I went over to the Menlo-Atherton HS pool to watch the USMS Women's 40+ water polo team play their first game of the worlds round robin series. It was the first water polo game I've watched since intramurals in college. They played against the Calgary Masters team, and Calgary showed better polo game skills and experience in the first quarter and got out to a 2-0 lead. Things weren't looking so good for our team. The second quarter was a different story as the USMS team came back and tied it up 2-2 by the half. The third quarter was even and it was 4-4 going into the final quarter. There were some good opportunities on both sides in the fourth, and USMS scored the winning goal with just 12 seconds to go in the game. One down, four to go before the playoffs.

I made it back to the Stanford pool just in time to catch Neil Brophy's 200 free. He did great, coming in fifth overall with a 2:04.43. I didn't get the camera out until he finished, but managed to at least get a shot of him checking out the clock after his swim. I'll add that to the photo gallery. I just missed Betty Dunn's 50 fly, catching up with her getting out of the pool at the end of her swim. Betty has had a pretty good meet so far, getting 5th in the 200 back with a big 45 second drop from her seed time yesterday and coming in 4th in the 400 IM and 3rd in the 50 fly today. She said today's times were a little slower than her times at Empires, but they were still pretty good.

This afternoon there was an ice cream social in the grove behind the stadium pool. This was the official time to bring your T shirts, pins and caps to trade. I didn't plan in advance for this, so I was scrambling trying to come up with things to trade. It worked out okay. I picked up a Russian (actually an older Soviet Union) shirt and pin and a French Masters shirt. I traded one of my USMS polo shirts and a pin that USMS provided to the Russians and bought the French shirt. The Russians were professionals at this game. They had their table set up and you could tell that wheeling and dealing is something they do all the time. I couldn't find any good caps to buy, Kay. The only cap I had with me is an aging, yellowing USMS cap that wouldn't trade for anything. I was looking for German caps to buy, but didn't see any Germans in the tent the whole time (their caps are the best at this meet in my opinion). I'll try to get some pictures of the shirts I picked up to attach to this entry.

Time to get some sleep. I have the 200 IM and 50 breast tomorrow and Jack has the 50 free and 50 breast. Betty has the 200 IM and 100 fly. I promise to actually show up for the IM this time, but don't promise to swim fast.