This isn’t the nightly wrap-up, but I wanted to make a post just to shout out a very special visitor.

Mrs. Sandeno, thanks for the kind words and I’m glad you enjoy the site! Kaitlin made a point to let me know what you thought. I’ll try to keep it up! Be sure to check out MGoSwim, too. It revolves around all things Club Wolverine.

Oh, and the crime situation on the Ohio State campus isn’t quite as bad as it sounded in that earlier post, I promise! I hope you weren’t worring too much about Kaitlin!

If you were expecting a nice and long rundown from today’s prelims, you thought wrong! I was mostly all business during this morning’s session.

1. This session was so short and sweet. It was a nice change from Day 1 & 2, whose prelims seemed to go on forever!

2. If you can get to the Grand Prix in Omaha before Trials, do so. I have it on good authority, that that will be quite the meet!

3. Willa Wang’s mother is crowd fave. And by crowd, I mean the swimmers on deck immediately below her. There are multiple videos of her cheering for her daughter that are making the rounds on deck.

4. There may or may not be a jail break tonight…

5. The Asian may be done swimming…for good. There’ll be more on this on MGoSwim after the meet is finished. I spoke to Coach Bob this morning.

6. I am worried about T-DUB!! Not only has he not seemed himself this meet, but he scratched the 2Fly today.

Here’s the evening update. Hopefully there will be no more haters on here wasting our time.

Anyway…

1. The impossible has happened! I have captured a shot of PVK on the awards stand with a genuine smile on his face! I know, I know. Bow down to me. All it took was a little OSU/Michigan humor and he lit right up.

1a. Before his race, I finally got a chance to catch-up with Pete face-to-face. I realized that I hadn’t gotten to talk to him in person since the Snik meet last year. Now text messages, emails, and facebook are all good and fun, but there’s nothing quite like the Vander-wit up close and personal.

1c. What a strange numbering system I’ve got here, huh? Keeping with the PVK theme, I would just like to say how proud I am of him and his awesome 400 Free tonight. I knew he’d eventually go after Kletus‘ US Open and American Record, but I didn’t think it would be tonight! This isn’t even a taper meet! Look out for PVK this summer yo!

2. Kaitlin, whom I apparently “stalk” was a doll again today. I already told y’all how she refuses to keep the chocolate she gets for placing top 3. Well today, a young fan asked for her autograph after the 400 IM awards. When she was done signing she offered the little girl her chocolate. And the girl made the funniest face! As if to say “why would I want that?” haha. Kaitlin immediately turned around gave her chocolates to me. I don’t refuse chocolate Buckeyes. They are delish! She and I joked that the little girl simply didn’t want Kaitlin’s chocolates since she only finished 2nd.

3. I would like to thank UCLA for ruining my bracket. The game was showing in the hospitality room and I couldn’t stop checking in on the scores throughout the session.

4. No embarassing SPA stories this evening. Shout out to Piper and her big-ass feet. No one that short should wear size 11’s homegirl!

5. Gary Hall just ceases to amaze me. He is beyond amazing with fans. I am in awe. Every time I passed him to shoot a race, he was obliging someone’s request for a picture or autograph. And he just doesn’t sign and then move on. He engages in conversations and the whole she-bang. Very impressed! I just love seeing that.

6. The meet officials at the 50m turn are so friendly. I love being able to chat with them while I’m over there.

7. Maybe we should make a new category called “Peter Bick Owns Us”. Because after this meet, that may very well be true. The jokes never end; especially when we gang up on misbehaving swimmers while on the awards podium. JK, JK.

8. Erik got DQed from his second breaststroke race of the meet. Methinks Bob & co. may need to tinker with his stroke a little.

9. T-Dub is majorly M.I.A. He didn’t swim in finals tonight. I look forward to seeing him in the 2Fly tomorrow.

10. Again, Dan Madwed impressed me. He really pushed Pete in the 400 Free prelims, but in finals, he swam a best time too.

11. I’m not as tired as I was this time last night, but I’m still going to pack it in and head to bed. One more day, friends. One more day!

12. So funny story. NBC4, a news channel here, did another story on the meet. I know, I was surprised too. They said that the reason Mike didn’t swim the 400 Free prelims this morning was because he fell asleep on the diving platform and missed his heat. HAHAHAHA I want to believe that, but I don’t know if I can because I could have sworn that saw him leave with a media rep to do an interview long before the 400 Free heats began. It’s funnier to believe that he was stretching fell asleep! It’s ok, though. He wouldn’t have beat PVK anyway

Hi there, you swim fan you.

Glad to have you here. We’ve been around almost 2 years now having fun whenever and wherever we can all in the name of swimming.

