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I dropped from a seeded time of 64th to 39th in the 50 Free. I'm proud of that considering it's my 2nd event and there are Olympians present.

I had a great morning swim in the 50 free which was probably the result of a decent night of sleep, some food and being utterly ticked-off at my performance yesterday. I dropped almost half a second in the 50 Free from a 24.20 a few weeks ago in Santa Clara to a 23.76. I never guessed I would even be close to an Olympic Trial cut in the free but it's looking within reach. I would Time Trial it and attempt to drop below the cut of 23.49 but due to a scheduling conflict I can't be in Omaha during the 50 Free at the Olympic Trials.

Last night was interesting, the tornado alarms went off at 2am. Apparently there was a 70mph tornado just outside Omaha. I was so tired I just fell asleep to the sound of the rain blasting into my window. I really had no idea there was a tornado, it's not exactly something I'm used to dealing with in Michigan.

I feel much better today, I'm about to warmup for the 50 free, it's the 2nd event today. I don't expect to make it back tonight but I'm hoping I'll have a decent time. My best is 24.20... we shall see.

It's hard to be positive right now. There is really only one statement that sums up how I'm feeling about the 100 Back prelims:

That was an embarrassment.

I woke up early and warmed up before the preliminary session and did some test backstroke starts. I feel sort of lethargic this morning, I'm hoping I can find my speed for the 100 back. I had some trouble getting grip on the Omega pads during warmup in lane 2, which is the lane I'm in for prelims. I'll do my best this morning and give it all I can.

I'm in Heat 7 (of 9) in lane 2 for the 100 back, my heat has Chris DeJong and Cory Chitwood in it as well so there's plenty of motivation to go fast. The heat sheet says I'll swim at 12:27pm CST so 1:27pm EST. Here we go...

I had a moment tonight as I was watching the Finals when it struck me that even being present at this meet even as a spectator was overwhelming. I almost feel like this meet is so elite that I don't even belong here. Then it hits me that I've done what it takes to swim here, and I deserve to be a part of something so amazing. Tomorrow I swim the 100 backstroke against some of the best swimmers in the world... it's exactly what I've wanted. I'm swimming in the Olympic Trial pool, against the people I'll swim against in 3 short weeks.

A new video is posted of the Qwest Center on the Video Page

I got some lunch with fellow EMU swimmer Derick Roe at a local restaurant called "The Old Mattress Factory". I've just been enjoying some time to relax. Finals start a 6:00pm CST. Below a virtual tour of the facility:

Qwest Center Virtual Tour - Pool Side View

This morning I warmed up before the morning session began. There are enough swimmers here to fill 2.5 olympic size pools to the point there isn't even any room to swim! Right now I'm watching the morning session from the stands. I've gotten to see a few of my friends swim very well this morning. Zach Wood did very well in the 100 free and Christine Jennings did well in both the 100 free and 400 free. Below is a picture of the pool I took yesterday:

I've never seen anything like this. The pool is amazing, the Qwest center is massive and the preparation is mind boggling. There is a lot I didn't know about going into this meet, some of this you may have already known, but this is what I've gathered from my experience today: