Day 2 - The RAYS Hit The Pool

Day 2 saw Erin & Kristine race at the fastest meet in the World. Erin raced the 100 Bk and looked superb winning her heat in a best time of 1:03.80. Erin's split of 30.8 was a blistering 1st 50 and she held on for a great finish. The commentators spoke of her great underwater kick on the start and turn. Although Erin's swim was really good, the World Record was set not once but twice in the later heats. Unbelievable to watch. Kristine swam the 100 BR and did a solid 1:13. Bean was a little late on the start, but after the turn, had a superb 2nd 50 to finish the race. Bean looks good for her 200 BR on Thursday.

The action tonight saw some really good swims, but no records. It really is a spectacle to watch all the pomp & circumstance at this meet. It's not a meet, it is an event.

Tomorrow the girls have no events, but we will workout a couple of times. Bean is getting ready for her 200 BR on Wednesday, along with Bryan in his 100 Fr. Erin will get a chance to swim a time trial, which we will do in the 200 Bk. Looks like there will be some FAST finals tomorrow night, hope your watching.

Day 1 - Can You Say World Record

There were fireworks in the pool and fireworks out of the pool. I've never been to a swim meet that had fireworks on the pool deck, not small ones either. But the best fireworks were in the pool. Day 1 saw 3 American Records & 2 World Records set.

Starting with the Men's 400IM with Phelps & Lochte battling it out to the last stroke, both finishing in World Record time. Then came Larsen Jensen a big surprise winning the 400 Fr. 3rd place was on .3 behind, not good enough to make the team. Finally Katie Hoff had the race of her life winning the 400 IM in World Record time. The atmosphere is unbelivable as 10,000 watched the prelims and then 12,100 (biggest crowd ever in the US) watched the finals.

As for the RAYS the girls practiced twice today as we are finishing our preparations for their first swims tomorrow. Erin swims the 100 Bk at about Noon and Bean swims the 100 BR at about 1pm (EST). If you click on the website and the web cast link you can see them swim tomorrow. I know they want you too. Bryan arrived tonight looking great and ready to go on Wednesday. Stay tuned I think the best is yet to come.

RAYS Arrive

Well we made it to Omaha. Erin was nearly blown away when the storm hit on Friday night. Part of the Qwest Center, including a window was blown away also.

Today was a lot nicer, blue sky and pretty warm. The girls hit the pool. The pool WOW! when you first see it, you have to stand there a while and try to fathom what your seeing.

Well tomorrow the meet starts. You can tell the meet is almost upon us because you see all the TV personalities around on the pool deck, getting the lighting correct etc. I actually spoke with Bob Costas today. Nice man. Should be some fast swimming tomorrow night, hope you watch. We could have 3 world records set. I know we will get at least one. Don't miss it.

Olympic Dreams

Every swimmer has them. A dream to swim in the Olympic Games. Even I did back in 1976 and 1980. I gave it a good shot; but failed. Or was it failure?

What we learn from our own experiences really determine who we become in life. I did.
Enough of me. We have 3 athletes that will be competing for a place on the 2008 team. To even get a chance to compete for a spot on the TEAM you have to be one of the 589 female or 600 male participants that have qualified. That is roughly half a percent of USA Swimming athletes.

Only 26 females & 26 males may be on the TEAM!

If you finish 1st or 2nd in an individual event - you made it; 3rd - Sorry. Seems harsh, but is amazing to see athletes who finish 3rd come back in 4 years and try again. Why you might say, I would be devastated. Some achieve getting on the team the second time because of the experience of being 3rd. They had learned from their own experience.

OK back to what this blog will be about. The three athletes that made the Trials are Kristine Polley, Erin Reisinger and Bryan Lundquist. I hope with their help to write about our experiences at the fastest meet in the World. We hope you will read it daily and help you learn from our athletes experience, so you may one day get a chance to be on the TEAM. RAYS News Man