Final days of 2008 USA Olympic Team Trials

My apologies to everyone for not blogging over the last two days. I have received all of your texts and emails. We have been having a huge amount of success here at the 2008 USA Olympic Team Trials. As I had written in my last post, Leah had a very successful 200 Fly, getting a top 8 swim at night, and swimming her lifetime best time. Leah also secured another Top 8 swim in the 800 free last evening, which I know many of you saw on NBC. I wanted to take some time to go over what happens when you get a final 8 swim at the Olympic Trials.

We usually get to the pool about 5:30pm, and swim our warm-up of about 1,500 meters. The finals session is scheduled to begin at 7pm (local time). Most of this is dictated by NBC. There are some nights where we were to begin the session with some semi-finals heats, and NBC wanted to begin their live broadcast with a "Finals Heat", so we did begin a few nights at 6:45pm, so we could go live at 7pm. During the evenings of Leah's finals swims, we ended warm-ups about 6:10pm, and Leah had some time to get her racing suits on, get water, and had a few minutes to talk with me. Most times about 6:30pm was the last I talked with Leah. She went back to the warm-up pool area, where there is no media, only other swimmers and coaches. She would remain back there until she was about ready to swim. All athletes must report to the "Race Ready Room" at 15 minutes prior to their swim. This is a room where all 8 finalists sit prior to the race. There is a TV in this room where you can see the actual meet, and some times the athletes may say a few things to each other, but for the most part the swimmers usually have their head phones on, and are preparing for their races. About 5 minutes prior to the race, the athletes will be led to the "chute", which are stairs which lead to the main pool deck in the arena. When the music starts, this is the signal to begin walking out of the chute. Here the athletes will see 2-3 TV camera's, and then hear the crowd. Imagine 13,000 people screaming and yelling, and lots of bright lights. The key here as I mentioned to Leah is to keep your head set on, and block out the crowd. After all of the names have been announced, it is time to swim, and over all we have had some fantastic swims. Leah's 800 last evening was a second opportunity for her to get a Top 8 finals swim, and she learned some valuable things which will help her as she prepares over the next four years for the 2012 trials.

BIG JOE's MILE - WOW.......Joe knew his event was on the last day, so we have used this week to continue to prepare him. We kept his volume a bit higher most of the week in preparation for this event. In talking with Joe, we knew it would take about 15:15 to get a Top 8 finish. Joe's best was 15:31. The metric mile has become a very fast event for American swimming. Joe's goal all Summer was a Top 8 finish, but we knew it would be a very large task. Mid way through the week, Joe time trialed the 400 free. His previous best time was 4:02, and in his time trial he broke 4:00, and went 3:59, so he really felt ready for the mile. Joe was seeded in the 2nd to last heat of the pyramid seeding. He looked relaxed and ready to swim at yesterday's (Saturday) prelim session. As he entered the water, he was 4:02 at the 400 mark (which up until this meet was his fastest time), he held 1:01's most of the way, and was well on his way to a 9 second improvement. When he finished, he was in 5th place out of all of the heats (results) going 15:22.45. We had one heat remaining!! About 1000 meters through the last year, we knew Joe had a shot at Top 8. His college coaches at UNC were very happy. Joe accomplished his goal, and now was ready for another shot at time improvement. Hopefully everyone will be watching tonight as Joe will be swimming on National TV (NBC 9pm- Heat Sheet is here). Joe is ready for his big race!!

This meet has offered a huge amount of experience for Joe, Leah, and Tricia. In the last four years, each of these swimmers has prepared for this meet, and I think we had some huge successes. After tonight, all three swimmers will return home as Joe prepares for the US Open with his college teammates, Tricia will end the year at the Eastern Zone Sectional meet at Penn State, and Leah will joining the other WSY swimmers going to Y nationals at University of Maryland. I know all 3 swimmers are looking forward to 2012, and taking the experiences from this meet and using them over the next four years. The question we have for all WSY swimmers is who will be joining us in 2012, as we prepare for the 2012 London Games.

After Joe swims tonight, we will make one more entry to our Blog. Thanks to everyone in Central Pennsylvania for all of your supportive emails, texts, and phone calls. I know Joe, Leah, and Tricia appreciate them. Our flight is out tomorrow (Monday), and we will see everyone at the WSY Outdoor Center on Tuesday....complete with bugs, leaves, frogs, and birds singing!!!

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