Day 1... Here We Go

We'll be leaving for the pool in about thirty minutes so that Timmy can warm up and get ready for just one race this morning- the 50 free. He's the top seed, and he is looking really fast. I can't wait to see how he does. He'll be swimming it around 12:30. Send me a text message (724.766.0144) if you want me to let you know immediately how he does. Otherwise, you can check out live results here: LIVE RESULTS!

Timmy mentioned all of the flooding, so I thought I'd stick a few pics up of the flooding and other stuff that happened yesterday...

[a sticker we found on the ground that just screamed TIMMY]

[coach made a face out of his salad]

[an underwater greenhouse]

[no, that's not a lake - it's a field alongside the road]

First post!!!

Hi all. Yes, in the last two years, this is my first post. So...
It's been an interesting trip so far. The rain here is crazy. Drew has plenty of pictures of the flooding, so I'm sure you'll see some at some point.

The pool is great. I've only seen it half-lit, so it'll be even better when all the lights are on. The water is 10 ft in the entire competition pool, and we're swimming wall to wall. No creepy bulk-heads. And the blocks are wide and long, with great grips. Those are the most important parts for me. Also, we got a nifty one-strap backpack and a fold-up chair for our free stuff this year. Not bad!!

I just got out of the bathroom after shaving for an hour and a half. But it feels oooooo so good. The sheets are so smooth on my legs! Yeah! I'm ready to go, so we'll see how the 50 goes in the morning.

I'm really glad the prelims don't start until 11:00, and the 50 won't be until even later. So we can get a good night's rest, a nice breakfast after a leisurely morning and still get there on time, even though our hotel is 45 minutes away from the pool. We're already used to the drive.

So many people have told me they're praying for me. It's humbling and very encouraging. Keep praying that God will use me during this meet for His glory. My nightly devotional (Spurgeon's Evening by Evening) just reminded me that "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you." (John 15:9). That means 3 things:
1) Christ's love toward us has no beginning.
2) Christ's love toward us has no end.
3) Christ's love toward us is immeasurable.

Goodnight.

Are Dogs’ Mouths Cleaner than Human Mouths?

We just arrived safely in Middletown, OH after a long afternoon of driving. Ohio sure is a big state! Timmy has been waking me up at 7 AM every morning, which it way too early. I got up, showered, and then went back to bed until 8:30 when he woke me up for breakfast. We drove to Sheetz and got SHMOSTER breakfast sandwiches and fruit smoothies. Subway for lunch and then Timmy practiced, which only lasted 34 minutes. We left for Ohio around 4 o’clock and drove straight through until we reached Euk’s house. His mom cooked us an amazing and gigantic dinner, where we each got our own stuffed hen to eat. Euk made an awesome ice cream dessert for us as well. We had a good time talking about swimming and Grove City and other fun stuff while stuffing ourselves. Coach also checked out a puppy, which we’re going to pick up and take back with us after the meet and give it to his kids for Easter. I think its name is going to be Alvin. They had another one as well, which seemed pretty fond of Timmy and licked his face a lot. While we were standing there, Timmy’s buddy pooped on the floor and Alvin proceeded to lick it up… all of it! But don’t worry, because Timmy informed me that dog’s mouths are cleaner than human mouths. After another hour of driving, we reached our hotel and checked in for the night.

Meet Site

The women's meet is well underway, with Kenyon sitting on a comfortable lead heading into the final day of competition. There have been a lot of new national records set at the meet thus far, with 2 set on Thursday night and 6 more set Friday night. Click for Live Results.
They also have the Men's NCAA Championship Site up and running, with all kinds of useful information like psych sheets, meet resources, and Miami University info.
Timmy and I will soon be the only two students left on campus, and we're trying to think of some fun things to do while we have the who school to ourselves...

What a dude...

Courage Victory Twice as Nice

We ended our season with a bang, coming back from 11th to claim 9th in the team standings. It started with Chip having a solid swim in the 1650, but scoring no points. Then Caleb got up for the 100 Freestyle. He took it out in a 21.18, with a lot of other guys close on his heals, but pulled away in the last 25 yards to claim his second national title and a new school record with a 44.36. We watched Kenyon get first, second, and third in the 200 Breaststroke, just like they did yesterday in the 100 Breaststroke. I looked around at some of the coaches after it happened and did a little lip reading. Here’s some of the things I heard:

> "that's sick"

> "that's amazing"

> "that's nuts"

> "absolutely unimaginable"

>"who does that?"

We went into the last relay in 11th, but knew that as long as we didn’t DQ, we would finish no worse than 9th. A few safe starts later, we had our first top ten finish in forty years and two new All Americans. When we finally got out of the pool, we realized it was too late to go to a movie, so we decided to get some food and head back to the hotel. The Walmart that we stopped at was the sketch-iest store every. It was 11PM and the place was absolutely packed. All of the exits were blocked except one, and there was a police car with two officers parked right out front. We waited in line forever to check out, but finally made it through and set out to get some fast food. Sonic was pretty much the only place open, so we went there and held up the line forever in the drive through. Miraculously, they got our order right on the first try and we finally left for the hotel around midnight. Currently, we’re sitting in Mitch and Gilbert’s room watching Airplane and munching on snacks.

Courage Strikes Again

When it was a do-or-die situation for the Wolverines, we came through in a big way. Caleb set a new school record with a 44.40 in the 100 freestyle, and he will be the top seed in the 100 tonight by more that half a second. But he didn't stop there, he also anchored the 400 freestyle relay in a time of 43.91 seconds, taking us from 15th when he entered the water, to 8th when he finished. This means we have an opportunity for big time points tonight! As long as we can maintain safe starts, Grove City should finish in the top 10 for the first time in nearly 40 years.