Nighttime Snack: Staying Up To Watch Prelims

P.S Watchmen totally sucked

This post goes out to all the swim nerd night owls, who like me are braving the later hours of the night to follow the biggest swim meet of the year online. I kinda relish meets that take place 12 hours ahead. You wait all day for prelims, but then you can go to sleep for the entire time between sessions. What a treat! I am stopping at a random point in my following to give some thoughts on the first prelim session:
Dana Vollmer had the exact swim I've been talking about. Races aren't won in preliminaries but she did Team USA a huge service by coming out and popping a 56 right away. It sends a clear signal to her teammates that they came well prepared and gives them confidence.

The Women's 200 IM seems awfully tentative. Great for Caitlin Leverenz to be top seed, but 2:11?

Speaking of tentative, Tae Hwan Park put his spot in finals on the line but came through 7th in the 400 free. He has a history of sitting down a little bit for prelim swims so I am guessing it's not that he isn't just ready. Still, for those of us who wanted to see a Park/Yang showdown it was slightly scary.

The Women's 400 Free saw both only one American qualify for the championship final, with Katie Hoff bumping teammate Chloe Sutton. It seems as if this event will continue to vex the American women.

Sleep well, night owls, and see you tomorrow!