Day 1 Thoughts and Experiences 6/13/2021

ARB RACES the 100 Fly

Addie Rose clocked in with a 1:00.81 in the 100 meter Fly this morning. Her best time in 2021 but slightly off her life time best of 1:00.63. But, the name of the game is RACING here and she did awesome with finishing second in her heat and moving up to 49th position from 63rd. It took a 59.1 to make semi finals, so we have a goal for 2024 :)

Finals Highlight Race
Trials never disappoint, especially the finals and semi finals. The first race was a repeat of 2016 with Chase Kalisz winning the the 400 IM and Jay Litherland coming from behind and splitting a 57 on the free leg to get second. Both swimmer represented UGA and Jay is a Dynamo swimmer. These men both know how to race and put on a fantastic first race.

Observations

What amazes me at this meet, everyone is pulling for everyone. You truly feel a part of Team USA. The amount of coaches and athletes that said good luck to Addie Rose and myself, reminds me that this is the best sport on the planet. It supports our RAYS philosophy of Training for Life (T4L), that you need a supportive community to do anything well in this life. Watching Melanie Margalis tonight being out touched by her former college teammate in the 400 IM and then smiling and giving her a congratulatory hug was priceless. Only in the pool would you see that.