Road Trip to the Olympic Swim Trials

Fwd: princeton's 50 top gaming schools

2010-05-01T16:07:00.001-04:00

Please help me raise money for cancer research:

Relay For Life - Canton, May 15-16, 2010

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/Charisse.Nilles

-----Original Message-----
From: charidore@aol.com
To: tnilles@ford.com; SHNWars@aol.com
Sent: Mon, Apr 12, 2010 1:13 pm
Subject: princeton's 50 top gaming schools

Top 50 Undergraduate Game Design Programs

School name (in alphabetical order)
Adelphi University (Garden City, NY)
Amherst College (Amherst, MA)
Angelo State University (San Angelo, TX)
Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ)
Art Institute of Vancouver (Vancouver, British Columbia) - #6
Baker University (Baldwin City, KS)
Baylor University (Waco, TX)
Becker College (Worcester, MA) - #4
Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH)
Clarkson University (Potsdam, NY)
The College of New Jersey (Ewing, NJ)
The College of St. Scholastica (Duluth, MN)
Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH)
Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA) - #3
DigiPen Institute of Technology (Redmond, WA) - #2
Full Sail University (Winter Park, FL)
Georgia Southern University (Statesboro, GA)
Hampshire College (Amherst, MA)
Indiana University – Bloomington (Bloomington, IN)
Lewis University (Romeoville, IL)
Lycoming College (Williamsport, PA)
Lynchburg College (Lynchburg, VA)
Marshall University (Huntington, WV)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA) - #8
Miami University (Oxford, OH)
North Central College (Naperville, IL)
Northern Michigan University (Marquette, MI)
Ohio State University (Columbus, OH)
Oklahoma Christian University (Oklahoma City, OK)
Old Dominion University (Norfolk, VA)
Pace University (New York, NY)
Polytechnic Institute of NYU, Brooklyn (Brooklyn, NY)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY) - #5
Rice University (Houston, TX)
Sacred Heart University (Fairfield, CT)
Stetson University (Deland, FL)
University of California, Riverside
University of California, Santa Cruz
University of Delaware (Newark, DE)
University of Denver (Denver, CO)
University of Illinois at Chicago
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Baltimore, MD)
University of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM)
University of North Texas (Denton, TX)
University of San Francisco (San Francisco, CA)
University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA) - #1
University of Texas at Dallas
University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)
University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point (Stevens Point, WI)
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, MA) - #7

"If you weigh enough all your jeans are skinny jeans." M. Ragg

Relay For Life - Canton, May 15-16, 2010

Please consider making a donation by visiting:

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/Charisse.Nilles

Sunday, July 6th final recap

2008-07-06T15:31:00.004-04:00

Just a few final thoughts and stats from our trip to Omaha.

Amazing swimming, great venue, and overall a wonderful trip.

Ava's finishes:

400 IM:
ranked 12th out of 82 swimmers

200 IM:
ranked 4th (personal best swim: 2:12.28) after the prelims
ranked 5th (personal best swim: 2:11.96) after the semi-finals
ranked 6th out of 110 swimmers after the finals (came into the Trials ranked #7)

200 Fly:
ranked 15th out of 99 swimmers after the prelims
scratched from the semi-finals

100 Free:
ranked 60th out of 100 swimmers

50 Free: ranked 34th (personal best swim of 26.01) out of 89 swimmers
(came into the trials ranked #60)

Congratulations to Ava for earning Olympic Trial cuts in every event but the 800 Free! What a great accomplishment. We had a great time seeing you swim and getting your autograph and picture! And finally, congrats for the personal best swims you achieved at such at stress filled meet.

And, since I have been a Canton resident since 1985 I had to finish up with a Canton swimmer's results.

Allison Schmitt (Canton HS Graduate '08)

400 Free - came into the trials ranked #4
ranked #3 (personal best swim of 4:05.72)

200 Free - came into the trials ranked #4
ranked #2 after prelims
ranked #2 after semi-finals
rankded #2 after finals (personal best swim of 1:55.92) OLYMPIC TEAM

100 Free - came into the trials ranked #15
ranked #26 after prelims

50 Free - came into the trials ranked #48
scratched from this event

I hope you have enjoyed following the our trip to Omaha and back. I'm spending Sunday recuperating (lots of water, sudaphed, and motrin) and will hopefully make it to work tomorrow!
- C

Saturday - home!

