Day 1 of Missouri Grand Prix

I just wanted to write a quick update on the meet so far and 100 Breast finals since there is probably some error when trying to review the results right now. I qualified 8th after the morning with a 1:04.62 to sneak into finals tonight. In finals from lane 8, I went a 1:04.12 (30.02, 34.10) and finished 7th in a fast heat. I was overall satisfied with my time, but have some small things to work on to go out under 30 and go a 1:03, but luckily I will have another chance.

Marcus Titus, who swam at Arizona and is represented by Tucson Ford Aquatics, was in lane one for finals. Marcus is a great swimmer who I have swum against many times throughout college and at NCAAs. He has also accomplished all of his success while competing with a severe hearing impairment. Tonight, as they blew the whistle for us to get on the blocks and take our marks, the officials did not do the proper deaf hand signals for Marcus to take his marks. The officials then set off the beeper for us to go while Marcus was not ready, and therefore he did not dive in and swim the race. The officials, instead of stopping the race right away since one of the swimmers did not dive in, let the race go on as planned. I did not know any of this had gone on until about 30 minutes after the race and just figured Titus had been disqualified since I was on the other side of the pool. The officials were totally at fault here and admitted it after the session was over tonight. As a result, they are allowing Marcus to swim the 100 breast again since he did not get the chance tonight. But Marcus does not want to swim alone, so the officials are allowing the whole A heat to swim the heat again tomorrow night.

This is why the result page did not show any times for the 100 breast finals tonight. However, tomorrow I will be swimming the 200 breaststroke prelims and finals and the 100 breast at the start of finals Saturday night. I will have lots of time between the two races since the 100 breast will be the first event and the 200 breast one of the last events of the night. Placements will be official after the 100 breast time trial tomorrow night, so tomorrow is a busy day and I’m off to bed to prepare….