which featured Dianne and Roger Benko – Parents of Olympian Lindsay Benko-Mintenko. They are such endearing people and talked about how they weren't perfect parents, but did learn some important tips along the way. First and foremost is not to criticize your child. As bad as you may feel about their performance, chances are they feel even worse. Dianne recalled how hard it was at the Sydney Olympics when Lindsay was not swimming well, and stepped down from swimming finals in the 200-free relay team, despite the fact that she had been a member of that team for every international competition swum during the previous four years, including the Athens Olympics. Well the relay team went on to break the world record. Dianne remembers feeling her heart break, because she knew Lindsay's was breaking. A friend called her after to see how she was doing and Dianne admitted she wasn't doing well and began to cry. She then thought "you know, if this is the worst thing that happens to my daughter in her lifetime, then she'll have a pretty darn good life," and she found herself feeling okay again. Life does go on.

And finally I'll share the quote they shared that had been stated to them by one of Lindsay's coaches:
"If you're not happy without a medal, you won't be happy with a medal."

I'm thinking the word "medal" could be replaced with "ribbon, record, trophy" and any other number of "rewards."

Okay, the steaks here are every bit as good as billed. If you're ever in Omaha, I highly recommend the petite fillet at Sullivan's Steak House. While we were eating on the outside deck, we were treated to a wonderful, if not totally unexpected, fireworks display.

So at tonight's finals, we're sitting 15 rows up from the 25 meter mark (that's 50 yard line in swimming speak) and who should walk into the rows directly in front of us but the entire Gary Hall clan -- by this I mean Gary Hall, Jr., Gary Hall, Sr., Grandpa Hall, Mama Hall, Baby Hall, Toddler Hall and a whole bunch of what looked to be Hall brothers, and possibly sisters. There must of been 18 of them. Now Gary is slated to swim the 50 free prelims, which will be held tomorrow, but tonight they were there to watch one of his Race Club training partners Nathan Adrian, who was swimming the final for the 100 free. Well how delighted was the entire group when Adrian finished 4th, locking up a spot on the U.S. 4 x 100 freestyle relay team? I did sneak a quick picture, but was trying hard not to look like a swim groupie. And no Paige, I didn't get his autograph. Dad would have killed me.

I am in no way endorsing Gary Hall and his methods or commentaries, but you've got to admit the guy adds some color. If you've got some time, and you're not yet completely overdosed on swimming like I am, check out The Race Club website. There is some entertaining stuff. I actually met a family from Massachusetts on Sunday who had attended The Race Club camp and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks to Hank Fisher for directing us to check out this website a couple of summers ago.

On to the racing ... Ryan Hurley put up a great fight, finishing 7th in the 200 breaststroke, one spot higher than in the 2004 Trials. But the big news of the race was the upset of Brendan Hansen. We had the honor last night of meeting Longhorn Aquatic Club Coach (and this year's Olympic Coach) Eddie Reese and he was talking about how the top three seeds in that event were from his Club. He knew one of them was going to not be happy with the results of the event. I can't believe he thought that person would be Hansen. At the venue, we don't get to hear the TV interview, but I did notice that they interviewed Hansen following the race. How hard must it be to finish fourth in an event in which you're seeded first and then have to go on live TV to talk about it? I'd love to know how the questioning went.

In the women's 100 Free, Coughlin and Torres swam the 5th and 6th fastest time in the world ever! Did anyone notice the goggles Torres wears? According to the USA Today, those goggles are her favorite goggles and are older than most of her competitors. Whatever brings you luck, I guess.

In the women's 200 Breast, eagle eye Greg saw a DQ in the making, but then watched as the Referee pocketed it. The call wasn't made on a top name swimmer, but I'm not at liberty to say who it was. I'm afraid the officials crew may come find me and they are an intimidating bunch of folk.

At the end of the night, we got to see Kate Ziegler, along with a few others, finally get named to the Olympic Team. As I mentioned on an earlier day, until some swimmers have qualified for multiple events, they're not entirely sure that they have enough spots to name every second place finisher. So although Kate technically qualified on Monday in the 400 Free, she wasn't officially on the squad until tonight. She, of course, looked delighted when accepting the honor.

And to wrap up with more celebrity sightings, we ate lunch at the same restaurant as Mike Golic (of ESPN's Mike & Mike show), whose daughter is a swimmer; have spotted B.J. Surhoff on multiple occasions as he's here to watch his son; and for you true swim greeks, Brent Rutemiller was spotted in our hotel bar. Okay, it's not Jack Nicholson & Cameron Diaz, but it's a start.