2008-07-06T12:01:00.002-04:00

We had an uneventful trip home on Saturday.

Once we got to Canton I basically crawled into bed to get some much needed sleep and Amanda joined Tom and Sam at my folk's house to celebrate the 4th of July.

- C

Friday, July 4th

2008-07-06T11:49:00.002-04:00

After checking out from our digs in western Omaha we started our hunt for a steak house. Since I forgot it was the 4th of July I was getting quite frustrated at all of the restaurants closed on a Friday at lunch! We finally ended up back in the Old Market area (next to the Spaghetti Works restaurant) at Upstream Brewing Company. All week I had promised Amanda a true Omaha Steak and now was our opportunity. Mine was delicious but Amanda decided that "her dad's steaks were better" and will stick to those. Well, it will save us some $$ when we go out to dinner :)

Next we drove to Council Bluffs and went to a Historical Center and learned about Lewis and Clark's travels. They had a really cool exhibit (many of the photos are from there). We also decided to take the 1/2 mile hike to see the Missouri River. Bad idea as I was still not feeling the greatest. My allergies kicked in high gear. The scenic overlook was okay but Amanda was happy that we got to see a deer in the woods.

Then we drove & drove & drove till we got to Ottawa, IL and spent the night in a hotel there. Amanda was thrilled when she discovered our room had a jacuzzi tub in the bathroom.

- C

Thursday night at the trials

2008-07-04T00:04:00.002-04:00

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

Grand Traverse Light House - Please vote

2008-07-03T17:36:00.001-04:00

Hi All,

I realize this has nothing to do with Omaha or the Olympic Trials, but it is very important for Michigan - and any Lighthouse enthusiast!

The Grand Traverse Point Lighthouse has been nominated by Jeld Wen windows to receive free windows. We are one of 12 lighthouses nominated. They allow one vote per email address. Please spread this to your email lists and ask them to vote for our own Grand Traverse Light House. Go to this link:

http://www.jeld-wen.com/lighthouse/index_vote.cfm

-C

Thursday - our LAST day of prelims

2008-07-03T16:31:00.002-04:00

Wow - time has flown this week. I can't believe we saw our last prelims this morning. Our pile of tickets, which seemed huge earlier this week, has dwindled to our last two tickets.

Thanks to some O-T-C medicine I'm making it through the day. But, instead of going to the Lewis & Clark exhibit today we are back at the hotel room. Hopefully we'll check it out tomorrow before we leave Omaha.

Unfortunately Ava's 100 free time didn't get her back into the semi-finals tonight. Amanda saw her in the stands while we were still at the prelims and got to chat for a few minutes. Ava said she has been enjoying the Olympic Trials experience, but is ready to go back to Auburn. It sounds like the team will be leaving together on Sunday. There were quite a few swimmers from Auburn who had qualified to swim this past week.

Personally, I'll be cheering for Dara Torres in the 100 free tonight. She is 41 years old and looked good in this mornings swim. I wish I could get her autograph tonight! Once again we're expecting some good swims tonight - as we've seen all week.

- C

Wednesday night report - continued

2008-07-03T15:49:00.005-04:00

Here's the rest of Wed. night.

Congratulations to Allison Schmitt (Canton HS graduate/Club Wolverine) as she finished 2nd in the 200 free at 1:55.92 and just being out touched by Katie Hoff at 1:55.88 - so she will swim at the Olympics! Allison looked great and we actually thought she was going to beat Katie.

Michael Phelps won the 200 fly. Katie Hoff won the 200 IM with a new American Record.

After all of the FAST swimming we walked out front of the Qwest Center. "We hit the motherload," as far as autographs went. We got Cullen Jones, Ryan Lochte (a real cutie), Kate Ziegler, and former Olympians Summer Sanders and Mel Stewart (1992 200 Fly Gold Medalist and set the Olympic record in that event, a Gold Medalist in the 4X100 relay, and a Bronze medalist in the 4X200 relay). We each got a picture HOLDING Mel's Gold Medal - with Mel. I never imagined I'd get to HOLD a gold medal. Visit http://www.swimnetwork.com/ as I promised to post this on my blog if Mel let ME hold the gold medal and get a picture too.

We finally left at 9:30 p.m. to head back to our hotel room.

