Air Force swimmers prepare for U.S. Olympic trials

Justin Day stepped on the starting blocks of the Air Force Academy pool, let his arms dangle and took a deep breath as he gazed into the dark blue in front of him.

"Take your mark!" someone shouted.

Day bent his knees, poised and ready, like a tiger waiting to pounce on his prey.

"Go!" the man exclaimed.

Within a second, Day left his feet and landed in the pool. He blasted through the water, his head, arms and legs working in unison.

Nobody beat him to the wall. Nobody stood a chance this afternoon.

It was only practice. And Day was swimming by himself.

The U.S. Olympic swimming trials won't be quite as simple. After all, Olympic gold medalists Michael Phelps, Ian Crocker and Brendan Hansen aspire to swim at the Beijing Games in August.

Day, 21, of Peyton awaits a stiff challenge at the trials that start Sunday in Omaha, Neb., where he will be joined by Air Force teammates Bryan Avery and Benjamin Gunn and academy graduates Chris Knaute and Paul Parmenter.

Five Air Force swimmers - Matt Davis, Matt Horner, Matt Ihlenfeld, Charlie Toth and Drew Whitting - have competed at the trials. None has made the Olympics, but former Falcons swimmers Eli Bremer and Bob Nieman have qualified in modern pentathlon.

Day likely holds the best odds among the Air Force contingent headed to the trials. In his only event, the 100-meter breaststroke, he's the No. 37 seed with a qualifying time of 1 minute, 3.79 seconds, less than 5 seconds off Hansen's mark.

"It's inspiring," Day said of swimming against Phelps, Crocker and Hansen. "Those guys have been to the Olympics and back. They have years more experience than I do."

Day isn't short on experience.

He won the Colorado Springs Metro title in the 100 breast three times in as many years at Liberty High School and Lewis-Palmer High School.

As a junior at the academy, he placed third in the 100 breast at the 2008 Mountain West Conference Championships.

"The big thing is the first 50 for me," Day said. "If I take it out too fast, I'm going to die coming back. I have to be nice and easy, strong but smooth and powerful going out so I have enough strength to bring it back."

Avery, 21, and Gunn, 19, are long shots in the 100 butterfly, won by Phelps at the 2004 Athens Games. Gunn is seeded 102nd with a 55.53-second qualifying time and Avery (55.58) is 108th, both more than 5 seconds off Crocker's mark.

"The chances of us making the Olympics are not very likely," said Gunn, an all-conference selection in the 100 and 200 fly as a freshman. "There are some times I would like to make. But I wouldn't kill myself if I don't make them."

Said Avery: "I'd like to swim as best as I can. I look at it as progress. There was a time in my career where the trials were so far off."
The Air Force record holder in the 100 fly, Avery maintains nerves are "inevitable" when positioned alongside Olympic gold medalists.

"Suddenly, they're really there," he said. "You don't want to look too much like a goon."

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