Between the lanes with Tyler O'Halloran: Aug. 1
UT senior Tyler O’Halloran joins us for the latest installment of his online diary from the USA Swimming Championships in Irvine, Calif. O’Halloran and many other current and former Longhorns will compete in the event through the end of the week. Longhorns fans, Greetings from sunny, southern California, where everything is more expensive and there's no such thing as "light" traffic hours. Think of I-35 in Austin at 5 p.m. on a weekday, but twice as wide and heavy traffic lasting all day. I took an early loss to (UT senior swimmer) Poston Pritchett after we landed when we tried to guess how much gas would cost out here. He guessed $3.75, I guessed $4.05, and the actual price was a disappointing $3.17. We were both a little let down on the low price. Swimming-wise, we've been in and out of the pool for the past few days in preparation for the meet beginning on Tuesday, Aug. 1. It's a five-day meet, so not all of us are swimming on Tuesday. The only men's events on Tuesday are the 400 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 400 individual medley. As I mentioned last week, we're all swimming for the top six spots in an effort to make a USA national team, so the competition will be very stiff. On a sadder note, like earlier this year for the NCAA Championships, I have once again shaved my head. There's going to be a lot of shaving out here tonight, as unattractive as that sounds, because as swimmers, when we want to swim our fastest, we'll shave pretty much every hair on our bodies. In explaining this over the years, the usual reaction is something on the lines of, "Does it really make that much of a difference?" The simple answer is yes. After shaving down, you feel completely different in the water and with that improved feel you do in fact swim much faster. For any non-swimmers out there, jump in a pool, get out and shave everything, and then jump back in. You'll agree. As for right now, Craig Chapman and I are sitting here watching ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption. They are, of course, talking about steroids in sports and what not. To that end, I would just like to ask when the last time a U.S. swimmer was busted for steroid use? Just a thought. Not much else to update today, but with the meet starting Tuesday, things will start to pick up very quickly. Prelims begin at 9 a.m. Pacific on Tuesday and finals will begin 6 p.m. PDT. Full coverage, including live results and information on live webcasts later this week are available at . Hook 'em, Horns!
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