- C

Wednesday night report

2008-07-02T23:40:00.003-04:00

This will be a short report as I have a major sinus headache/sore throat and am hoping it is not going into a full sinus infection.

Things did not go as we had hoped for tonight. Ava did not make the Olympic Swim Team for the 200 IM. She placed 6th in the finals which was where she was seeded. Way to go! - 6th in the United States!!! We're all proud of you Ava! Good luck in the 100 & 50 Free races you have coming up.

Much more tomorrow (pictures & details.)

- C

Wednesday Prelims

2008-07-02T16:44:00.002-04:00

Another late start for the Nilles ladies - so we opted to carry out from Panera Bread again. Got to the QWest Center in time to catch the last few heats of the men's 100 free. Another exciting morning as we saw the American Record being lowered two heats in a row. First, Jason Lezak set the AR at 48.15 and then Garrett Weber-Gale set it lower at 47.78. The crowd was disappointed that the final heat, with Michael Phelps, didn't lower it further. We also got to see Cullen Jones swim and another DQ - Ian Crocker for a false start.

I haven't mentioned it before, but there have been more DQ's than we expected. Many DQ's from not touching with 2 hands, a few false starts, and even some "going past vertical" (ask your swimmer if you don't know what it is.) When the "going past vertical" occurred at the swim meet Amanda had to explain it to me, the kid in front of us was explaining to his folks, and I looked up at Teri and she was explaining to some of the people up there :)

We waited anxiously for Ava to swim in the 200 fly. Elaine Breeden was it in 2:07.72 in heat 11 which was FAST! Ava swam it in 2:12.26 and squeaked in to qualify to swim in the semi-finals by placing 15th.

After one heat of the men's 200 breaststroke Amanda wanted to go find the "back door" so we could say hi to Ava and get our t-shirts signed. It was very hot and humid waiting outside. We waited for about 45 minutes - when we got tired of sitting on the hot pavement so we stood up. What luck, there standing at the curb was Ava, waiting for the "team van." Yikes, we almost missed her! Amanda gave her a big hug - then asked her to sign her t-shirt. I asked to get mine signed too. Then they posed for a picture. Ava only had about 30 seconds to spend with us before the "team van" pulled up and she had to leave. She did tell us that she is scratching from the 200 Fly tonight so she can concentrate on her 200 IM. So - everyone YELL really LOUD at your computers/TVs tonight to bring her luck!

Keep all of us in your thoughts as another big storm is being predicted for tonight.

- C

Tuesday Finals: Ava in the 200IM

2008-07-02T10:45:00.002-04:00

Internet outage at the hotel last night - ugh.

Wow! What an exciting night as we saw more World Records being set and of course Ava's fantastic swim in the 200 IM.

I'm not sure we even realize the magnitude of seeing the world records being broken in person. Once we go back to watching the races on TV (from Bejing) I guess we'll understand then. The wait for Ava to swim in the last event was nerve wracking. Since she was in heat #1 of 2 it was even worse as we had to wait to see what happened in heat #2 to make sure she was in the final.

Ava looked GREAT! If you haven't seen the race yet try to find it (her 400 IM was posted on Youtube.com). She held the lead through part of the race and finished in 2nd with a NEW personal best.

Make sure you watch Wed. night - either on TV or on nbcolympics.com to see the full coverage (hint: during the awards ceremony on the web, Amanda has been seen numerous times as she sneaks down the stairs and is right behind the podium.) Ava will also be swimming the 200 fly in the morning.

We met Coach Teri and Kurt at the Spaghetti Works (yes again for Amanda and me) after the meet. Since it was 9pm by the time we got there we decided on dessert. Mmmmmm! Delicious. Coach Teri was trying to convince Amanda to practice with a local Omaha Team, but I had to tell Teri I made a deal with Amanda that if she swam in that meet that she wouldn't have to practice all week. Ooops, bad swim mom!

Gotta run as we are late this morning. Slept in.

- Charisse

Tuesday Prelims: Ava in the 200IM

2008-07-01T17:33:00.003-04:00

I have no idea how Coach Teri & Kurt could sit and wait for Ava's heat to swim. I was nervous as could be while watching the earlier heats. Amanda stood in the aisle with her Go Ava sign (as to not block the people behind us) and I could see Kurt holding up his Go Ava sign. When Ava was behind the blocks she waved in acknowledgement to her folks.

