OMAHA, Neb. - While most of us will celebrate this holiday weekend with fireworks and cook outs, one area family will be watching their son compete for a spot on the USA Olympic swim team.
Warsaw residents Jim and Mary Jane Kraft will watch their son, David Kraft, swim in the biggest meet of his life Saturday, the 1500-meter freestyle prelims at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb. If he places in the top eight Saturday, he'll then move on to the finals Sunday.
"His goal is to get into the top eight on Saturday," Mary Jane said. "That in of itself is a pretty lofty goal."
The Vienna, Va. native, and a senior at Penn State University, Kraft will be among 73 other 1500-meter swimmers vying for the top eight Saturday. A portion of the Saturday prelims, and Sunday finals, will be televised on NBC from 8-9 p.m. each night.
"There are a total of 1,250 swimmers at the meet, representing less than half of a percent of all the swimmers in the country," Mary Jane said. "So to make it to the trials is a big deal. Only two (in the 1500) will go on to make it to Beijing, so you can recognize not many people get this opportunity."
With the biggest meet of his life on the horizon, David's been training as hard as ever.
Prior to arriving in Omaha Tuesday, the 21-year-old spent the previous two weeks in Colorado, training with fellow swimmers Ian Rowe and Nick Graves in the thin air.
"It's a difficult thing to do," David said about training in the high elevation of Colorado. "This was the first time I trained at that altitude.
"It was definitely an experience," he added.
Training with Rowe and Graves, who enter the trials with the 14th (15:28.25) and 16th (15:31.32) fastest seed times, respectively, Kraft has gotten an idea of what it may take to succeed. While training, Kraft, who has the 38th fastest seed at 15:45.76, routinely kept up with his fellow Americans.
"It really gives you a competitive edge knowing you've trained with faster guys and haven't let them get away," he said.
Talking from his hotel room Wednesday, Kraft mentioned that his body was still getting accustomed to swimming in a familiar elevation.
"They say it takes a couple days for your body to re-adjust, but I should be ready for Saturday," he said.
On top of training in Colorado, David also plans to increase his time by wearing the new Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit. The suits have been very popular at the Olympic trials, where numerous world and American records have been broken.
"I put the suit on for the first time today, then swam three or four 100s," he said. "I could tell that I was going faster than usual.
"All three swims were my fastest times of the year," he added.
With the trials being the fastest meet he's ever swam in, wearing the suit may not be a bad idea. To this point, David's fastest time in the 1500 has been 15:25, a mark he'll have to at least match, and probably even beat, in order to advance on to Sunday's competition.
"I've talked to a couple of the fastest swimmers in the country, and they've said it'll probably take a 15:20," he said. "That's not considerably out of my reach."
Even if he doesn't make the finals cut, he's still having a good time with the top swimmers in the country.
"It's amazing being with the fastest swimmers in the country," he said. "Just today, I saw three world records set."
After watching everyone else, he's more than eager to get into the pool himself, and he's not going to allow the atmosphere to get to him.
"It's been amazing to be at the Qwest Center with 15,000 people watching," he said. "But I've been swimming since I was eight, so I have to remember that it's something that I've done hundreds of times before."
Having grown up in Virginia, Kraft didn't do his swimming in the Warsaw-area, but after his parents moved here to work with MasterWorks at Grace College, there are plenty of friends of the family awaiting Saturday's results.
"It's been a fun ride as a parent," Mary Jane said.