If you’re one of the newer visitors, we feel we need to let you in on some info. Especially if you’re one of the visitors that has trouble reading…

This is not a news affiliate. We are not Swimming World Magazine; although we do subscribe ;). This is a goofy blog for a group of us swim fans who met through the sport. It’s a beautiful thing, really. This great sport we all love brought us all together and we have friendships for life.

If you’re looking for up-to-the-minute news and feature stories, you’re on the wrong website. Since 2004, I have worked my butt off on SwimStars.org covering a group of US swimmers in-depth and travelling to meets, on my own dime, to give them more promotion. Recognition that they deserve. I don’t make a cent off of that website and I’ve poured thousands into it. I don’t care. If given the choice to do it all again, I would. I do it for the love of the sport and respect and admiration of the athletes I cover. You can also try Swimming World Magazine for some good stuff on the entire sport. Some of their staff visits regularly, as do people from USA Swimming, SwimNetwork, and the swimmers we all know and love.

Found on this blog are random thoughts that we as swim fans have about the sport and its stars. We don’t do livejournal or xanga’s, so we post on our own blog. And if you don’t like something on here, we really don’t care. Keep it to yourself. We’re not breaking any rules or confidences. The relationship with the sport’s governing body, other media outlets, and most importantly the athletes, is something we cherish and we would never put that in jeopardy.

So if you’re here after drinking some hater-aid, you shouldn’t even waste your time. Just click that magical ‘x’ up in the right-hand corner. We run this and what we say goes. There is no freedom of speech here unless you’re a Swim Aid. Sorry. So, go ahead and treat yourself to a nice, tall glass of STFU and find something else to do.

HOLLA!

This is gonna be short, cuz my ass needs a nap like you wouldn’t believe!

1. I’ll be honest. I didn’t think I’d have anything to share today because I’m that tired. But I do. Funny how that works, huh?

2. Oh Em Gee! Cesar Cielo KILLED IT this morning! His 21.99 was a crazy sick 50 free time! I saw that his seed time was in yards, so he was in one of the “slower” heats. I made sure I had a great spot on deck for it because I knew, coming off of NCAAs, that he’d be fast! Holy cow!

3. My quality time with the St. Petersburg Girls is never dull. They all made asses out of themselves this morning, in the presence of UF swimmer Shaune Fraser. When Meg sees this, she’ll probably kill me, but what is she going to do about it? Nothing! Anyway, I always know when Shaune is near because Meg follows him not just with her eyes, but her entire head! These girls don’t know what discretion (or whispering) is and it’s so entertaining to me. I won’t share the rest of the embarassment, because a lot of it you had to be there for. They wanted to go shopping at Easton this afternoon. I highly recommend it. They also said they were looking for a ride there. I’m soooo glad they didn’t ask me. I would have felt obligated and not gotten my much-needed nap!

4. Katie and I plotted our party plans for post-Beijing. She’s looking forward to getting her dance on the week after swimming is done. When she gets back stateside, we have a date, and it’s gonna be insane. Trust. She also noted how zombie-like I was this morning (I told y’all I was tired). I didn’t even shoot the women’s 400 IM because I was that out of it. That and I decided to sleep in a little, so I missed the early heats.

5. Kaitlin, Kaitlin, Kaitlin. What can I say about her? Well, besides how much I love her. Her hotel hasn’t been doing right by her. The bed are supposed to be comfy, but she can’t sleep. Then wakes up with a crick in her neck. Not cool! She’s also looking forward to checking out some of the shops on High St. Every time I pass them, I think about how Kaitlin would probably love to shop there. Guess I was right! I just urged her not to go after dark since there was a shooting on campus (in that area) last weekend…I gotta look out for my peeps. Don’t want them getting shot up.

6. Dan Madwed is swimming out of his mind this weekend. Really great times. Definitely going to make a nice addition to the University of Michigan/Club Wolverine Family.

7. Gary Hall Jr. signed autographs, this morning, for at least 30 minutes. Every time I walked by, age group swimmers and meet volunteers were crowded around him and he was signing anything and everything given to him. He was also taking pictures with everyone. This went on for a long time. I said 30 minutes, but it was probably a lot longer. Others shut themselves off, ya know, under diving platforms, so people can’t interact with them. So this was very nice to see.

8. I FINALLY got to meet Miss Felicia Lee face-to-face. About damn time, huh? I really, really, really want to fold her up and put her in my pocket with my other faves. Wonder if anyone would notice…

9. There may or may not be more to this morning, but I can’t think of it. I’m going to go take a nap. Peace out!

Soooo tired. Can hardly see straight. The things I do for swimming. Here’s tonight’s nuggets:

1. Finals ended AHEAD of schedule. Could be the first time ever. Everything went so quickly that I almost didn’t have time to socialize. Key word: almost.