I suppose I'll drag myself back to the venue for one more round of prelims and finals tomorrow. In between, we're meeting up for lunch with other parents whose children traveled to Australia with Brady in December as part of the US Junior National Team. As we're going back to that Root Beer place, I may not make it back for an afternoon update. You know what root beer does to my short term memory.

Happy July 4th everyone! While I know the Foxes have enjoyed hosting Fourth of July parties the last few years, have I mentioned that we're not home tomorrow? Besides, I've heard on good authority that the party we had on our house last night was quite the blow out. And Shawn Conrad, if you or anyone you're related to or ever come into contact with, even THINK about doing to us what you THOUGHT we did to you, you WILL regret it. Yes, that's a threat.

Well today was a mixed bag for the home crowd. Brady didn't quite have the swim that he has worked for, but he had the amazing experience of swimming in the same heat as World Record Holder Ryan Lochte. Not too shabby. We couldn't be prouder of how hard he's worked to earn a spot at this meet and at how he's handled this entire experience.

The DQs were flying in the next event -- the Women's 200 Wack-a-Mole, I meant breaststroke (sorry, but in a long course pool, breaststroke looks like those wack a mole games, where the heads pop out of the holes in random ways). Unfortunately, one flew the way of Colleen Haase during her swim. We finally stopped watching the swimmers and started watching the officials to see if we could figure out where the calls were coming. The stroke & turn officials don't actually raise their hand -- they give some sort of signal to the Chief Judge, then another stroke & turn official takes the place of the one making the call, while that one explains the call to the Chief Judge. The Chief Judge then calls it in over the headset to the referee who writes it up and hands it to the announcing/results table. As I said earlier, they announce the violation right after the heat, stating the lane number and the infraction. The calls varied from non-simultaneous touch, to dolphin kicks, to false starts. One of the later heats actually had two DQs in it. Obviously the officials at this meet take their work very seriously, moving with precision. It looks to me like they take home quite a wardrobe, too.

In the 200 IM, Adam Meyer had another phenomenal swim, just missing out of semis by 3/10ths He dropped 3 seconds to get there. One person who did sneak in at 16th is Austin Surhoff, one of Brady's traveling companions to Australia as a member of the Junior National Team. Austin lives in Baltimore and is the son of former Baltimore Orioles' player B.J. Surhoff. We'll be cheering loudly for him tonight. Oh, and has speculated, though he was listed in the Psych Sheets, former Norbeck Hills swimmer Mark Liscinsky did not participate in this year's Olympic Trials.

Before preliminaries this morning, we had the distinct pleasure of hearing Olympic great Matt Biondi speak at the Parent's Academy, along with Jim Bauman, Sports Psychologist with the USOC. Matt spoke on the Athlete's Perspective on the "Perfect Parent." Now a father to three children himself, Matt told some great stories about his experiences as a son and a Dad. He spoke about how his parents were always there for him, but didn't try to engage in his swimming by asking him about his race or talking about his splits. When he competed in Korea, his mother was so nervous she couldn't even watch him swim the 50 free, and ended up just walking around the arena's concourse level. He recommends parents expose their children to a wide variety of activities and then take the Montessori approach by allowing the child to lead the way. He told so many great stories, that it would take me forever to share them all. Biondi is a great ambassador for the sport of swimming -- all 6' 7" of him!

Biondi was a hard act to follow, but Dr. Bauman did a brief presentation on the difference between success & winning. Both he & Biondi spoke about how our society is so focused on the "winner." They shared how you can win a race, or other activity, and not feel like you had a good race and therefore not really feel successful. Then there are other times when you feel great about your race and feel like you achieved some level of success, but don't necessarily earn the title of "winner." In one of his Olympic races, Biondi placed third, earning the bronze medal (which, by the way, he says is actually the most impressive looking of the three medals, as the coloring shows the definition of the design more magnificently). It was one of the first medals Team USA had won at the Olympics and Biondi felt great about that particular race. He was back at the Olympic Village, where his teammates were admiring the medal, when he saw a replay of his race being shown on TV. Following the replay, NBC announcer Bob Costas says "so Biondi fails in his attempt to become the most decorated Olympian since Mark Spitz ... we'll be back in a few moments." The comment (to which Biondi does not blame Costas for just doing his job) turned everyone's attention back to the fact that he hadn't "won," despite how Biondi had been feeling it was a success. It makes all the work that teams do to acknowledge best times, All-Star times, practice attendance, etc. so much more important than always acknowledging the winners. I could go on and on about the information shared in this 30-minute session, but I have to share some stories for when we get home.

