2007 August | Swim Stars Live

This meet is proving to be a fast and fun. Our USA team is competing well and dropping lots of time. Last night Randal Bal won a silver medal in the 100 Back and Nick Brunelli won the bronze medal in the 100 free — both hard-fought races that came down to the touch. These guys are our veterans, and it makes sense for them to lead the team and bring home some hardware.
We’re in a bit of a different situation that many of the other competing federations. Most of our Team USA athletes qualified for this meet two weeks ago at Nationals, and for most Nationals was the “end of the season” shave meet. This meet is the bonus — the “experience trip.” To maintain high levels of energy through a shave, into another shave is a tall order, but one that we’re standing up to every session.

Here are a few swims that come to mind when I think about the best of the best that has happened so far:

A- The first swim of the meet was Ashley Jones from Indiana swimming the 400 IM. Ashley is a backstroker, and didn’t swim the 400 IM at Nationals…so we didn’t know what to expect. Ashley started the meet off for Team USA by dropping from 4:58 to 4:49 in her IM (then backed it up with another 4:49 in the “B” final). We continued to rattle off best times during morning #1, thanks in part to Ashley getting us going.
B- Our Men’s backstroke field is loaded going into 2008. David Russell didn’t even earn a second swim with his 54.68 prelim swim. Ben Hesen won the “B” final with a PR of 54.27. David Cromwell went 54.20 in the “A” final (off a 53.8 studswim at Nationals), and then we had Bal’s 53.91 medal swim. These guys are awesome.
C- Chistine Magnuson swam a 54.2 on the 3rd leg of the Women’s bronze medal 400 free relay. She had the coaching staff google-eyed after that one.
D- Jon Roberts going 1:00.8 in the 100 breast was a great swim, and this guy looks like he’s just going to get faster.
E- John Criste going 2:14.3 in the 200 breast was a great prelim swim and drop from a 2:16 (the finals as of this blog haven’t happened). He joins Jon Roberts tonight in the final. Not bad for a guy that just graduated from High School. Hello, Stanford!
F- Alyssa Anderson has had some outstanding performances, the best being her 2:10.9 200 Fly from last night. She is the Top Ranked 15-16 200 Flyer in the USA right now.
G- Gil Stoval swam a 1:56.5 200 Fly to finish 5th. Gil dropped another .5 off his stellar performance from Nationals, and he did it passing 3 guys on the final 50.

We’re really excited to see what we can do over the next 3 sessions of this meet. The atmosphere couldn’t be better (you should see the fire coming out of the scoreboard), while the pool is quick and well-lit all around the venue.

The 400 Medley relay, on the final day of the meet, will be our best relay by far on both the men’s and women’s side, so get ready for that. Wish the US more fast swimming, and stay tuned for further reports!

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Aug22nd

Pictures: 2007 Nationals - Day 4 Prelims

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007

Katie Hoff’s 200 Free Prelim

Megan Romano’s 200 Free Prelim

Davis Tarwater’s 200 Free Prelim

Chris DeJong’s 200 Free Prelim

Peter Vanderkaay’s 200 Free Prelim

Tara Kirk’s 100 Breast Prelim

Jessica Hardy’s 100 Breast Prelim

Brendan Hansen’s 100 Breast Prelim

Megan Romano’s 100 Back Prelim

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Aug20th

Pictures: 2007 Nationals - Day 3 Finals

Monday, August 20th, 2007

Katie Hoff’s 400 Free Final & Awards

Erik Vendt’s 400 Free Final & Awards

Peter Vanderkaay’s 400 Free Final & Awards

Ian Crocker’s 100 Fly Final

Davis Tarwater’s 100 Fly Final & Awards

Chris DeJong w/ Club Wolverine’s 800 Free Relay

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Aug19th

oops, here’s the pic

Sunday, August 19th, 2007

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Aug19th

Chillin in Chiba

Sunday, August 19th, 2007

August 20, 2007
It’s a sticky, sunny day here in Chiba, Japan. Team USA begins its quest for swimming excellence tomorrow at the Japan Open. The pool is beautiful, the people are friendly, and our athletes are ready to race.

This National Team is a very exciting team to be a part of because most who are here representing the USA are up-and-comers on the swimming scene. We’ve got some veterans who have competed in the Olympics, and we’ve got a TON of rookies…it should be a lot of fun once we begin.

There is a huge mall very close to the hotel so the coaches and athletes have been spending some time shopping and cruising around. On my way to Starbucks the other day (imagine that) I noticed some things that were done a bit differently than they are done in the US. Here is a short list:

1. People are driving on the wrong side of the road. We all kind of know this fact, but it still hasn’t prevented me from almost getting smashed like frogger everytime I go outside. I’m starting to look both ways twice.
2. There are lots of head-nods going around. All Kenechewa’s (good afternoon) are accompanied by a bow. All Domo Arigato’s (thank you) are accompanied by a bow. This person to person exchange is done as a reflex if you live here, and seems like a very nice way to behave. For me, I’m not sure if should go with just the head, or keep the head steady and bow with the whole torso. It’s very confusing. As long as I don’t head-butt anybody I think I’ll be alright.
3. Bikes are everywhere, and nobody seems to care about locking them. People roll up to the local McDonalds, kick down their kick-stand, and head inside. Try that in Baltimore! Those bikes wouldn’t last 90 seconds.

I’ve included a photo I took while out and about yesterday. More photos will follow so I can show you what the pool looks like. Until next time….

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Aug17th