No pictures of the race as I was too busy watching and yelling. Ava was in heat 15 of 15 and it was a good one! She came in 2nd in her heat with a time of 2:12.28 to place 4th overall in the prelims. Tonight will be the semi-finals -16 women trying for the 8 places that will make up the final event tomorrow night. The people sitting in front of us told us that they have someone coming back tonight too- we'll have to get the name then. The people behind us were total swimming novices - they had NO idea what was going on. They were shocked that Michael Phelps swam so slow this morning and didn't understand why every lane was filled for every heat. Amanda and I were very tempted to explain things - but contained ourselves.

Today we hung around one of the exits (from the practice pool) and get some autographs. Amanda has an Olympic Team Trials shirt and I purchased one to raffle off at the BAC Winterfest. The highlight autograph was from Amanda Beard. I also got a picture of Amanda with Amanda - haha. After getting quite a few autographs we decided to go get lunch 2:30 p.m. (and Coach Teri told us Ava went out the back door - I called to see if we should wait any longer.) While walking through the Qwest Center, I said to Amanda, look there are two more swimmers. She whispered, mom do you know who that is? Nope. She went up and asked and the girl said, I can only do one I'm already late. I suppose there was a gaggle of people walking up behind. It was none other than Katie Hoff. I got a picture of them too! But, no signature on my raffle shirt. Oh well.

I need to go make my sign for Ava for tonight's swim. Everything cheer loudly at your computer or TV - it should be a GREAT race and Ava needs to place in the top 8th. We are going to dinner with Coach Teri & Kurt tonight so any updates will be late.

- Charisse

follow up: the pictures turned out bad. Somehow I switched the camera setting. The picture with Amanda Beard is very blurry and the one with Katie Hoff is okay - posted it.

Allison Schmitt, Canton High School graduate, will return to swim in the 200 free semi-finals tonight. She posted the 2nd fastest time this morning.

Monday, June 30th - a day at the zoo

2008-06-30T22:10:00.002-04:00

Today we had a totally non-swimming itinerary! We started by sleeping late then going to Panera Bread for bagels for breakfast. A quick visit to a local Target was made before we got to the Henry Doorly Zoo. (Do you believe Amanda and I both forgot to pack socks??)

There was a huge line when we finally got to the zoo (about 11:30 a.m.) as it was a perfect day - beautiful blue skies, sunny and hot - but not too hot - and humidity not too bad. Luckily we overheard a worker tell the woman ahead of us to go through the IMAX and we could pay for our tickets and enter there. What a deal - only 2 families in front of us as opposed to the 20+ people in line outside. And, our adventure started as we walked, and walked and then walked some more.

We did see signs of storm damage throughout the zoo. There were some large trees that had been snapped in half! Many of these trees were very huge and very old - so it must have been a really bad storm!

Amanda and I had a great time in the Parakeet Aviary and the Butterfly House. You'll see a few pictures of Parakeets (also known as budgies.) Amanda bought a stick with some bird seed "stuck" on it and got to feed the birds. Sam, we thought of you and Buddy (the budgie) while we were in there. We thought we could turn your room into an aviary. But, ugh, you'd have a mess to clean up.

The butterfly house was a huge hit. We spent a lot of time in there - and you'll see the numerous pictures that we took. For some reason the butterflies actually liked my hat as opposed to Amanda's red shirt (we'd always heard butterflies were attracted to red.) I had two different butterflies land on my hat and then I let Amanda wear it so they'd land on her too. And, it worked.

We also saw numerous other animals - the monkeys, orangatangs, elephants (mom, a pic is included for you), a variety of birds, lions, and other "things." Finally, when our feet were ready to quit we went to the IMAX and watched the Dolphins and Whales 3D movie - which was my choice. It was okay - interesting, but we would not recommend you spend your money on it. But, our feet definitely enjoyed the break.

We drove a few miles to the Old Market area and ate dinner at the Spaghetti Works (recommended by one of my instructors at EMU, Skip!). Mmmmmm.... we then walked (yes again) to a few small shops (don't worry Tom, we didn't buy anything.) We were in a shop called Nouvelle Eve and Amanda stopped at a display and said I like this shirt (a fancy t-shirt basically) and I said I bet it's $50.00 so she looked at the tag - my "old" eyes saw $36.00 and I said, well I guess it's a better deal than I thought. Amanda gasped and said, mom, look again! It's $136.00 yikes! We left quickly.