There are no timers at this meet. Everything is done electronically. If the touchpads fail, I understand they resort to lasers & underwater cameras, but that's all too technical for me. Suffice it to say there are no stop watches on deck. Yes, that does mean that's Greg Official Unofficial Job of C.O.T. (chief of timers) is rendered unnecessary at a meet of this caliber. However, I do not question Greg's ability to find another heretofore unfilled, yet incredibly necessary, job to fill if only given the chance.

The coaches are also not on deck. They can sit in the stands with the other swimmers & coaches, or can be back in the warm-up pool area watching the races on video. Literally the only people on deck are the officials and the swimmers in the next heat. The swimmers march through one side before their swim and out the other once they're done.

Have you tried on one of the new suits?

I have not personally tried on the new suit, but I did touch one that's on display in the Aqua Zone. Not really what I expected -- kind of had a panty hose feel to it (at least from what I can remember the last time I wore panty hose).

Do you think Michael Phelps pees in the water?

I'm not sure I'm in a position to answer this, but if I bump into Michael, I'll be sure to ask him. Frankly, I think that if they pee in those suits, there's really no place for their sample to go, so it may not make it into the pool.

And finally, a confession ... to Lionel Bejean, Hank Fisher, the Triganopolis family, and all the other true swim aficionados from Montgomery County of which I know there are many ... I'm OUT. There is no way I can compete with you guys in the area of swim fanmanship. I started showing signs of swim watching burnout two days ago and I am now officially TOAST. Don't worry, I'll drag myself to the Qwest Center for 3 more sessions, if only to watch Dara Torres and Gary Hall, but it's starting to get painful. I'm ready to go home, kiss my girls, walk my dog and cheer Hallowell to victory over Stonegate. I am proud to say that while I can't compete with you guys, I had a good time trying.

We're heading out for a true Omaha Steak Dinner tonight after finals, so my update will probably be late. Looks like tonight's action kicks off at the same time as TV coverage, starting with the Men's 200 Wack-a-Mole Final, followed by Women's 100 Free semis, Men's 200 Back semis, Women's 200 Fly final and Men's 100 free Final. TV will cut out at that point, and we'll see a whole bunch of medal ceremonies, along with the Semis for the Women's 200 Wack-a-mole and the Men's 200 IM.

Fortunately there were no funnel clouds or nickel-size hail in this section of Omaha, so tonight's finals went on uninterrupted. The storm did cool things down here quite a bit.

It was a split decision for the boys from MCSL. Ryan Hurley swam his way to tomorrow night's Top 8 final and hopefully will follow it up with the best swim of his life. Those who were able to watch it saw that he is definitely a back-halfer, but tomorrow night he may have to take it out a bit faster to have a chance. Go Ryan!

Eric swam his heart out, but after dropping a huge amount of time since March, first to get his Trials cut, then to make it to semi-finals, there were no more time drops in the cards tonight. He looked so dejected when he got out of the pool, but he absolutely should have held his head high. We saw him briefly when the meet was over and he admitted to being a bit "freaked." What about swimming in front of 12,000 people against people much older would freak anyone out?? His 14 family members in attendance were all wearing shirts with Eric's picture & name on them and were interviewed by the guys at FloSwimming. Check it out at http://swimming.flocasts.org/videos/coverage/view_video/234033/68460-eric-friedland-fan-club.

We also got confirmation that Eric will be going to Mexico, so instead of leaving Omaha Friday for home, he will be staying here in Omaha until Monday. (Sorry Tilden Woods.) This makes 2 people happy -- Kevin Chen of Bethesda (and Georgetown Prep!) and J.P. Perez of Tilden Woods (and Georgetown Prep!), who are the 9th seeds in breast and fly, respectively, for Tuesday's Coaches Long Course meet. You guys just scratched in.

Okay, we're thinking Brady swims around 11:30 Central Time tomorrow. Time for me to take another long run around the Heartland of America Park in the morning. First up is the women's 100 free prelims, featuring Forty-plus Phenom Dara Torres. Second will be Men's 200 back (Brady & Chris Gibson), Colleen Haase (Flower Valley) will be up in the Women's 200 Breast and ending with Men's 200 IM (Adam Meyer & Mark Liscinsky). A full day of MCSL action (oh, and some Olympians, too).

A little disappointed that I got no final word on results from the showdown between Hallowell & Mill Creek Towne ... Last I heard it was after 10pm eastern time and the meet was still going on. I can only hope that Hallowell's undefeated season continued!

Me again, forgot to mention -- I hope you checked out the USA Today article that included quotes from Cindy Hurley. If not, you can access it here.

