Thursday night at the trials

Wow! We were there for the shocker of the trials (so far). Not only did Brendan Hansen NOT win the 200 Breast, he didn't even finish 2nd or 3rd; he finished 4th.

I was happy to see Dara Torres make it into the 100 Free tomorrow night. Lacey Nymeyer will also return to swim in the finals. We saw her swim at the NCAA Meet and also got her autograph tonight.

We also got to enjoy seeing Aaron Peirsol and Ryan Lochte swim tonight in the 200 Back semi finals. I guess we'll join most of the US and watch the finals on tv tomorrow night :)

And we saw Amanda Beard swim in the 200 Breast semi finals and qualify for the finals tomorrow too.

After the awards ceremony we headed out to the front of the Qwest Center to seek out more swimmers for their autographs. We got Lacey Nymeyer's autograph as she walked by. Many of the swimmers are realizing that if they take off their swimmer credentials (a lanyard with their name and other info on it) nobody bothers them. Well, I figured if they had wet hair and a swim back pack on - they were swimmers. Since I have to admit to just wanting to fill my shirt, I'd ask anyone looking approachable. Lacey lucked out as nobody noticed Amanda and me getting her autograph and wasn't mobbed. Not so for other swimmers. Margaret Hoelzer (former Auburn Swimmer) signed many, many, many t-shirts, programs, pieces of paper, before everyone finally left her alone.

The weirdest thing (at least for Amanda and me) was the mob around Mrs. Phelps (yes, his mom). Michael wasn't there but everyone wanted her autograph. Okay, not everyone, because Amanda and I just gave each other a puzzled look - like "why do they want her autograph" so that was one crowd we avoided.

We finally got tired of hanging around and left. Got Arby's for dinner (10 p.m.) and I'm blogging and Amanda is watching tv. I can't wait to start eating at regular times again.

Tomorrow we will start our long journey home. First we plan to have a real "Omaha steak" lunch then if the weather cooperates head over to the Lewis & Clark area in Council Bluffs, IA.

- C