Finally it was time to head back to our hotel so we could watch the Olympic Swim Trial on tv. We stopped at Borders to get Amanda a book to read and then at the Cheesecake Factory to carry out our dessert. Okay, the trials may look exciting on tv, but after being there it was quite a disappointment to watch via tv. Next thing we knew wrestling was on - ugh.

So, tonight will be an early evening for us. You'll have to check USA Swimming or NBColympics.com to find out the results from today. We're resting our voices to cheer for Ava as she swims in the 200 IM tomorrow. According to Coach Teri, Ava will be scratching from the 200 free so she can concentrate on the IM.

I'll be working on getting the pictures posted - then signing off for the night.

- Charisse

Favorite Links

2008-06-30T01:37:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone,

are your eyes too old to see the slideshow pictures? You can now view the same pictures by going to Favorite Links and clicking on the slideshow you want to see! I know my eyes appreciated the addition.

- Charisse

Day #1 Trials - Finals

2008-06-30T00:53:00.004-04:00

An almost full house tonight - and a much more energetic crowd compared to this morning. While this morning seemed matter of fact, this evening was more festive - probably due to the TV coverage.

You probably all have read the results and seen that we had a very exciting evening of swimming. World records fell and so did an American record. We found that sitting behind the awards platform was interesting. Green "rain" fell from a device above the platform and "words" appeared in the rain. I can't wait to see the TV coverage to see what it looks like in the front. And for those of you who might have watched on the nbcolympics.com coverage you may have seen Amanda sitting behind the winner during the Open Water & Women's 400 IM awards. She discovered she could go down the stairs and be right there!!! We know that Juliet Wu and her dad saw her - as Juliet texted Amanda to let her know.

We are not attending tomorrow's events. Though our main purpose was to cheer Ava on to the Olympic Team we are going to the Omaha Zoo. Ava will be preparing for the 200 IM which she will swim on Tuesday, so we're taking advantage of a day off. Some guy from Indiana (I saw it on his cap and t-shirt) got a great deal on our tickets as I just wanted to sell them. I met him in line (I was hoping QWest would buy mine back.) He got a great deal for the prelim and final sessions and I have a little cash to spend at the Zoo. I probably should have kept the finals, but when he asked if I had both sessions, I just said yes.... Oh well. I guess we'll watch the coverage on TV if we're home from the zoo in time.

Hope you are enjoying the pictures and slide shows. Let me know if you have any requests for pictures - though I can't guarantee anything. There is now one picture of me in one of the slide shows. Hmmmmm, wonder if anyone will spot it. There will be zoo pics posted tomorrow night.

- Charisse

Day #1 Trials - prelims (Ava's 400 IM)

2008-06-29T18:39:00.004-04:00

This was the longest day of prelims for the trials. Amanda and I finally made contact with Coach Teri (she had actually called about 3 times but I forgot to turn my phone volume up from silence.) We waved - they are sitting 5 sections over and up one level.

Unfortunately it was a disappointing morning for all of us. Ava's 400 IM was not fast enough to make the finals tonight. She was 12th in this event. Now she gets a day off to practice & rest before swimming the 200 IM on Tuesday.

The competition tonight in the 400 IM's, both men and women, will be tough tonight. We saw the meet record fell twice this morning!

I'll post some pictures after we get back from the finals. We had considered staying at our hotel since Ava is not swimming, but decided that since we're here....and there may be a few new American or World records set tonight - we'll go.

And, yes, we are in Omaha, and everything seems fine at the QWest Center. There is still some exterior damage, but can't tell a thing inside.

More later - signing off to eat my delicious Taco Bell dinner :)

---> updated: The pool is beautiful. We are seated in the lower bowl directly behind the end of the pool (turn end, not start end). The award area is directly in front of us. The atmosphere was pretty quiet during most of the prelims. The crowd would cheer when egged on by the announcer and a few times when the swimmers would be close to a world record.

Amanda swims on Sat & our travel

2008-06-29T18:38:00.002-04:00

We slept in and then grabbed a quick breakfast at the Red Apple Diner across the street from our hotel. It was a fun change to eat at the counter instead of a table. Then, off to the swim meet.