Ryan Hurley was just mentioned here on the local NBC affiliate. They showed his picture with a quote from the Olympics Media Guide that says the reason he started swimming is that his "mom bribed me with two packs of baseball cards." Who says bribes don't work when it comes to raising kids?

Also on the weather front -- there's a warning for serious weather to hit Omaha, with a watch for possible funnel clouds. Keep your fingers crossed.

Sorry for the late update, but this morning's great preliminaries were cause for celebration at Omaha's Upstream Brewing Company (with root beer of course). How about those MCSL Breaststrokers!! For those of you living in a cave (jk), River Falls' Ryan Hurley is ranked 5th after this morning's preliminaries and Tilden Woods' Eric Friedland snuck in at 16th, after dropping 2 seconds trying to chase down his Heat Winner Eric Shanteau.

The even better news (unless you swim for Tilden Woods) is that I believe Eric's time qualifies him for the World Youth Championships to take place in Monterrey Mexico July 8 through 13th. The U.S. will take the top 18 & under performer in each event to this meet, excluding those who have qualified for the Olympics or other National team, or who have competed in college. The swimmers who qualify for the meet will depart directly from Omaha on Monday, July 7 and begin competition on July 8. Of course, this will mean Eric will not be able to swim the last two dual meets or in the Coaches Long Course meet this Thursday. This is unofficial news, however, so I could be proven wrong. You might want to give a heads up to whoever is seeded 9th in breast and fly at coaches this Tuesday, that they may make it in.

There is one person bitter about Eric's performance this morning, but he's a happy bitter. Cedarbrook Coach Dave Crocker, who takes his MCSL coaching responsibilities very seriously, is currently headed to the airport to fly home so that he can return to his MCSL coaching responsibilities. He's not happy to be missing Eric's semi-final swim, but of course is delighted that Eric swam himself into this position.

Okay, on to other news. This morning's Parent Training Camp was on drug testing, National Team travel arrangements and the science of swimming as documented by US Swimming. It was an incredibly informative 30 minutes and I wish I had written down what I learned before we hit the Upstream for lunch. Root beer does a funny thing to short-term memory.

US Swimming's Travel arranger, who has been very attentive to Brady in his previous team traveling, talked about what happens to the US Olympic Team after Trials. They depart Monday for three weeks of training at Stanford University, then fly from San Francisco (on two different flights so that more of the team has access to window seats, aisle seats & Economy Plus seats) then to Singapore for another 9-day acclimation camp. Here they adjust to the time change and other regional differences. On August 4, they leave for Bejing and begin staying at the Athlete's Village. If the athletes choose to stay through the Olympic's closing ceremonies (which is totally up to them), they will have been away from home for more than 6 straight weeks. That's some roadtrip!

Jonty, the "science guy" of U.S. Swimming talked about all the science that goes into swimming. Every athlete's performance is videotaped and analyzed, with every race broken down in terms of the timing of the start, term, stroke rate, etc., etc. Dave Kraft could probably go nuts spending time with this guy. He also talked about the lactate tests they give each swimmer after they race, which is essentially a pin prick to test lactic acid. All of the information gathered is entered into "the system" for each athlete and further analyzed, compared, dissected, etc. Coaches & swimmers are allowed to watch the tape of each race afterwards and can speak with the nation's top analysts afterwards if they would like. The amount of data compiled on these athletes sounds amazing.

The session closed with Stacy Michael-Miller, who spoke on doping control. It blew my mind to know that any swimmer who is ranked in the Top 50 in each event, basically has to report his or her whereabouts at all times to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency until he or she chooses to retire from the sport (even if they fall out of the Top 50). So if you go on vacation, leave town for the weekend, your practice schedule changes, whatever the case may be, you have to keep these folks notified or you might miss a random drug test. A missed test is recorded as a positive test. All athletes at the event are subject to urine drug tests following their races, and must "perform" in front of a anti-doping representative and be sure to give an adequate sample (can't remember the exact amount, blame the root beer). One high level swimmer (whose name she didn't disclose) finished a race this week and was delighted that he was feeling the urge to perform. Unfortunately, his sample was entering a defective cup, and therefore was coming out the other side. He then had to stick around another two hours until he again had the urge.

I realize everyone will be at B meets tonight, and have probably already left for warm-ups by the time I get this posted, but set the TIVO before you go. Tonight's action kicks off at 6:52 with semis for the Men's 100 free. TV coverage will probably begin with Finals for Women's 200 free, then Men's 200 Fly, Semi's for Women's 200 fly and Men's 200 Breast (timed for 7:36p.m.), then ending with Finals for Women's 200 IM. When TV signs off, we'll end up with Medal ceremonies.

