Day One & Day Two Prelims

Hello All!  

First of all, shout out to all the people who have been keeping up with us this week!

We last left off with Day Zero.  After an excellent night's sleep and a most excellent breakfast from Panera, we all packed up our swimming stuff and moseyed our way over to pool for our first session.

During prelims, Ange & Jenny took care of business in the 50 free and the 200 IM.  Lu, Kats, and I geared up for the 200 Medley Relay at the end.  By the end of prelims, and a fantastic split from Jenny on the end of the relay, the medley had made it back to the consolation final.  The last time a medley made it back to finals was when Sarah Page anchored the relay (2 years ago), so this was a pretty big deal for us.  After we all got ready to go to lunch, we all realized that there is a swimmer hospitality room!  YAY free Powerade and food!  Can't complain about that!  The best part of this room is the fresh fruit....

Yes, Ladies & Gents, this here is an orange from the room... Just so we can get a comparison...

Excellent.  That orange is almost the size of my head.  I still haven't eaten it yet.. But, no worries, I will keep you all updated.  

 For lunch, we decided to go to Pie Town... Which I know, sounds like it would only have pie, but it had some pretty good lunch stuff too. 

 However, one cannot simply go to Pie Town and NOT get pie....

Kats and I split this lovely Red Velvet pie... It was pretty awesome that they made these little personal pies...

Coach got a milkshake and Triple Chocolate pie... Can't say that we were all too surprised.

Jenny & Ange got a peach pie!  It looked so good...

And last, but certainly not least, Teebs & Lu got a peanut butter pie.  NOM!

So, outside this Pie Town (note we sat OUTSIDE!!!) , there was a massive awkward looking fountain...

I'm a personal fan of the massive, angry horses.  

Teebs & Kats liked them too.... and Bilko, or Biscuit as we may call her from now on, is having a freshman moment with the fountain.  There is a sign that says please do not touch or stand on the fountain.  Freshman.

So, after we finished playing outside, we all went back to the hotel for a much deserved nap to get ready for finals.  

When we got to finals, we found out that there was a high school band playing the national anthem that night.  They were actually pretty good! 

So with finals ready to begin, we went to change.  Too bad we didn't realize that some of us were burnt from sitting outside for lunch...  AND it wasn't me, the palest person here! 

It's okay Lu, we love you even if you have a farmer's tan.  She was on a roll that night, because Lu also brought out the mini jacket!  

Stylin.

The jacket had a zip off hood too!  This hood was passed around the team so that everyone could look like an astronaut.  WHAT UP.

So, the finals swimming began.  We watched Caroline Wilson, from Williams College, win back to back events in the 500 free and the 200 IM.  That was impressive... And the two medley swam and we got eleventh!  Certainly moving up in the world!  The relay warmed down, and we got ready for dinner with the parents.  They took us to this really nice Italian place... needless to say, we were not dressed for the occasion...

As we finished up dinner, I attempted to climb back into the bus, but I ended up looking like a gargoyle...

Ew,  so, we drove back to the hotel to find these outside our doors!!

Who doesn't like presents?? The parents are really too good to us.

Speaking of presents, we found out we get one more gift from the NCAA, PULL OVERS! I must say, we are very happy with the clothing choice.

And that brings us to Day Two: Prelims Edition.  We woke up earlier than usual because we had at least one person in EVERY SINGLE EVENT!  

Dang, do I look tired.  Obviously haven't had my tea this morning yet.  So, to remedy that situation, we went on our now daily Panera run.  Coach was talking about woolly mammoths and cave men with Biscuit, and the rest of the team really wanted to go warm up, so we went outside to wait by the car. Kats decided to stretch in the parking lot.  Thinking this was a great idea, we all started to do it.  Teebs accidentally hit an old man attempting to get to his car while swinging her arms... Ooppss.  No worries, he was a good sport about it.  

Please note Biscuit's face in this picture.  It slightly reminds me of a sloth...

Anyways, we drove off to prelims for day two.  We had the 2 free relay, which is seeded 7th coming back tonight (WOO!), Jenny's 4 IM (4:32 and 19th place), my one fly (56.3 and coming back 15th tonight), Ange's 200 free (1:51.3 and coming back 13th tonight), and the 400 Medley Relay (3:53.0 and coming back 11th tonight).  

Interestingly enough, we also ran into a GCC alum at the meet today!  She graduated with my mother in Industrial Engineering all those years ago!  We chatted with her about her time at GCC and she asked us all about how the school is now.  Anyways, We had one heck of a prelims session and have a total of four races tonight! 

So, after a long prelims session, we went to pick up a quick lunch at Panera.  We tried to get back in the van, but coach parked too close to the truck next to us.  

It was a little sunny out, seeing that J and I have squinted faces....  If you look to the back of the picture though... Biscuit found herself infatuated with a fuzzy on Ange's pullover, and therefore is making a magnificent face.  It might be a smidgen scary.

Anyways, I think that is all I have for now....

Wolverine Love,

Reese