A beautiful sunny day greeted us when we got to the pool. We were there early and enjoyed the sunshine. Once the meet got underway the clouds started to roll in.... (sound familiar to those of you who were at the DRD Freeze or Fry Meet LAST Saturday????) Amanda got one event in (200 Breast; which she begged to scratch) and then they started the relays. Half way through the thunder and a bolt of lightning hit - CLEAR THE POOL deck!!! We sat in the building for about 10 minutes and heard more thunder. We took another driving tour of Sterling (I added a few pictures to our tour). Drove back to the pool - and we lucked out (well, Amanda insisted it was a bad thing) that they started the meet again.

AUBURN CONNECTION: earlier in the afternoon I was talking to a few of the Sterling Stingrays volunteers. I asked about one of their swimmers that made an Olympic cut. His name: James Wike. So??? Well, he swims for Auburn! I said, wow, so does the swimmer we are "following". What a small world. His mom, Maggie, was the meet director! Small world!

... back to the meet. Amanda's 50 free was okay, but her 100 fly was great. She dropped 4.5 seconds and ended up placing 5th - just out touched by :00.03 for fourth.

Finally got on the road late and arrived in Council Bluffs at 11:30pm. Due to the major storm that hit Omaha the night before the internet connection was very bad so no postings.

- Charisse

Site seeing in Rock Falls & Sterling, IL and Amanda in a swim meet!

2008-06-28T00:41:00.003-04:00

Hot & humid in Rock Falls/Sterling, IL! It drizzled briefly but the thunderstorms never materialized (thank goodness) so the swim meet was ON!

Amanda swam in the 400 IM and 200 Back today at the outdoor swim meet. What a lonely existence for a swimmer at a meet without any teammates though. Stuck with sitting with mom - pretty awful for a 13 year old.

But, good job in the 400 IM as Amanda took off 8.5 seconds from her previous best! Wow! Her 200 back was "status quo" which I thought was pretty good as this was an outdoor pool and was very shallow on the turn end (3'). Hmmm, too much??

Check out the photos and the new photo album!

- Charisse

Long Travel Day

2008-06-27T13:11:00.002-04:00

We left Canton at 12:08 pm only to arrive in Rock Falls, IL at 11:32 pm (EST). But, don't worry we weren't driving the entire time!

A huge traffic jam in IL on I-88 near Aurora gave Amanda and me the bright idea to stop in unannounced at Jim & Martha Nilles' house (one of Tom's brothers.) Unfortunately Jim was working and Martha was on a Boy Scout camping trip with Callan. We did get to see nieces Cassidy and Kelsy! After that we called on our good friends Kathy & John Ahearn (saw their son Jake too) and went to a local Naperville tavern to get a pizza dinner with them. What fun when Matt & Bill (Tom's other two younger bros) joined us!

After sleeping in this morning we're off to find a restaurant (no free breakfast here) and then will scope out where Amanda is swimming this afternoon. Photos to follow later tonight!

Roll Call

2008-06-26T00:12:00.005-04:00

Hello Everyone!

Thanks for visiting our Road Trip Blog.

Please "sign-in" by using the comments selection at the bottom of this post and let us know who has been here. We've got a 6 hour drive to get through and it would be fun for us to see some comments from YOU. You don't need to sign up for anything - just use the anonymous option but make sure to sign your comment.

Next post - from our hotel room in Rock Falls, IL.

- Charisse

Michigan Swimmers at the Olympic Trials

2008-06-15T14:21:00.002-04:00

Though this has turned into an "Ava Ohlgren" fansite, Amanda and I will be following other local swimmers too!

Including these Michigan swimmers:

Chris DeJong
Alex Vanderkaay
Peter Vanderkaay
Allison Schmidtt - graduate of Canton High School
Margaret Kelly - graduate of Ann Arbor Pioneer High School
Kristyne Cole - graduate of Ann Arbor Pioneer High School
Melissa Jaeger - graduate of Ann Arbor Pioneer High School
Hannah Smith - graduate of Dexter High School
Liz Koselka - graduate of Ann Arbor Pioneer High School
Ashley Cohagen - Pioneer High School student
Justine Mueller -

Let us know if we missed any! Just select comment and you can post!

