The Swim Aids have always had an extreme love for all things Club Wolverine and we still haven’t truly come to terms with the fact that PVK no longer trains with Team CW. We figure that if we don’t go to meets and actually see him rocking a Florida cap, it isn’t real. Yup. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.

Anyway, enjoy this throwback to Summer 2010!

O/T: I really enjoy how a lot of swim clubs are using social media these days. What a difference a few years make!

I know, 2 posts in one day. Don’t get too spoiled. This won’t last! Also, please be forewarned, this is mostly a rant post!

We knew Olympic trials were headed back to Omaha, but now it’s official, as the deal has been signed.

The Swim Aids are not fans of the city of Omaha. I’m not sure we should even truly refer to it as a “city” because it is far from what I consider one.

I can see why, from the athlete’s POV, Omaha would be a great place for a major team selection competition. There’s absolutely nothing to do! Very little distractions = focused swimmers. I get that. But for the rest of us, zzzzzzzzzzzzz. What a snoozefest! I was expecting Omaha to be like Indy in terms of a downtown. There are a million things to do and restaurants that don’t close at 5PM. You don’t need a car in downtown Indy, you do in Omaha. Well, if you want to occupy your time doing anything anyway. Continue Reading »

For a grand total of 4 hours last night and this afternoon swimming came back into my life!

It’s been a very long stretch since I last covered an event. And while I wouldn’t call what I was doing this weekend “covering”, it was still nice to experience.

Everyone knows of my love affair with the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion on the Ohio State University Campus. It’s literally one of the nicest facilities I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been to quite a few in the past 4.5 years. I went to the Ohio State vs. Kenyon meet, back in October, but that didn’t do a whole lot for me. In my heart, I knew it wouldn’t be right unless the men of the Maize and Blue were in the house.

This weekend they were and I couldn’t have been happier! Not just because I rep for Club Wolverine, but because it meant I got to gossip with one of my fave sets of swim parentals: the Vanderkaays. If you don’t know, you betta ask somebody! Anyway, OSU hosted a big quad-meet that brough Northwestern, Penn State, and Michigan to town. In addition, the Penn State women made the trip to duel the OSU women. For those reasons, the meet pretty much had to be broken up into 2 days. Continue Reading »

So I realized that I didn’t do one of these yesterday and now, unfortunately, the days are starting to blur together. So here goes on another edition of “Tales From The Deck”

After tonight’s session we felt extreme sadness. I’m talking like being on the verge of tears. Why, you ask? Because T-Dub!! finished 3rd in the men’s 200 Fly, thus not making the Olympic Team. I don’t know if there was anyone else in the meet we wanted on the team more than him, so when Gil Stovall swam the race of his life (props to him, that was badass!) we knew Davis’ chances at punching a ticket for Beijing were reduced to zero. But he left it all in the pool. That was his best time. For our own selfish reasons, we want him to continue one more year — like a couple of his teammates — but we understand if he’s ready to move on. Seeing how upset his mom (whom we adore) was after the race, was almost too much to bear.

And the sadness didn’t end with T-Dub!! It also extended to Miss Kaitlin, a regular Swim Aid reader. She’s been fighting a string of health maladies and injuries in recent months, the after effects causing her to lose critical strength and stamina. But, she’s been dealing with it like a champ and with the smile we’ve all come to love. She’s going to be in the AquaZone Friday, so everyone go, say “hi”, and wish her well! And please know that she’s ok. She wants people to know she’s not on suicide watch or anything.

Other National Team veterans who look to be on the outside looking in include Tara Kirk, Rachel Komisarz, and Neil Walker. Both Tara and Neil were regular Team USA captains. So this is going to be an adjustment. Tara has another race in the 200 Breast, but with such a deep women’s field, you just never know! We wish her good luck in that race!

Today’s session really broke our hearts though. There were a lot of happy moments, but I think the sad outweighed the good from our point of view. We were elated at Allison Schmitt and Caroline Burckle making the team. I’ve called Allison to the team before, and as recently as last night. She’s such a great kid and we love how her personality calms others before races. She was classic in her press conference tonight. Classic. It didn’t even sink in that she was on the relay until that presser when a reporter asked her about it.

I’m going to put the rest of this post behind a cut because it is looooooong as hell. I’m not kidding! So get to clickin’ to read on.

Continue Reading »

I’m looking forward to a long night of sleep tonight, but before I do that it’s update time suckas!

