Men’s 100 free – 17 heats; Tyler McGill, Anthony Ervin, Davis Tarwater, Garrett Weber-Gale, Ricky Berens, Nick Brunelli in Heat 15; Jason Lezak, Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer in Heat 16; Cullen Jones, Nathan Adrian, Matt Grevers in Heat 17.
Ricky…
Jason & Ryan…
Nathan…
Women’s 200 fly – 14 heats; Kathleen Hersey in Heat 13; Cammile Adams & Claire Donahue in Heat 14.
Men’s 200 breast – 14 heats; Mark Gangloff, Mike Alexandrov, Clark Burckle, Scott Weltz in Heat 12; Brendan Hansen in Heat 13; Eric Shanteau in Heat 14.
AquaZone/Hilton:
Some of Ryan’s teammates texted us this picture as they were on their way to practice this morning. Ryan’s coach calls him “Big O,” and does this sign when Ryan is swimming. These older teammates did the “Big O” sign and sent it to us.
We went over to the Hilton again for lunch – of course! Yesterday was such a success (and the salad at the restaurant was so good) that we decided we’d eat lunch there every day. Swimoutlet.com, where we buy all of Ryan’s swim gear, was having a Facebook contest. They parked their “portable billboard” around Omaha during the Trials. If you spotted it, you could take a picture, post it to Facebook, and tag them for a chance to win a gift certificate. As we were eating lunch, it was parked right outside the restaurant! We did it. We won!
As we were leaving the restaurant, we glanced around the lobby to see if we could see any swimmers. RYAN LOCHTE was standing near the hallway to the elevators, talking with just a few fans. We went over and waited for a minute, then spent several minutes talking with him! We told him about Ryan’s “Big O” nickname, and asked him to do the “Big O” sign with us! He did! (We immediately texted it to all of Ryan’s teammates who texted us this morning!) Lochte signed Ryan’s “Ryan Lochte collection” hat when we saw him at the C-Link, so Ryan also had him sign his t-shirt.
We went back over to the AquaZone, and Peter Vanderkaay was there for pictures and autographs. The “Big O” sign with Ryan Lochte fresh on our minds, we had Peter do it, too!
While we were waiting in line to meet Peter, we met the most awesome friends! Diana and Katie Gleisberg are almost as crazy as we are when it comes to swimming. They are sisters from Omaha, and both took a couple of weeks off of work to attend the Trials. They also attended in 2008. As we sat waiting, they shared their stories from 2008, and we shared a couple of our “swimmer stalking” secrets. We invited them to join us on the second level of the C-Link to watch the swimmers come across from the hotel for the evening events.
We saw…
Ricky Berens, who recognized Ryan and talked with him for a minute…
Dana Vollmer…
Nathan Adrian (turning to talk to Ryan)…
Bob Bowman (coach of Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt)…
Our first close-up glimpse of Michael (The man in the black shirt and the man in the white shirt were NBC cameramen. NBC opened the live coverage with this shot of Michael entering the building.)…
Missy…
(Thanks to Diana for the next five pictures.)
Cullen Jones…
Jessica Hardy…
Brendan Hansen…
Caitlin Leverenz…
Dara Torres…
Matt Grevers high-fiving Ryan…
Amanda Beard signing Ryan’s shirt…
While we were enjoying the various swimmers coming through, all of a sudden we heard screaming and gasping coming from downstairs! Ryan Lochte had come through the ground-level doors, and was being SWARMED in the lobby! We were SO happy that we had our few minutes alone with him earlier in the day!
Finals:
Bob Costas was set up for the first time tonight. His booth was right across the aisle from us!
100 free (semis) – Cullen Jones, Garrett Weber-Gale, Nathan Adrian, Nick Brunelli in Heat 1; Jason Lezak, Ryan Lochte, Matt Grevers, Ricky Berens, Anthony Ervin in Heat 2.
Cullen, Garrett, and Nathan…
Nathan…
Matt & Ricky…
Ryan…
Jason & Ryan…
Women’s 200 free (top 4 swimmers go to the Olympics as the 4x200 relay team) – 1=Allison Schmitt (1:54.40 and WR); 2=Missy Franklin; 3=Dana Vollmer; 4=Lauren Perdue
Missy & Shannon Vreeland…
Allison Schmitt with FIRE, as she sets a new world record!
Men’s 200 fly – 1=Michael Phelps (1:53.65), 2=Tyler Clary (1:55.12). (Bobby Bollier in 3rd, Davis Tarwater in 4th).
Michael…
After the 200 fly, we heard some activity over by Bob Costas. It is apparently “Ryan Lochte Day” for us, because there he was!
Turning around to watch Michael’s medal ceremony…
The interview aired LIVE during the coverage that evening. This was our view of it!
My Ryan wanted a picture of Ryan Lochte’s shoes! It’s quite difficult to focus on the SHOES of someone who is being mobbed!
Men’s 200 fly medal -
Women’s 200 fly (semis) - Cammile Adams & Teresa Crippen in Heat 1; Kathleey Hersey, Kim Vandenberg, Becca Mann in Heat 2.
Men’s 200 breast (semis) - Scott Weltz in Heat 1; Brendan Hansen, Clark Burckle, Eric Shanteau in Heat 2.
Women’s 200 IM – 1=Caitlin Leverenz (2:10.22); 2=Ariana Kukors (2:11.30).
Women’s 200 free medal - (As I mentioned earlier, the top 4 swimmers go to the Olympics as the 4x200 relay team) – Lauren Perdue (4th), Dana Vollmer (3rd), Missy Franklin (2nd), Allison Schmitt (1st).
Women’s 200 IM medal – Caitlyn Leverenz
As Ryan and I drove the 30 minutes back to Rachael’s house, we talked about what an amazing day it was, and how it far surpassed our expectations. I said, “I can’t imagine that tomorrow could be any better!”
No comments:
Post a Comment