Karen Frazier Recaps Day One From the Olympic Time Trials
6/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
June 28, 2008
Sophomore Karen Frazier gives her account of day one from the Olympic Time Trials in Omaha, Neb.:
June 28, 2 days until I swim...
We have been in Omaha for about 24 hours and it has been pretty crazy. Everything was going smoothly: our flight was on time, Miami men's swimming and diving head coach Pete Lindsay picked coach Jennings and I up at the airport, we went to the Qwest Center to register, and checked into our hotel. Then, everything went wrong. A storm tore through Omaha with 90 mph winds and torrential rain. After the storm, we drove to the pool to warm-up, but they had closed down the place because there was a gaping hole in the side of the building and a drainage pipe had burst and flooded part of the building! It took almost an hour to get out of downtown because there were uprooted trees everywhere and power outages galore.
Today the weather is absolutely beautiful and they re-opened the pool for athletes. I warmed up this morning and felt really fast in the water. I hit my paces, despite getting run over by Larsen Jensen, a 2004 Olympian in the 1500 m free. We couldn't see the holes in the side of the building, but it was apparent that they were still recovering from the storm, like the elevator that was being dried out with a fan.
The security they have for this meet is amazing. Athletes have to have their credential with them at all times, even to get from the warm-up pool to the competition pool or the locker room.
I am getting really excited to swim and fortunately nervousness hasn't hit yet. I can't wait to see my parents and watch the opening day of the meet tomorrow.
Players Mentioned