1. Keep an eye on SwimNetwork.com in the near future. You’ll be able to get to know yours truly a little better. That includes a little more insight on my work at SwimStars.org

2. Because of the previous line, and a couple of other events this weekend, I’m beginning to realize that my so-called anonymity is disappearing in the swim community. Not sure if that will ultimately be a good or bad thing! I guess I’ll have to wait and see!

3. Everyone send good thoughts to dear ol’ T-DUB (Davis Tarwater, for those of you who are new around here). He’s sick and shouldn’t have even made the trip down to Columbus for the Grand Prix. Get better, playa! Pimpin’ aint easy, and you can’t do it when you’re sick.

4a. I am personally taking credit for “breaking” PVK. It’s taken a while, but I finally have him trained very well. Not only does he look more comfortable on the awards podium, but he poses for my camera too. Another thing we Swim Aids have been chomping at the bit to witness was a show of any kind of emotion out of him after a race. Well, I got to see first-hand, the Vander-fist-pumpâ„¢. It was well worth the wait and I successfully captured it for all to see. No, not right now. Later. Although I will be sending his mama the first picture. She couldn’t be here this weekend and I know she’d love to see it!

4b. BTW, props, again, to PVK for his 400 & 1500 Free swims. Holy cow!

5. Felicia Lee swam 5746726094 races his weekend and still had a smile on her face at the end of the night. She’s too cute. Unfortunately, I was unable to fold her up and put her in my pocket. There’s always next time!

6. I got caught in the crush of young fans/volunteers trying to get autographs from PVK, Phelps, and Kaitlin. They told me they were leaving immediately after the session to head back up to Ann Arbor, so I was getting in my social time then. I wasn’t planning on sticking around that long, but before I knew it, I was surrounded. So I just went with the flow, helping fans get their autographs and taking pictures for them as they posed with the CWers. I always enjoy seeing the swimmers interact with their fans. I can almost picture them, when they were younger, doing the same thing. There were so many fans that wanted autographs, but they had to leave and hit the road, so the informal signing was cut short. I got a couple of shots of Phelps, but couldn’t take any of PVK and Kaitlin since they were signing right next to me. I don’t make a habit of sticking Bertha right in the face of someone standing inches from me. Talk about awkward!

7. It’s been a while since I’ve covered a full meet. Now I’m itching for another. Could it be Santa Clara? We’ll see!

8. My SPA groupies wanted to go out after their coach went to sleep, but there aren’t any places near campus or downtown that don’t card, so they were out of luck there. That may have been different if my brother, who works as a bouncer, were working tonight. But alas, he wasn’t, so no party there.

9. I shall miss Peter Bick, but I will see him at Trials. If I do make it to Santa Clara, it will be weird to not pal around with him. However, if I’m at Santa Clara, I’ll have my dear kiwi to keep me company!

10. Final Thoughts: I really hope that this Ohio State Grand Prix is a yearly event. I really like having a big national meet here in my own backyard. It’s nice to not always have to travel to meets. I thought everything went really well and the meet ran very smoothly, was well-attended by fans and top swimmers alike, and featured some fast swimming. Can’t ask for much more, can you?

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.

I don’t think it really gets any better than this.

Usually, we bitch and moan about how expensive swim trips are for us and how we can never afford them. Not the case, this weekend. Well, at least for me! A crapload of the National Team will be in my hometown for the Toyota Grand Prix at the Ohio State University. Perfect!

Not only do I have no travel expenses, but also not lodging issues either. Because of my media credentials I don’t have to pay for tickets. And the cherry on top, is that my dad works at the Ohio State hospital and I’m ganking his parking pass for the weekend, so I won’t have to pay for that, either!

The only negative for this meet — yes, I was able to find one — was that my Swim Aids posse will not be with me. I’m on my own this weekend. I will take my alone time and roam the deck. I will try to harass as many of my faves as possible. I will stop by the SPA area and catch-up with Megan “Too-Ghetto-For-You” Romano, as well as NBAC crew, led by our fave coach. And if they’re lucky, I’ll shout-out my CW peeps. I miss those kids.

If you want the goods, I’m going to try and post as much as possible on Swim Stars Live. It’s going to be harder than usual with no help from my girls.

If I have funny stories/pictures/etc., that’ll probably end up here; unless it’s CW-related. All CW anecdotes will be shared on MGoSwim.