March 26, 2008

By Matt Crouch

Day 1
Tuesday, March 25
For just the second time since 1978, the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships is on the West Coast and Auburn is here looking to win its sixth NCAA title in as many years.

In just two days, the Tigers will join the top teams in the nation at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash., for the 2008 version of the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.

"I think the whole experience so far has been a blast," said freshman Kohlton Norys. "I think that our team has really clicked together and it has really been one heck of an experience."

Senior Alexei Puninski chimed in along with Norys on how close the team has come, but has mixed emotions on swimming in his last meet as a Tiger.

"Right now, I am really happy and a little sad because it is my last year," said Puninski. "I am really enjoying my time with all the guys on the team. We had a really nice dinner tonight and the coaches are really taking care of us. But, this week won't be the end of it for me. I am going to stick around and train with Cesar and these guys after I am done. It is just a great environment to be in."

The venue is no stranger to a couple members of the Auburn coaching staff. The facility was built to host the swimming events as part of the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle. Auburn head coach Richard Quick served as head coach of the women's U.S. national team at the 1990 Goodwill Games, coaching the Americans to 11 gold medals at the meet.

The King County Aquatic Center is also in a rotation with the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach, Calif., in hosting the Pac-10 Conference Swimming and Diving Championships.

The Aquatic Center is very nice and should be a great venue for the meet this week. It hosts more than 50 events each year and has been the site of Olympic Trials as well as top national and international competitions. When you walk into the pool, you see 31 flags hanging from the ceiling - one for each country that has competed at the facility.

"I really like the pool and it feels like a fast pool so I think we have a good chance to swim really fast," said senior Alexei Puninski. "I checked out the blocks today and they are really high, so I'm looking forward to swimming fast and breaking some records this week."

The team has been hard at work since arriving in town on Monday. Some of the staff arrived in Seattle on Sunday night, flying directly over from Columbus, Ohio, the site of last week's NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. It was a long and brutal trip, but I am happy to be here on my first visit to the Pacific Northwest.

The team arrived in town late Monday morning, being picked up by a pair of Hummer limousines at the airport. Everyone then came to our hotel, the Best Western Peppertree, before heading off to the pool for a light workout.

Coincidentally, the team is staying this week in Auburn. . . . Auburn, Wash., that is. Auburn and Federal Way are both suburbs of Seattle and are just a few minutes apart from each other. Auburn is also the home of Emily Kukors, a senior on the Tiger women's swimming team.

The hotel is pretty nice and what is even better is that when you glance out the front of the hotel, you get a great view of Mount Rainier. At more than 14,000 feet, it definitely dominates the landscape around here. I looked for it my first day in town, but did not see it. Then, yesterday, I looked again and still did not see it. Then, I looked up. The whole time that I was looking for this really high peak, I apparently was not looking high enough as it does tend to get lost in the clouds sometimes.

After getting settled in last night, the team got an early start on Tuesday with its first full day in town. Some of the swimmers headed over to the pool at 7:30 a.m. for a morning swim with the divers following at 10 a.m.

The second round of practices started at 12:30 p.m. with the swimmers coming over. A few of them swam stingers (fast, race-simulating swims) to help get ready for Thursday. The divers came in for their second practice at 3 p.m.

"It is an awesome feeling because when you walk in to the pool, everyone turns their head to look at you," said Norys. "Like today with us swimming stingers. We started swimming and people would look to watch and to see what times we were swimming. Everyone reacts to what we do in the pool it just kind of pumps you up and gets you ready for the meet to start on Thursday."

Following practice, the team went to the movie theater and saw "The Bank Job." After the movie, everyone headed down to the waterfront to a restaurant called Salty's. The place was great; the food was really good and the location was perfect. Salty's basically sits on stilts out in the water off Redondo Beach on the Puget Sound.

The restaurant was apparently popular among some of the other teams at the meet. While we were there, we also saw the teams from Miami, Florida State, Stanford and Virginia.

Everyone is back at the hotel now, relaxing after a long day. Time is winding down, though, as Wednesday is the last day before the meet starts on Thursday. The team is excited and ready for a good meet, so it should be exciting to see how the team does.

Not only is a national championship on the line, but also a little bit of history. Only one other team has was six NCAA titles in a row and that was Indiana from 1968-73. With a win this week, Auburn could join a very prestigious club.

WAR EAGLE!!!