Meet Highlights

Well Chuck was up before daybreak after a big dinner and wine at Little Creatures Restaurant down the road from Quest Harbor. Present were Bob and Sherry, Frank, Tom and Paula, Dan and Bruce to celebrate and get ready for the relays this afternoon (well, in reality, Bruce was not a happy camper, but that is a different water polo story and could improve this morning). Chuck is posting the individual results on Frank's laptop. So here it goes:

Integrity Award goes to Bob for his 49.06 50 meter breaststroke swim. He not only did a PB (personal best), he was under the qualifying time, and, for his first time, actually did not, I repeat, did not get disqualified for his obvious illegal frog kick. This makes up for his NT (no time) for the 200 backstroke in 3:58. I will have to add the reason later because I forgot what Bob told me after the race results were published. NT means the time is not reported and NT'ers are put on the bottom of the results sheet. On a more positive note, Bob's 50 free time was 34.78, another pb, and 1:20.76 for the 100 free and all official times.

Goggle on the nose Award goes to Frank for adjusting his swim goggles at the last moment before the gun went off and managing to swim a very fast 50m breaststroke swim of 41.88. Frank was able to breathe, however, and is still a living team member. He is to be congratulated for not getting out of the pool and calling it quits after his dive. Frank's 100 free time was 1:13 and 50 free at 32.20..

Another goggle award goes to Tom for keeping his goggles on for the first time ever for the entire 200 m individual medley (IM-4 laps). His time of 2:30 was a PB. Tom's goggle around the neck award for the entire 800 meter freestyle was 13:28.39 for 31st place. Tom's 400 IM (8 laps) was 7:40.87, another pb. Tom's best event was the 200 m backstroke at 3:25. 98 for 16th place.

The sprinter of the meet and team award goes to Dan for his 200 free, 2:22.55, 100 free, 1:02.70, and 50 free, 27.35 (good for 31st place out of 105 in his age group), and 50 fly, 32.77. Dan shaved down and swam in a very high tech body suit. Unfortunately, Dan jammed two fingers at the finish of his 50 fly yesterday, but iced his fingers all the rest of the day. He had no problem drinking his Bombay Sapphire (the best gin in the world) martini and wine at dinner. Dan is in training and is only drinking martinis since he has foregone his usual James Bond martini, stirred, not shaken, with 3 parts Bombay and 2 parts vodka and a dash of dry vermouth, maybe. As a result, we expect Dan to be fully recovered for the relays.

For the record, Chuck's 800 free (16 laps) was 11.51.24 , 15 place; 400 IM (that's the one where I literally and figuretively suck in the breaststroke leg) at 7:13.60, for 13th place in my age group; and 1:24.15 in the 100 m butterfly for 11 th place, one place from medalling. Oh well, I came in 11th at Stanford in 2006.

I think this covers most of the times to date. I suppose if I made a mistake, I will hear about it one way or another. Oh, I forgot, the hero of the meet award goes to me for being Tom's navigator for Tom's madhatter drive to Challenge Stadium and back. For that reason, I have also participated in Dan's martini sessions, every night. In addition, I want to thank Frank and Tom for letting me use their laptop computers and for driving.