So its been a couple days since the last blog and we have done plenty since last time. firstly we had the motor city mile and 5km race in the detroit river. pretty much everyone placed so most people won prizes including towels, hoodies and bags. afterwards we piled into the RV and van for the road trip across the state to Grand Rapids.
When we finally got to the pool we got wet and then met our host families who we were going to be staying with for that night. the next morning we trained and then chilled for the rest of the day until the meet started that night. there were plenty of good swims on the first day which were timed finals of the 1500, the 400im and the 50 free. today there were prelims for the 200free, 100back, 200im, 100breast, 200fly and although there were many good swims that made finals, due to an issue with the electricity the finals were postponed to tomorrow afternoon. because we finished early tonight we all went out to a movie, girls saw the new twilight movie YAAY and boys saw grown ups. we all enjoyed the movies and we are packing for our trip to new york tomorrow.

Thank YOU Texas!!

Thank you to everyone who supported the Surrey Park Team during their awesome stay in the Lone Star state!! Neil Walker, Coach Eddie Reese, the Flower's and the Bell's have been absolutely amazing hosts... thank you so much for treating the SP kids as your own and making their US adventure truly memorable. Please let us repay the hospitality one day, downunder!

Next stop. MICHIGAN!

GO EUGENE

just a quick update on eugenes results in the freezing cold New Zealand:

1st 400 IM - 4.21 (won by 6 seconds)
3rd 200 Back - 2.00

1st 200 IM - 2.04 (won by 3 seconds)

and even the swimming australia website is raving about Eugene:

"Mr Tee and team Gold flex their muscles... The 16-year-old Victorian was a class above as he obliterated the field to win the 200m IM by over three seconds"

love you eugene ;)

Special 5th July Blog Update

So yesterday was the last day of the meet and also the 4th of july here. there were some great swims throughout the meet and we are still voting on the PB of the meet.

This morning seb and I got the opportunity to train with the University of Texas mens team who are also the reigning NCAA national champions. National team members this morning in our group included Aaron Piersol, Michael Klueh and Eric Shanteau. Coach Eddie Reese included us in everything they did from warmup to warmdown and it was an amazing experience.

Next we met up with Mr. and Mrs. Flowers at Denny's for unlimited pancakes which was also amazing, especially after a long practice in the morning. After breakfast we stopped at the University of Texas merchandise store to stock up on Texas brand stuff.

Afterwards Dr. Bell and Mrs. Bell had us over for lunch at their summer home at Lake Travis where we enjoyed some openwater style swimming, canoeing and homemade lemonade with 3 time olympic champion Sandy Neilson-Bell and world famous sports phsycoligist Dr. Keith Bell.

now everyone is packing and preparing for our flight to Mowtown.

Early Morning Report Just In...

So, while some of us grownups are ready to tuck in for the night, the kids are waking up to a training session under the North American, 5th of July sunshine. And they're especially lucky to be in the company of the University of Texas team, including Olympian, Aaron Piersol amoungst others!

The Texas Open has been huge for everyone... with many amazing lifetime bests... I've heard that Seb, Beth and Max all did us proud with some amazing 1500 results to close the meet. Promises have come from all swimmers that pictures and results will be posted tonight - their time (which means tomorrow morning!).

Suffice to say, they're all swimming fast and having a ball. Look out Motown!!! Motor City is the next destination!

PS - Well done Eugene, and all of the Aussie Gold team in NZ! And awesome results to all of the SP Swimmers enjoying the 'independence' of swimming USA-style!

hey guys,
On friday night we got to train at the texas university pool. It is massive! afterwards we got to watch the US team train. the girls were on one side of the pool doing kick with weights on their ankles, and the boys were split into two groups on the other side- freestyle and stroke. I got to watch Eric Shanteau do breastroke and he was amazing. i also got to meet the US Olympic head coach Eddie something and he said that eric has the best breastroke on the planet. we also got to watch Aaron Persol and Cullen Jones.
from sarah

Good Luck SP at the Texas Open!!