Olympic Swimming Trials Blog #2
6/26/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
June 26, 2012
In the second of several blogs, Miami's "Fantastic Five"--Maegan O'Connor, Maddie Kete, Megan Brunn, Leah Thornton and Bekka Westrick--check in from the Olympic Swimming Trials at Omaha, Nebraska.
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Hello again from Omaha! Day one is in the books! We all had an extremely exciting day today! We had two Redhawks, Bekka Westrick and Maegan O'Connor, compete in the 100 meter butterfly today!
Bekka: "Swimming the 100 fly was a blast! It was more fun than I ever thought it would be! I didn't feel any pain until the last 15 meters! I won't be forgetting that race for a very long time. I wish that I had been able to achieve my goal of getting a personal best time, but I was only about a tenth of a second away. As a result, I was able to move up about 40 places in the final standings from where I started. I am so excited to race again in the 50 meter freestyle on Sunday!"
Maegan: "Though I was disappointed by the final outcome of my race, I feel so honored just to be able to compete at this level. It was really exciting to be surrounded by such great swimmers and be able to cheer on Bekka. Watching her swim on the flat screen TV in the ready room was very motivating! Now that I'm done, I am excited to watch the rest of the meet and support my teammates with the rest of their events."
Megan: "I just shaved my arms for the first time ever and it feels amazing! I warmed up today and felt pretty good. The blocks are going to make me fly off into my 100 breastroke! The pool temperature is perfect, and tomorrow during warmup I just need to practice a few more turns. Today was awesome to see all of the fast swimming, especially as fire shot out from the pool deck during finals!!! All of this made me anticipate my race tomorrow so much more, but all of the support and encouragement from family, friends, and co-workers across the country (and even my sister in Brazil) has calmed me. It will be weird not racing Kelsey Vehr, but I know that she will be with me in spirit!"
Leah: "I honestly cannot believe that tomorrow is the day that I actually race! I've been telling my coach, Mark Davis, that I think that I am in denial that I will ever race because it has just seemed so far away until now. Tomorrow, in order to keep myself from being distracted by the cameras, lights, and possible fireballs, I am going to focus on my race strategy. I am also finding comfort in the support that I have been constantly receiving from my friends, family, and teammates. In my mind, it is absolutely impossible for me to be nervous or scared tomorrow because so many people will be cheering for me regardless of the final result."
Well, it's time for us to start winding down from all the excitement of today and get ready for a new day of racing tomorrow! Thanks again for all of the support and well wishes. GO REDHAWKS!
--www.MURedHawks.com--
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