Back on the home front, good luck to the Hurricanes -- spear the Marlins. Hope the meet ends before midnight!!

Well, we pulled off the MCSL picture & I hope to have it uploaded tomorrow. I believe we had all but 2 of the MCSLers who are actually competing in the meet. It was fun to mingle with the kids & parents in the lobby before finals tonight and to put faces to the names to some of our county's finest, such as Ryan Hurley & Chris Gibson. I've seen their names on record boards throughout the county, as well as their results on swimming's bigger stages. Speaking of the Hurleys, as they were arriving for the photo, Mrs. Hurley was being interviewed via phone by a USA Today reporter on the impact of swimming on families. (swimming impacts families???) If you're by a USA Today tomorrow, pick it up and look for Cindy Hurley's quotes.

And for those teams who have an Olympic theme planned for an upcoming meet, here are some ideas:

Tomorrow's prelims include Men's 100 free, Women's 200 fly and Men's 200 breast. Ryan Hurley & Eric Friedland are both ready for great showings in the 200 breast. Keep an ear out when Eric swims tomorrow. He has family here from all over the country and I anticipate they will be LOUD.

And aren't you proud of me? I waited until the very end to point out how I was right about my prediction for a World Record in the women's 100 back final. It was only by .06, but a record is a record.

A group of people had them, but I wasn't close enough to find out where they're from so I could give them credit. I thought it was very creative. As for the controversy to which the shirts referred, it appears to me there is no controversy as almost everyone is wearing the Speedo's LZR suit. You'll see entire heats of swimmers in the exact same suit. Don't know if there should be anything controversial about the suit or not, but if they're all wearing the same suit, it seems to me that evens out the playing field.

One swimmer who didn't wear the LZR for his first event was Matt McLean, who's from PVS and swims for University of Virginia. He was All ACC Swimmer of the Year as a freshman this year, which is mighty impressive. Though I wasn't there to see it, I heard that when Matt bent over at the start of his 400 meter freestyle race, the suit ripped on the leg. Matt ended up placing 9th -- first alternate out of finals. You got to wonder what would have happened if his suit didn't rip. I'm sure the ripped suit didn't quite compare to the show that Brady's ripped suit put on a couple years ago when it ripped at the start of his 200 free (though the tear was in an entirely different area). Thankfully his good friend Frankie Suthard was at the end of his lane with a towel waiting to help him out of the water at the end of his race. That's what friends are for.

As for the racing today, the boys from MoCo did great, all achieving best times in the 200 fly. Unfortunately, Chris Pool's time won't count as he was disqualified for a non-simultaneous touch. I don't know anything about the call, other than it was announced at the end of the heat. Whenever there is a DQ, the announcer will state the lane and the infraction immediately following the heat. Chris' was announced a bit late, long after he was given credit for winning the heat. There have been other DQs announced for False Starts, Non-Continuous Turns in Back, and an underwater recovery in today's 200 fly.

Sean Stewart dropped nearly a second and a half in his fly, Mark Meyer almost a second and Adam Meyer topped it all with a 2.6 second drop. Adam's time of 2:00.22 was just slightly more than a second away from getting him into the event's semi-finals (Top 16). All the guys looked great. The 200 fly heats were interesting, as there was a lot of outside smoke (guys in the outside lanes with faster times). People were winning their heats from all over, and not necessarily from the top-seeded lanes in the middle of the pool.

Unfortunately for PVS, Kate Ziegler did not make it back in the semis for her 200 free. She looked a bit tired, and her time showed it, adding nearly 2.5 seconds. Again, the shorter distances aren't Kate's strength, but it would have been great to see her make it back tonight.

This evening's events include semis for Women's 200 free, Men's 200 free final (that's where TV coverage will begin), Women's 100 back final (again, I'm predicting a World record, but in any case will be a phenomenal race), Men's 100 Back final (there were 29 scratches, so Brady bumped into Top 8), Women's 100 Breast final, and Men's 200 fly semis. At that point, TV will sign off and we'll end the evening here with medal ceremonies for Men's 200 free and 100 back, Women's 100 breaststroke and semis for Women's 200 IM. The medal ceremonies are interesting -- only the winner comes to the turn end of the pool along with his her coach -- and is announced as an Olympian. Former swimmer turned emcee John Nabor, than walks alongside the pool with the swimmer interviewing along the way. We should wrap up here at 8:28. Oh, and obviously I'm kidding about Brady scratching in. I guess an event with Ryan Lochte and Aaron Piersol will be a good one.

