Olympic Trials Day Three:

The trials are really moving right along now, all the volunteers have a couple of shifts under their belts and feel comfortable in thier jobs. The meet organizers have all the bugs worked out and the athletes are working hard. From my vantage point with the basket crew I get a chance to see them before their races. These are very focused men and women. Even though they are competing for only three spots in each event there is incredible respect and camaraderie between them. Just before the women in the heptathlon went out for their last event they all joined hands in a circle and took turns wishing each other a good race. It was really nice to see.

The meet officials are from all over the U.S. and I've gotten to know several that are responsible for getting the athletes out to the starting line and they are really nice. You can tell they really care about their jobs and doing everything they can to make sure the athletes have the best conditions to do well. The weather was a bit cooler today and a bit of a breeze made it the most comfortable day so far. I know I felt much better today and I think everyone who attended today felt the same way. Once again today there were a lot of kids having a good time at the trials and in the festival area. Tomorrow will be another great day of competition as the decathlon team will be decided along with the men and womens 800M the men's 5000M and women's javelin. All of these events have local athletes competing for a spot on the team headed to Beijing. Day two of the decathlon gets started at 11:30 am. The individual events get started again at 7:00 pm.

Joseph Calbreath