Video interview with Ava

2008-06-15T10:49:00.004-04:00

Watch an interview with Ava after her 200 breast at Charlotte Ultraswim. Go to favorite links and select Ava's Interview. She now has a qualifying time in every event except the 200 back and the 800 free (as of this interview).

... and for those of you who want to know, yes, Ava did make an Olympic Trial cut in the 200 back at the Charlotte Ultraswim!

Gold medal finish for Ava!

2008-06-08T21:15:00.007-04:00

Ava finished off the Charlotte Ultraswim with a newsworth performance. You can read more about it by following the link to the article "Three more meet records fall on final night of UltraSwim" located on the right under favorite links.

Event #33 200 IM: personal best time, meet record & winning time of 2:12.97
Event #35 200 Back: did not swim

Final Day at the Charlotte Ultraswim Meet

2008-06-08T16:41:00.002-04:00

Ava had a busy morning swimming in:

Event #33 200 IM with a time of 2:15.80 finishing just behind Auburn teammate Emily Kukors, so Ava will return tonight in the "A" final seeded 2nd.
Event #35 200 Back with a time of 2:16.57 which is a personal best smashing her "old" time of 2:21.72... and she will return to the "A" final seeded 7th.

Go Ava!

3 weeks

2008-06-08T12:27:00.002-04:00

okay it is only 3 weeks untill ot (olympic tryals) and i still have 1 more week of school i am sooo excited!bye 4 now

Day #3 Finals

2008-06-07T21:44:00.005-04:00

And the results are...

Event #17 50 Free - 2nd in the "C" final with a time of 26.20
Event #21 200 Breast - 2nd place finish in the "B" final with a time of 2:33.68 which is another personal best!

Great job Ava!

Charlotte Ultraswim Day #3 prelim results

2008-06-07T12:00:00.003-04:00

Ava's Saturday morning swims were:

Event #17 50 Free - 26.74 to qualify for the "C" final
Event #21 200 Breast - 2:38.43 to qualify for the "B" final

Charlotte Ultraswim Day #2 results

2008-06-06T20:48:00.003-04:00

It's hot and humid in Michigan so I can't imagine the weather in Charlotte. Here are Ava's results......

Event #3 200 Free Final: 2:01.43 for a 5th place finish
Event #7 100 Breast Final: 1:11.29 (personal best) for a 4th place finish
Event #9 100 Fly Final: did not swim

Good luck to Ava in tomorrows events!

Ava's last meet till the Olympic Trials

2008-06-06T18:16:00.006-04:00

Though we are not actually IN Charlotte, NC - I thought I'd write about how Ava is doing at this meet. There are two big meets this weekend, Charlotte UltraSwim and Swimvitational in Omaha. It seems like all of the Olympic contenders are at one of these meets.

I will just be writing about the days/events Ava is participating in:
Day #1 did not swim in the 800 free
Day #2

Event #3: 200 Free Prelims - 2:02.01 to come back in the "A" final seeded 6th
Event #7: 100 Breast Prelims - a new personal best of 1:11.55 to come back in the "A" final seeded 1st
Event #9: 100 Fly Prelims - 1:01.54 to come back in the "A" final seeded 8th

The finals will be swum tonight. Go AVA!!

Link from BAC's website

2008-06-02T23:00:00.004-04:00

Welcome to our BAC friends! A link to this blog has been added to the BAC website. Now you can watch our progress as we drive from Michigan to Nebraska - we will leave on Thursday, June 26th.

Please feel free to "talk" to us via a post to this blog. As long as we don't get any inappropriate comments I will leave it open to anyone who wants to post.

Go Wings! Tied 3-3 at 15:17 into the 1st OT.

- Charisse

amandas post

2008-05-15T18:01:00.003-04:00

hi, my name is amanda i am 13.
i have a huge cat named mickey i love him so i am going to miss him but my dad should take good care of him:)
i swim for the bulldog aquatic club
i am running track right now and love it!
i know Ava from my coach. she is her daughter. i am, as i call myself, her Biggest little fan!!
Serena, Juliet and i all went down to ohio to see her swim in the NCAA!
she was amazing like usual!
this is it for all ily!

The Blog is Born

2008-05-15T13:46:00.004-04:00

Less than two months until the Olympic Swim Trials. I've decided to create a blog about our journey. This will be easier than sending out emails to everyone along the way. - C