But before all the exciting racing, we are actually going to attempt our MCSL picture in front of the Aqua Zone at 6p.m. Keep your fingers crossed that everyone gets there. I'm really hoping this pans out. We're going to squeeze one in of the four Georgetown Prep guys here, too. Thanks to all the parents & coaches who have helped to facilitate this.

Answer: Yes, as at any swim meet, there are lifeguards staffing the event. They sit at each of the four corners of the pool, holding their floaty thingys, watching all the action. I'm not sure if they're paid, or volunteer their services for the great vantage point. They don't sit in elevated lifeguard chairs, but rather "floor seats."

Answer: That stands for Reaction Time, which is the time it takes from when the starter machine goes off for the swimmer's feet to leave the blocks. If you see a swimmer with a negative Reaction Time, then you know he or she false started. I have to admit to getting a bit burned out at watching the preliminaries this morning (and didn't even stay for the 200 IMs), so I was challenging myself by trying to guess which swimmer looked to get off to the fastest start and then see if my guess was right by checking out the Reaction Times that got posted on the Jumbotron after the start of the race. I didn't keep score, but I probably got around 75% right. Sean Stewart looked to be way out in front of his heat at the start and did indeed end up with the fast reaction time.

Answer: You know, it's not a bad place, though it's hard to tell whether it's a city on the rise or seriously on the downslide. There are LOTS of empty retail and commercial space around here, with entire buildings vacant. I found a wonderful path to run today about two blocks from the hotel that takes you along a little canal to the Heartland of America Park that has a trail around a 15 acre lake with geese and a few beautiful white swans (can any of you math geeks tell me how far it is around a 15 acre lake in a number that is meaningful to me, i.e. not metric?) I did come across a couple of homeless folks along the way, but the city itself is very clean and has a strong security/police presence. We had a good lunch today at the Twisted Fork restaurant in the Old Market area (not as good as yesterday's, but still good). All the people have been very friendly and service excellent. The weather is very similar to at home, though maybe a bit cooler and less humid -- we've had sunny skies and today it got into the 90s, with possible thundershowers later.

Okay, time to change into my Gator Green in anticipation for tonight's meet. Swim fast guys!

Another amazing night of racing, though understandably all Hallowell folks may have missed it since you were out putt-putting. Some random observations:

After watching Kate Ziegler so far ahead of the field in so many races back home as she shattered record after record, it was a shock to see people swimming ahead of her for most of the 400 free final. Admittedly, the 400 is not Kate's strongest event, but seeing four swimmers so close throughout the race is a testament to how strong USA swimmers are. Thankfully, Kate finished in the Top 2 and has earned her well-deserved spot on the 2008 Olympic team. I admit to screaming like crazy for her through the last 50. Word has it all PVS (Potomac Valley Swimming) coaches went out after finals to celebrate our area's first swimmer making it to the team.

While TV coverage is at commercial, we are being entertained by video on the Jumbo-tron in the middle of the Qwest Center. The video shows former Olympians/US National Team members answering random questions, such as "If there was a movie filmed about your life, who would play you?" and "Do you know the dance to Soldja Boy?" Their answers are quite entertaining, ranging on the first question from Brad Pitt & Matt Damon to Chris Farley. In my mind, Neal Walker, whose one of the more "mature" swimmers here, has given answers that steal the show. To the first question, he responded with "well since I'm a bit up there in age, I'm thinking Anthony Hopkins." When asked if he knew the steps to Soldja Boy, he stated "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about."

Tomorrow will see MCSL's most populated event -- Men's 200 butterfly. Psych sheets are posted on USAswimming.org and show our guys seeded the following:

Sean Stewart (Woodley Gardens) -- Heat 2, Lane 3
Chris Pool (North Creek) -- Heat 3, Lane 6
Adam Meyer (Carderock Springs) -- Heat 6, Lane 1
Mark Meyer (Carderock Springs) -- Heat 6, Lane 3

Can you believe the Meyers fly out here to watch their boys compete in the same heat? Mark heads from Omaha early Wednesday morning straight for the Naval Academy, so it's our last chance to watch him swim this summer. I'm sure all four guys will give it their all and look forward to seeing it.

Do they sell beer at this meet?
Though I have not partaken in any of it, yes, there is full concessions like you would expect at a pro basketball game, complete with popcorn, peanuts, barbecue sandwiches, mini pizzas, french fries, etc. (What do you think Wayne -- can we add this stuff to our Concessions Menu?)

