Tempe: One more time, we find each other

Originally posted by cinc310 ... ...I really didn't want to go to a meet where I was near the bottom and I was in the bottom three in my best events... Like Paul emphasises above, the Nationals are not about being "...near the bottom...", but they are about being at one's personal best during the challenge under pressure of the Nationals. 'Challenge under pressure of the Nationals', to me it means preparing long term for goals tested in top settings with top exposure: as a starter in the sport who joined my first swimming club at age 28, I mingle my achievements with the achievements by the heavies of this sport; these Nationals are my Olympics; I think, it is better to be the last one in, than the first one out. Originally posted by cinc310 ... Good luck to Paul and Ion and Meg at nationals. Thank you.

The following Olympians are entered in the meet, have I missed any? Jeff Farrell 60 Bumpy Jones 52 Graham Johnston 52 Roque Santos 92 Jim Montgomery 76 Don McKenzie 68 Ron Karnaugh 92 Brad Schumacher 96 Susan von der Lippe 80,84,88 Carol Taylor 48 Gail Roper 52 Jane Swaggerty-Hill 68 Katrina Radke 88 Please let me know if I omitted anyone. Thanks

Richard Schroeder Tori Smith (relays only) How about foreign?

Thank you Paul. I will add: Tori Trees Smith 84 Richard Schroeder 84,88 And foreign Olympians do count.

Originally posted by cinc310 Good luck to Paul and Ion and Meg at nationals. Thank you, Cynthia! I'm sorry you won't be swimming in Tempe. Maybe you could come by the meet and say hello. I don't know that you could call what I'll be doing in the breaststroke events swimming! Struggling is more like it! As usual, I am not in shape, but then I haven't been in shape since 1991! I know I will not place in any of my events, but that doesn't mean they will be a disappointment to me. I'm just hoping to beat my seed times, which are the times I swam at the Kentucky SC championship in March. I have a good excuse for swimming slow times at the Kentucky meet, though -- I was meet director! I'm going to try a novel approach in Tempe and do something my coach keeps telling me is worthwhile: warm up before I swim! Meg

Hi Meg. I just wanted to tell you my feelings on the nationals. After reading your article. NO>1 Just go and enjoy. NO> .2 swim to your times. Dont look left or right, because some will swim slower and some will swim faster After all we all canot be olympians. But we can be a champion to our selfs. I am sure when you hit the water you will be swiming against your self. And that is a good feeling. Good luck and have a great time DOM.

In this post, I update the count of Olympians competing in Tempe. I do it because to me, preparing for this meet is analogous in some respects to preparing for a job interview in a profession: .) one wants in these Nationals attended by Olympians to perform at one's own best, by working well in advance on not being sloppy, but being physically sharp and mentally focused; .) in an interview in a profession, one wants to have worked well in advance on being neat, knowledgeable and intelectually sound. Originally posted by Gail Roper The following Olympians are entered in the meet, have I missed any? Jeff Farrell 60 Bumpy Jones 52 Graham Johnston 52 Roque Santos 92 Jim Montgomery 76 Don McKenzie 68 Ron Karnaugh 92 Brad Schumacher 96 Susan von der Lippe 80,84,88 Carol Taylor 48 Gail Roper 52 Jane Swaggerty-Hill 68 Katrina Radke 88 Please let me know if I omitted anyone. Thanks and Originally posted by Gail Roper Thank you Paul. I will add: Tori Trees Smith 84 Richard Schroeder 84,88 And foreign Olympians do count. and Originally posted by Gail Roper More Olympians at Tempe: Robert Delgado 96,00 for Ecuador Eduardo Piccinini 92 for Brazil Simon Percy 92, New Zealand, coach Mike Troy, 60 Maria Lenk-Ziegler 32,36 Does any one know of any others? That's twenty Olympians, until now. Alongside many USMS racers in Tempe, who competed in national Trials for Olympics, Worlds, University, zones (like Pan-Pacs and Pan-Ams). As well as USMS racers in Tempe, with backgrounds from age-group swimming to adult swimming.

Sorry, I will not be able to see you in Tempe,Meg. My mother has had problems with an infection in her toe and even thou I got off work on this Sunday, I will not go to Tempe which is a 2 hour trip from where I'm at. I'll see her in the hospital and practice a swim workout at the health club. I saw you did a 3:17 for your 200 yard breastroke-way to go. I know that they were a lot of fast times in but we can't all go under 3:00 like we did as teenagers. Good luck in the 50 yard and 100 yard. Try for 39.8 to 40.8 in the 50 yard and a sub 1:30 in the 100 yard.

ION Thanks for finding me in Tempe. I had so much going on, as you can imagine. Please accept my appology for not tracking you down after you were kind enough to come and watch me swim. I hope we will meet again some day. God bless you, Mark Urban :D

In the 1000 free, I went a slow for me 12:42, as opposed to a faster 12:25 two weeks ago in the La Jolla meet. It could be that eleven days of taper is too much for me, or that I was a nervous wreck before the race, or something else that I don't know. For the 200 free, I was scratched because when I did check-in I didn't circle something in the sheet, even though I did check-in in the same manner the day before -for the 1000 free- and they didn't scratch me then or tell me anything. The third day, in a relay a had a fast for me 50 free in 26.8. To me it could be as good as an individual 50 free, since in the relays I take slow starts in order to not risk to disqualify three teammates. The fourth day, in the 100 free I swam 58.40, my fastest time since 1994, and a lifetime second fastest time behind a 58.11 from 1994. (For example, it is faster than 58.50 from 1996, when I considered myself in good shape). In a relay, I had a fast for me 50 free in 26.6. Outside my races, I watched Laura Smith swim 1000 free then got paid with a well written beatiful post card from Laura for this, I learned that in the La Jolla meet when Laura did lap me in the 1000 free it was only due to the fact that Laura did false start the 1000 free -Ha! Ha! Good Joke! Ha! Ha! -, I did watch Fritz Lehman battling -with unusually long underwater turns- Clay Britt and Jay Yarid in backstroke (Fritz won the 100 back by only .9 seconds off his lifetime best from twenty years ago), 'Tall Paul' battling John Smith in drop-dead sprints of the strongest, Bill Specht swimming 200 fly, Adam Conway winning sprint races, Graham Johnston winning 500 free, Jim McConica winning 500 free, Adrienne Waterson missing her heat in 100 I.M. but doing well in 100 breastroke, Gail Roper winning the 400 I.M., Tom McCabe sprinting 50 free, and much more. I thank the volunteers in the meet for dedicating energy to make the meet run very well.