2. Saw my local TV stations while on deck. They each covered the meet tonight, which was great to see in a city that revolves around Buckeye football.

3. After Kaitlin accused me a stalking her during prelims, she decided to switch roles. She stalked me during finals. We still didn’t get to adequately catch up, but we’re going to. Funny story. The top 3 swimmers make the awards podium and get chocolate. Kaitlin gave hers away saying that if there is chocolate near her she is going to eat all of it. Funny girl.

4. Mama Romano almost had a panic attack when Hy-Tek wasn’t working during Meg’s 200 Free race. She sent me a couple of text messages. But eventually they got the results and all was good in the world.

5. PVK beat Phelps in the 200 Free. I’m so proud I can hardly stand it. But nothing topped how awkward he continues to look on the medals stand. After the meet, I texted him to make fun of him and his excuse is that he’s not a good actor. Oh, Pete.

6. I haven’t forgotten about the Nike suit. I’m going to bring a good picture back here tomorrow or Sunday. Promise!

7. My cell phone service is not all it’s cracked up to be down on deck. In the stands everything is fine. This annoys me, but there isn’t much I can do about it.

8. Peter Bick and I had fun giving the swimmers a hard time if they didn’t pose during the awards ceremonies. The Hoff, who is usually amazing with the poses, thought she was going to climb down without giving us our shot, so we called her on it. Good times, good times.

9. JOE DOYLE RULES (That’s for lala)

10. There really wasn’t enough time for juicy gossip like there was this morning. I’m sure I’ll make up for it tomorrow with another long-ass prelim session.

My thoughts aren’t very organized because I am so freakin’ tired right now. I forgot how much I hate mornings. Here’s what I got.

1. [begin rant] Club Wolverine is anti-social this meet. They are hiding under the diving platforms. If they think my black ass is going all the way over there for them, they got another thing coming! They should have chosen a nice bleacher area just like every other freakin team did. Snobs. [end rant]

2. Kaitlin is excluded from that rant. I caught up with her for a second after her 200 Free prelim. I timed it perfectly and got a wet hug from her. What did I get for my effort and planning? She called me a stalker. God bless Kaitlin Sandeno.

3. Paul Yetter is still my fave coach. I missed all of the women’s 200 Free races because we were chatting. If I intend on kidnapping 2 of his swimmers this weekend, I have to butter him up. BTW, my fellow Swim Aids, he asked about you all and says hi!

4. The Hoff is still cool as hell. Got my 1st wet hug of the day from her. She’s the one who told me where CW was hiding. Apparently those LZR suits have adventurous zippers. When they’re at the top, they’re fine, but once you start unzipping them, they just wanna keep going and going and going. With my help, Katie almost mooned the crowd. That would have been classic, no?

5. Ian isn’t here. He has food poisoning lots of schoolwork. Everyone say it with me in their best Shannen voice: “Awww, Ian!” Neil Walker has the flu. Poor Longhorns.

6. Peter Bick is awesome. He keeps me company since I am posse-free this meet.

7. MEGAN ROMANO! While still ghetto, she is as funny as ever! I’d say I spent 80% of the session with her. I even smuggled her food from the hospitality room. Felt like a drug deal. But don’t tell her coach! He’s not supposed to know! Ever wondered where she wants to go to college? She’s going to be a senior in the fall. Well? Megan wants to be a Florida Gator, although she says she’s not too sure. She likes to point out their hot male swimmers to me. Sounds like her mind is made up! Also, her boobs are too big for the LZR suit she wore during prelims. How’s that for embarassing?

8. I saw a new NIKE suit that I really like. It’s black/white, which, to me, equals perfection. I 1st spotted it while hanging with Peter Bick and he inquired whether it was the suit or the suit-wearer that I really liked. Well played, Peter. Well played. For the record: I liked both

9. Coach Bob looks like he’s lost weight. We exchanged pleasantries in the hospitality room.

10. Did a litle OSU Spring Football Game planning with my bro’s friend, and GCSTO coach Tommy. We’re gonna get crunk. Mark my words.

11. Kate Ziegler loves the design I put together for her official website. We’re gonna hook up later and discuss it further this weekend. She didn’t mention being plum tuckered out, though.

12. I miss my fellow Swim Aids (and Mama VDK). While I may not have you guys around to entertain me, I think I have plenty of people to keep me company.

*Whew* I think that’s it.