Do swimmers who aren't swimming in finals get to watch?
Well, that's a tricky one. There are a few sections reserved just for coaches & swimmers. Unfortunately, they underestimated how many kids would qualify for this meet, so they didn't reserve enough. Many of the RMSC group left today at 4:30 to save seats (session started at 6:42 our time). By the time they got there, most of the seats were gone, so the seating issue has gotten intense. After finals, all the swimmers go to the Athlete Dining Room for dinner -- can you imagine feeding 1500 swimmers? Brady reports the food is good, so they must be handling the crowd well.

Who are those people with the laundry baskets walking behind the lanes?
My guess is these are volunteers through the local swim clubs. I know when there was a World Cup swimming event at University of Maryland, local swimmers could volunteer for these positions. Let me tell you though, those folks worked HARD today at Prelims walking those laundry baskets in & out for three hours. They get to see the swimmers up close & personal, but they work for it. I'm wondering if I could hire them at my house on laundry day.

I'll update again tomorrow after prelims, but in case I don't get to it until late, I want to state that tomorrow at finals I will be wearing Gator Green in long distance support of the Argyle Alligators in the team's big meet against Kenwood. I hope to get some text updates with all the details, most importantly the final score. If you're at the meet, please cheer extra loud for Mallory & Paige! Go Gators!!

If you experienced a big gust of wind there about 1:35 pm, it was me letting out the breath I had been holding from when the Men's 100 backstroke event began until Brady swam in Heat 7. He had a great swim with a best time, moving up to 30th from his seed of 39th. I hear he got some air time on the webcast, which is great. I attempted to videotape his swim, but for some reason it's a bit shaky. Darn camcorder. Anyways, it was great fun to watch his hard work & social and summer league sacrifices pay off with a terrific swim. Thanks for all the texts this morning -- I started getting thumb cramps and had to turn off my phone to start focusing on the meet, so I apologize if I haven't texted you back yet.

My seat for today (obtained by Greg) was in the third row off the pool right by lane 8 on the turn side -- almost as good as my announcer chair at Hallowell, but maybe a foot or two farther back. I had a great view of Don Riedlinger -- one of the D.C. area's three stroke & turn officials that was invited to officiate Trials. I'm not sure if any of the officials have an MCSL connection or not. Anyways, more on officiating later.

Back to the action in the pool, how about the World Record being broken in back to back heats in the Women's 100 back? The Qwest Center was rocking. I'm going to go way out on a limb here and predict another World Record in the event before this whole thing is over. (A true risk on my part.) The record breaking reminded me of Kevin Vallario's performance at this year's High School Metros meet. He set the Metros 100 free record in preliminaries, only to have it broken by Sean Stewart at finals. Kevin, at least you held the record for a few hours. Hayley MacGregory held hers for about 2 1/2 minutes!

Right after Brady's swim, Chris Gibson (River Falls) swam the next heat in the same lane (lane 2) and also got a best time. Rockville's Katura Harvey finished the action by dropping over a second with a great swim in the 400 free. She jumped from her seed of 82nd to finish 43rd!!

After Prelims, we headed to the Old Market area for lunch and happened into a great Southwestern Grill called Stokes (if I can sideline for a moment as a food critic, I HIGHLY recommend this place). As we walk in, I first bump into Vickie Pool (Chris' mom) from North Creek, who was there with husband Doug and son Jon (another Prep grad). Within seconds, we were joined by River Falls' Cindy Hurley (Ryan's mom), her husband Bob & daughter Kelly. It's such fun to travel this far and get to catch up with folks from home. I'm really looking forward to watching Chris swim the 200 fly tomorrow (along with Sean Stewart and Mark Meyer), and Ryan the 200 breast on Wednesday (with Eric Friedland).

Action for tonight actually starts at 6:47 Central Time, though TV coverage (on USA Network) won't start until 7pm. They'll run the women's 100 back semifinals (2 heats), followed by the 2 semifinal heats of the Mens 400 free. The timeline says those will be over by 7:01. They'll probably show the highlights of those races on TV. Prime time coverage will be of the Finals for Women's 100 Fly, Men's 100 Breast, semi's of Women's 100 breast and Men's 100 back, then ending with Finals for the Women's 400 Free (Kate Ziegler & Katie Hoff will have a great race). Scheduled for after 8pm are the medal presentations for all final events.

I did learn something interesting this morning at the Parents Training Camp session. In each event, only the first place finisher is announced as an Olympian that night. The second place finisher, though almost guaranteed a spot on the team, has to wait until later in the meet to be named an Olympian. It's a numbers game, I guess, with on 26 spots each for men & women, and they have to make sure they have enough spots for everyone.

I'll close this entry by naming the official Swim Geek Champion to MCSL Board member Lionel Bejean (Kings Farm & Montgomery Country Club). Lionel reported having one computer showing the webcast on NBC, with another computer tuned to Omega Live timing Results. Lionel has admitted to his addiction and will be seeking help, though probably not until the Trials are over. Oh, and if you see Bob Richardson, tell him I've spotted Kramer on deck.

Hope Putt-Putt night was fun and thunder-storm free! Time to head over for finals.

Greetings from the nation's largest swim t-shirt convention! The streets, restaurants, etc. were packed with folks wearing swim-related paraphernalia last night. It makes conversation starters real easy. Everyone was talking about the amazing races in last night's finals and how worn out they were from cheering. The decibel level got pretty high in the Center.

I went for a nerves-releasing run today through the city and didn't spot quite as many swim t-shirts as the city's workforce returns. This place must have the shortest radio-traffic reports on record, as there are hardly any cars. I ran through the Old Market area that everyone kept telling me about and it is neat. I'll have to head back there later when the shops & restaurants are open. This morning, I'm heading to a breakfast (another freebie) for National Team and Junior National Team Parents as part of the Parent "Training Camp" series. Today's topic is "How to Support Your Elite Athlete Child." Mike Hogue ("The Hulk" trainer from Fitness First) is out here and will join me at the breakfast posing as Greg (who gets in town tomorrow). I'm sure no one will notice the difference.

To everyone back home looking out (and driving) Paige & Mallory -- thank you, thank you, thank you! I know they're in good hands. Hope you had great weather for Fun-Day Monday at Hallowell & start resting up for the big meet! In the meantime, send all your positive thoughts out this way for this morning's swim.

Can I just say that the Qwest Center is GI-NORMOUS!! As we drove by on the way to the hotel, I was completely awestruck. Later, watching people pour into the building to watch tonight's finals was amazing. It's really something to see swimming competition on such a big stage. As for the Qwest Center, you can still see the damage caused by the tornado (which I was told was never classified as a tornado, but rather a storm with 85 per mile an hour winds.) There are still approximately 50,000 people in Omaha without power since the storm ripped through here on Friday.

In the pool, things got off to a great start for MCSL swimmers. In the 100 breaststroke, both River Falls/Georgetown Prep alum Ryan Hurley & Tilden Woods'/Walter Johnson's Eric Friedland achieved best times, with Ryan finishing 22nd and Eric in at 31st. Their performance bodes well for both of them in the 200 breaststroke, which is their stronger event. That will take place Wednesday.

Tomorrow is a big day for MCSL swimmers. Rockville's Cara Chuang will start things off in the Women's 100 backstroke. Followed by Chris Gibson (another River Falls/Georgetown Prep alum) and Brady in the 100 back, and ending with Katura Harvey (Rockville/Richard Montgomery) in the 400 free. You can watch it all live via webcast at www.NBCOlympics.com starting at noon Eastern Time. Wouldn't it be great if so many people log onto NBC's webcasts that they would finally realize that they should televise these events in full? The event order for tomorrow is Women's 100 back, Mens 200 free, Women's 100 breast, Men's 100 back and Women's 400 free, which will feature Virginia's Kate Ziegler.

I do have to share just one silly personal story. Toyota, one of the event's sponsors, offered free airport rides to anyone who signed up in advance through the USA swimming website. Well, it's always nice to get something free, so I signed up a few weeks ago. Sure enough, as I'm taking the escalator down to Baggage Claim, there's a gentleman standing at the bottom with a sign that reads "U.S. Olympic Trials welcomes ROBBYE FOX." Needless to say, I was feeling pretty important. As I reached the bottom and was about to approach the man, I heard the young guy behind me say to his traveling companion, "Robbye Fox -- what does he swim?" My very nice driver gave me the sign to keep -- maybe I'll have it framed.

We've had so many people ask us to send updates from the Trials meet, that I've decided to fully abuse my privileges as Hallowell webmaster and post information to the sight about swimmers from our area competing in the meet. Admittedly my coverage will not be impartial when it comes to swimmers from D.C., and especially the MCSL. If you want broader, more impartial coverage, than I suggest you visit the following sites:

If those aren't enough, check out the Message Boards on www.collegeswimming.com. And if you still want more, you might want to consider seeking psychiatric help ; ).

For a list of all MCSL trials qualifiers and the events in which they'll be participating, visit www.mcsl.org. Next report will occur from Omaha!